My goal for the “Big Interstate Day” was to get within
striking distance of Bryce Canyon National Park, so that the next day I could explore
the park liesurely. At lunch in Ogden
Utah I picked out a campground to aim for -- which proved much farther away than it
seemed on the map. It didn’t help that,
having lingered too long in Ogden, I had to then go straight through Salt Lake
City at rush hour, which added an hour of stop-and-go traffic to my day. In short, as the miles and hours wore on, I
was mightily tempted to give up and get a motel wherever I was.
I’m glad I didn’t.
As the evening fell, my route finally took me off the
Interstate and onto Utah Rt 50. Suddenly
I was on a two-land road through a magnificent mountain-fringed valley in the
long amber sunlight, on an evening warring dramatically between sun and
rain. And finally, being a smaller road,
I could indulge myself and actually get out of the car to enjoy it and take
some pictures.
I was even greeted by a double rainbow. (With time to pull over and put the top up!)
Moreover, as I turned down the gravel road to my campground
in the twilight it was apparent that all those miles had added up to something
after all. The green valley began to be
interspersed with giant paws of bare stone, and the campground itself was
nestled in woods that gave upwards to rococo flights of colored stone castleworks. Toto, I’m not in the Pacific Northwest
anymore...
I had a lovely sleep in my tent to the sound of the next-door
creek, and woke the next morning refreshed and ready for Bryce Canyon.
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