Bryce Canyon COVID summer of 2020 update

Maybe you noticed I didn’t update last week on the Bryce Canyon COVID summer story.  I figure you’re probably tired of reading the same old stuff week after week.  After all, I’m tired of doing the same old stuff week after week.  Not only what to write, but when.  After a nine-hour work day, I’m tired and often not motivated to write.  With only two days off last week I made the first one lazy do nothing and the second a drive to shopping.  Neither very exciting.  I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m complaining, it just is what it is.

Of course, days off include taking care of business.  Two months ago when I checked in with ADOT about the truck license plate tabs expiring mid July their online system said I had a six-month reprieve due to COVID.  Cool!  Yet it bothered me thinking about driving around in Utah with those expired tabs.  So I checked again last week and, supposedly, I needed an emissions test in Maricopa County where my new address is.  Or I can apply for an out-of-state exemption through a contracted, non-government business for $9.50.  Oh, and now ADOT says my tabs are expired.  I get the exemption, and later discover I didn’t need it (what a scam).  But am now able to complete my renewal with ADOT including a late fee.  I gave up trying to call and talk to a human.  Once the new tabs arrive at my Arizona address I’ll have them sent to Bryce.  In the meantime, I hope not to get stopped with expired tabs and only an email receipt.

Oh, and I also registered to vote by mail again because of the change of county since living in Yarnell.  Wonder how long the mail service will take with the current state of affairs?

An early morning opening and Mule deer greeting seen from employee parking lot.  The lower corner of a solar array is visible as well.  Provides power to our combination visitor center and administration building.

Waking to 40° at 5:30am I turn heat on and wonder if summer is on the way out.  By afternoon 80° feels pretty warm for several hours at Yovimpa Point talking about geology and what ever else visitors are interested in.

Yovimpa Point has become a favorite place in Bryce, even though it lacks the intensity of dramatic hoodoos, just can’t beat the view.  Seems every park has it’s idiot tourons that like to challenge the resource, in this case crumbly rock edges past warning signs.

I’ve been struggling with computer problems for a while trying to stretch every bit of time out of this almost five-year old laptop.  Every time an update occurs more things go wonky and everything slows down even more.  An intermittent problem with a monitor driver causes lines to dance on the screen and I have to reboot, sometimes more than once.  Murphy’s Law dictated that would happen while trying to set up a slide presentation for my 9pm evening program.  After about ten reboots I finally gave up and connected to the projector anyway and the lines didn’t show up on the big viewing screen.  When I got back home it booted up just fine.  Go figure.

Work schedules are once again changing due to a reduction in staff.  The two summer astronomy intern students returned to virtual school and Ranger Valerie accepted a permanent job where her boyfriend works.  I went to the going away party at housing’s fire-ring, a rare social outing for me and the only party I’ve attended this summer.  They will all be missed.

August 12th—my lazy day off—was World Elephant Day and being my favorite South African animal I dug out some of my favorite photographs to share on Facebook.  How easily I am distracted dreaming of a return visit.

Hoodoos Red Canyon Dixie National Forest

Being time for a shopping trip I opted for the beautiful drive over SR14 to Cedar City.  My second day off and I didn’t get a particularly early start.

Once I dropped off the Paunsaugunt Plateau the smoky haze from southern California fires hung over the western horizon.  Slipped past the lava flow full of Aspen I want to photograph especially during fall colors.

Didn’t take the time to revisit Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Wound through Cedar Canyon.  Noted plenty of places to disperse camp along this stretch of the Dixie National Forest.

Enjoyed a Thai lunch before grocery shopping at several stores.  Then the 1 1/2 hour drive back and shot the entire day.  Two days off is not enough.

Navajo Loop trail

Back to work and a bit of a heat wave.  Bryce Canyon National Park sits from 8000 to 9100 feet in elevation and for a week highs have been 92°F.  Feels HOT!  Yet with surrounding lower elevation temperatures in triple digits I’ve tried not to complain.  Visitors expressed relief with temps below 100°F.

Queen’s Garden trail

I saw that Death Valley National Park broke a record at 130°F.

Wall Street Navajo Loop trail

I remind people all day to drink water only to get home after 3-4 liters and realize I haven’t peed all day.

Limited shade and 2 1/2 hours mid-day answering questions and helping people plan their visit with sweat running down my back made me grumpy.  Yet I am glad not to be inside the building doing the same even though it’s air-conditioned.

After lunch I went to the rim for the 2pm hoodoo geology talk for almost 30 people.  Then I hung-out in the shade for a couple hours enjoying my office view, while answering questions.  My 4pm cultural history rim walk started 20 minutes late for one family and because we had shade, we didn’t walk.

On another hot day with the same schedule when the 4pm didn’t go I spent over an hour picking up litter around the Sunset Point parking lot on the forested side of the fence.  I had to keep telling myself the wind blew this trash in or I’d have been really angry about it all. Two visitors took pics of me doing it. Then I roved the rim for about an hour before calling it a day.

Short-horned lizard about 1”

Some days are perfect.  An old friend stopped by who I knew from the North Rim and lives in Kanab.  Later I crossed paths with a couple I met last February at Organ Pipe Cactus.

Another day at the end of the road the view from Yovimpa Point was reduced by the smoke haze from southern California fires.  Over a couple hours I presented several mini-talks about fire ecology and the Grand Staircase geology.

Driving back I stopped at several of the overlooks chatting with visitors and met some lovely people.  Plus enjoyed some different views than I usually see.

I don’t mean to sound whiny but am feeling a little burnt out, baked and fried, in more ways than one.  Heat, people, and the Bryce Canyon COVID summer wear on me.  But at least it’s not like last August at this time when I fell and broke both my wrists.  Healing has happened to about 99%.

Still weirdly wonderful at Bryce Canyon National Park.