Utah - July 6, 2021 - Day 5

 It was another cool desert morning. My Harley started right up, and continued to start for the rest of the day. I now turn-off the ignition regularly, and have the confidence that it will respond when I hit the switch. 

Today we made a large loop. Our objective was to see Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. With the post-pandemic crowds at the National Parks, we didn't know if we would be able to enter either park. 

The real prize was Bryce Canyon.

 

The Ride to Bryce Canyon

On the way to Bryce, Buttercup gave us a tour of the town where we had spent the night - Escalante, Utah. For the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would want to live there. But 650 people do. 

Like all of the towns we see in southern Utah, it is community oriented, well-kept and people do the best they can. It is a pleasant little town - out in the middle of nowhere.

Still, even tonight, we all believe that the highlight of the trip has been Hwy. 12. We continued on Hwy 12 to Bryce and hoped that out good luck would continue. It did.

The rock structures were fantastic:

Hwy 12 is the best. 

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce was fantastic. Going into the Park was like Gatlinburg. Hotels and tourist shops are starting to spring-up.

What we came to see are the "hoo doos," shown on the first picture above, and the pictures below:

This is a pic of Magellan yodeling, trying to get Buttercup back from a walkabout. 

I can set my watch by the time we must feed Magellan - before he gets "hangry." We stopped for lunch right on time, and Magellan took this picture to show Sugar Magnolia that I was not eating cheeseburgers at every single meal:

Yes, this Utah and that is a salad bar. Haven't seen one of those in 18 months. 

Zion National Park

Zion has a 57 mile scenic drive, which is now closed in favor of un-air conditioned shuttle buses. And because it is run by the federal government, masks are required. Buttercup's thermometer registered 109 degrees when we left. While we were not enamored with the idea of taking the shuttle, tickets for the shuttle were sold out which made the decision for us. 

What we didn't know is that Hwy 9 went right through Zion National Park - to the point that if you wanted to continue on to the other side, you have to pay the park service fee. But not us: Magellan and I have a pass, and Magellan claims Buttercup as his date. 

People speak of the "Big Five" national parks in Utah, and Zion is one of them. I seem to be repeating myself, but the views were spectacular:

Zion National Park as two tunnels. The pic below is the first, and the smallest:

Notice the shape of the bore. The Park Service restricts the size of vehicles which can enter the park. However, there are some RVs that are massive. And think about putting a square peg into a round hole. 

We were behind one of the massive RVs, and to get it through the longer, second tunnel, they had to shut the tunnel down and let the monstrosity go through on its own - for a fee of $15.00. It was too large to allow two-way traffic when it passed through the tunnel. I think they should have doubled the fee given how long we ALL had to wait. 

These pics are looking back up where the tunnels traversed the mountain.

On the other side of Zion is a little tourist area - also akin to Gatlinburg. Zion is a big draw.

Travel To The Rose Ranch

The ride to our next destination, the Rose Ranch, was HOT. We made the decision to return over the mountain and instead of taking the Interstate highway all of the way. Going over the mountain, the temperature dropped by 30 degrees. It was delightful. The views were spectacular, and the area was forested. This pic was going up the mountain. 

This view is from the summit looking north. 

While it is true that water builds the landscape before us, water also gives life. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the desert. 

Rose Ranch

We are staying at the Rose Ranch, because we are riding ATVs tomorrow. What could go wrong?

We arrived late. So the owner told us to go to the last two cabins. They keys were in the door, and they'll take a credit card imprint in the morning. Wow. This is not Chicago. We asked about dinner, and it turns out that the diner was closing. The Owner called the diner - in this town of 250. He asked the owner to keep the diner open for us. So the three of us went down to the diner for what else - a cheeseburger. 

But the funniest thing was three grown men trying to wrestle a Harley. That is the story of the first day at the Rose Ranch. 

This may sound shocking, but Harleys do very poorly in gravel or over un-compacted stone. The tires aren't right for gravel, the bikes are heavy and they are top heavy. The Rose Ranch is for people on ATVs - hundreds of them, with the campers and the ATVs lined up and ready for action. Everything is gravel, and they are not used to Harleys.

Enter Francois. Once I entered the compound, there was no stopping as my front wheel was digging in the gravel. The other problem with gravel is that it doesn't support a Harley kick-stand. The kick stand digs into the gravel and the bike has a tendency to topple over. 

I stopped the beast in an area where I thought the kickstand would be supported. Boy, was I wrong. The kickstand dug into the gravel. But my good fortune was that my bike was listing to about 44 degrees. One more cheeseburger, and it was going over. Moreover, the beast is so heavy that I could not pull it vertical after the bike came to this condition. So I left the bike, walked to the office and asked my biking brothers to help. They were very good about my predicament, and didn't laugh once. 

So here we are, in the middle of a campground with large trailers, people sitting around their fire pits drinking beer. And their comedy for the evening was watching the three of us trying to wrangle my motorcycle.

My only solace is that none of those people had ever ridden a Harley, and certainly had not ridden one in deep gravel. At least, that is my story. 

We were able to tip the bike up to vertical. The problem now was how to get the bike out of the area where it was located and off of the deep gravel. We had to turn the bike 180 degrees, and make it go uphill in deep gravel. That was the real comedy - three of us trying to right the Harley. And I'm proud to say that we were able to pull-it-off.

I left Rose Ranch with my dignity in tatters, head held high, on my way to a cheese burger. Magellan was so embarrassed, he didn't want to be associated with Harleys and had a kid drive him to the diner in an ATV. Buttercup: he was smiling as he knew they were laughing at me and not at him - which made him feel very satisfied. 

Taps

We rode 320 miles today. 

We are in a town where the restaurants are closed on Wednesday. Magellan is frantic in trying to find a food source. As we last heard, he was cozying up with the families assembled around a large fire ring, hoping someone would take pity on him and invite him for breakfast. That remains to be seen.