Escalante, UT to Cortez, CO
Breakfast was obtained at the restaurant associated with our motel. We shared a Denver omelette and it was LARRAPIN good!
The guy in the office at the Circle D Motel in Escalante told me that Hwy 12 east of Escalante was the most scenic of the whole "scenic 12" route. He was right. The scenery varied from rocks to mountain forests and it was all beautiful, except for the 20 minute delay for road construction.
At Torre we turned eastbound on Hwy 24 through Capitol Reef National Park, another pretty area. We did not stop to do anything, just drove through and took pictures.
At Hanksville we stopped for gas and a little snack to hold us over until lunch (that would be late again today). The convenience store at the gas stop was built into the rock wall.
With guacamole flavored chips in hand we departed Hanksville southbound on Hwy 95. This took us through the northeast end of the Glen Canyon Recreation Area and over the Colorado River. In this area an old town named Hite was covered by Lake Powell when it filled up in the 1960's.
Our last tourist stop of the day was at the Natural Bridges National Monument. We drove through and stopped to see two of the bridges; Sipapu and Owachomo. Sipapu was the largest with a span of 268 feet and a height of 220 feet.
We stopped for lunch in Blanding, UT before driving on into Cortez. We found our motel and then went to gas up the car, clean the windshield, and get some ice cream at DQ for our dinner. We topped it all off with a swim in the motel pool.
It was a hot one today. The highest temperature we saw on the car thermometer was 100 degrees. It was nice to be in the air conditioned car.
To see all the pics taken today click on the following link: Escalante-Cortez
The guy in the office at the Circle D Motel in Escalante told me that Hwy 12 east of Escalante was the most scenic of the whole "scenic 12" route. He was right. The scenery varied from rocks to mountain forests and it was all beautiful, except for the 20 minute delay for road construction.
At Torre we turned eastbound on Hwy 24 through Capitol Reef National Park, another pretty area. We did not stop to do anything, just drove through and took pictures.
At Hanksville we stopped for gas and a little snack to hold us over until lunch (that would be late again today). The convenience store at the gas stop was built into the rock wall.
With guacamole flavored chips in hand we departed Hanksville southbound on Hwy 95. This took us through the northeast end of the Glen Canyon Recreation Area and over the Colorado River. In this area an old town named Hite was covered by Lake Powell when it filled up in the 1960's.
Our last tourist stop of the day was at the Natural Bridges National Monument. We drove through and stopped to see two of the bridges; Sipapu and Owachomo. Sipapu was the largest with a span of 268 feet and a height of 220 feet.
We stopped for lunch in Blanding, UT before driving on into Cortez. We found our motel and then went to gas up the car, clean the windshield, and get some ice cream at DQ for our dinner. We topped it all off with a swim in the motel pool.
It was a hot one today. The highest temperature we saw on the car thermometer was 100 degrees. It was nice to be in the air conditioned car.
To see all the pics taken today click on the following link: Escalante-Cortez
Comments