Work, company, and exploring the Grand Staircase

More rain followed by increased temperatures and sunshine with a variety of smoke diminished views over the Grand Staircase geology and national monument.

July ended still supporting monsoon storms at Bryce Canyon.  Rained hard on my day off spent at home including hail, lightning, and thunder.  Sierra stays close by when it’s booming.  Wonder if the storm spooked the horse that galloped past followed by a cowboy-wrangler on horseback that herded it back to the corral below where I live.  Puddles in the road grew larger.

Motion caught my eye and a Golden Eagle stood soaked in a puddle.  It was there for measurable minutes while I took terrible photos through a rain streaked window.  Only the second time I’ve positively identified a Golden at Bryce.  Lightning crashed less than a mile away and the RV shook.  Made me glad to be grounded with rubber tires.  The storm cell hung overhead for quite a while.

Back to work Sunday with a 10am start, no programs, and way too many hours at the visitor center.  By CDC rules we are back to requiring masks worn inside the building, staff and visitors, and limited entry to 80 people.  A most boring job, other than people watching, sitting at the door with a counter app on the ipad.  Gets especially difficult with lightning filled storms intermittently causing Rangers to move in and out of the building.

Ranger R, a botanist who has a love of galls, gave me a Japanese gall called Meowie Jane, Actinidia polygama, Silvervine, a catnip replacement and asked for a quote how Sierra reacted to it.  I don’t feed her catnip very often and she mostly ignores toys filled with it.  However, when I held the gall towards her she quickly responded with a sniff.  When I put it on the floor she rubbed all over it then started batting it around like a soccer ball.  Scored three goals under furniture and as goalie I dutifully retrieved them.  Hope we don’t get in trouble and wonder if Meowie Jane is legal in Utah, or the USA. 😉

The next morning started at the information desk for an hour then off to present the 11am hoodoo geology talk.  Because I had to cover an hour as door counter at 2pm I roved after the presentation and before lunch, which is basically hanging out at Sunset Point and answering questions.  Day ended with two hours back at the information desk.  Way too much time at the desk, IMHO.

However, I looked forward to the next two days going to Rainbow Point and my happy place with the huge view from Yovimpa Point.  Also meant getting up early to open the visitor center and staff the door for two hours.  Morning coffee at 5:30am requires a heater by my side and a warm lap cat.  Temperatures range from low 50s to low 80s throughout the day at 8000-9100 feet in elevation.

Yovimpa rises just over 9100 feet at the southern tip of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.  The 100 mile view makes me feel on a mountain summit but I let a vehicle do the climb.  Sadly a smoky haze from hard to say where diminished the view to about half.  Yet could still see the typical four out of five cliff steps of the geologic Grand Staircase, the story I share of what can be seen.

On the return drive I stopped at a couple overlooks.  Not sure I’d ever had space to park at Black Birch overlook.  Every place offers a different view.

At Natural Bridge, where many stop yet don’t stay long, I saw a Peregrine Falcon and took some lousy yet identifiable photos.

Same schedule on Wednesday—my Friday—and between home and work my NPS keys disappeared off my pant loop.  I retraced my steps several times and looked between the seats.  Maybe my eyes just aren’t too open at that early hour.  After opening and two hours of door counting I took off to Yovimpa with hotdog lunch on the way. Was very quiet out there, and once again smoky with diminished view.  Ranger T came out for a while on project time.

Stopped at Natural Bridge and had the entire place to myself, briefly.

So I enjoyed the view of what I call the torch hoodoo.  I was able to leave a little early knowing with Lynda’s short visit she’d probably beat me home.  That’s what happened and was of course just fine especially as she brought home-made lasagna for dinner.  I searched again for the missing keys and found them almost gone between the truck seats.

My first day off I don’t like to be rushed yet we did leave the park before noon.  With Lynda as my driver and guide we explored east on SR12 past where I’d been before.  Such a treat being behind the camera instead of the wheel.  OK, so I do shoot while driving but not with the big camera.  Distant views were obscured by the smoky haze that settled on the horizon.  Temperatures rose into the 90s so our stops where short yet sweet.

  Calf Creek Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Wow, was my word of the day as we traveled across this sandstone landscape of benches and canyons where sometimes flowing water created brilliant green strips through the mostly soft white and warm pillows of rock.

  Deer Creek Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Escalante River Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

At Boulder we turned onto the Burr Trail and continued through the dramatic and contrasting landscape of the Grand Staircase National Monument.

One place cool enough to walk with Bailey, a small slot canyon.  Waited only briefly for a mom and lots of noisy kids to leave and allow their echo to disappear as we soaked up the rock cooled and shaded air.

Our return route was via the famous Hell’s Backbone Grill and Farm in Boulder.  More Wow!

We both started out with an Orchard Zinger cocktail that went down sweet with a zing.  Dinner was served on the patio, with Bailey in his bed just over the low rail.

Lynda ordered her favorite Jenchilladas and I the Lemony Cluck.  Hard to describe how delicious.

Their apricot harvest is almost over so I bought a bottle of Apricot Smash.  I will most certainly return to this area in the fall when cooler and eat here again.

Second day off was boring catchup and chores then back to work Saturday starting with two hours as the door counter again followed by the 11am hoodoo talk.  I realized it was smoky when I left the building but was still taken back by the diminished view and hazy amphitheater full off hoodoos.  The Aquarius Plateau only 14 miles east was totally obscured along with the valley below.

After the talk I once again roved in the area and good thing as a couple came to tell me the lady had sat on a tree root up the trail and a rattlesnake struck her boot.  Somehow I didn’t hear her scream but she was fine.  I called it in and they lead us to the tree.  Sure enough, a Great Basin Rattlesnake still hanging around.  Ranger R got the snake catching kit and quickly caught, bucketed, and relocated it.

Sunday was my late day and began at noon, yes once again as the door counter.  At our current visitation it’s not hard to maintain 80 people in the building with some being reminded to mask up, and we have masks to give away.  But when two tour buses traveling together arrived a little chaos ensued.  Especially when one of their guides asked public to leave the building so the group could all get in at once and overflow the theater with a current 25 seat capacity.  Once the dust settled and they were all outside again I asked to speak to the person in charge and told her they needed to plan better while traveling during a pandemic and suggested they break the group up, especially if going into federal buildings.  She apologized and told me they’d called ahead, sorry no record of that or we would have more people to deal with this.  I can only hope the same didn’t occur at their next stop.  After dinner I covered the information desk a couple hours then helped closed the visitor center.  When I arrived at 8:25pm to set up for my 9pm slide presentation about Wildlife there were already people sitting in the outdoor amphitheater.  Had a crowd of about 50 including two obnoxious, not precocious, kids that I nipped in the bud after three interrupting comments about volcanoes.  I have to keep on time, and subject.

The next day I started 10am at the information desk and two hours later was informed our tap water is possibly contaminated, all public water access is closed, we are on a “boil tap water” order.  Turns out one of three wells tested positive for E coli before it hit the chlorination process.  That well was closed and the water being retested.  I presented the 2pm hoodoo talk and roved until 5:30 when I called it a day.

Tuesday was my Friday and back out to Yovimpa Point after two hours of door counting.  Most of the smoky haze was gone but clouds danced overhead with an increasing chance of rain through the afternoon.  I hung out from 11:30-3 talking to many visitors about the Grand Staircase geology and national monument seen below this awe inspiring view.  Then it started to sprinkle and as I was walking away I saw a Peregrine Falcon and snapped a few lousy shots.

The rain didn’t last long so I stopped at Natural Bridge to rove about an hour watching the clouds continue to build.

End of work week with ten days off.  How did I manage that?  Well the first is a paid project day I took off for mental health.  Then it’s my three day weekend.  I have the first four days of next week off to drive to St George and get help taking the camper off the truck for future repairs when the temperatures drop there.  Then I’m back to two normal days off.  I could get used to this.