Road Trip 2025: Day 10

I did not sleep well last night. Every sound was magnified by concern, considering we were in the middle of no where and anything could happen. Plus, as expected, I could not get comfortable. Even though I was extremely tired, I woke up at six and could not fall back to sleep. It was too hot. The desert sun was already strong and baking the earth.

We are heading to Bryce Canyon National Park today. En Route we plan to stop at Fremont Indian State Park. My cousin recommended it after I wrote about my excitement seeing petroglyphs at Dinosaur National Monument. Within minutes of getting on the road we crossed back into Utah and Mountain Time. For an hour after, as we drove through the desert, it was completely desolate. For a good forty minutes, we didn’t even see another car on the road, and when one finally passed us we were surprised. There was no sign of civilization until randomly, off in the distance, we caught sight of a patch of green. As we drew closer, we realized it was a farm. A farm in the desert, twenty-four miles from the nearest town. I absolutely love the idea of living in a place completely removed from people, but even that felt a bit extreme to me.

Thank you Kerry for sending me to Fremont Indian State Park. I thoroughly enjoyed walking around and viewing the petroglyphs and pictographs. Unfortunately, the museum was closed, but G3 and I were still able to see the petroglyphs on the rock faces near the museum. The original petroglyphs are believed to have been designed by the Fremont People. Archeologists identify them as the Fremont Culture because the first evidence of their existence was found near the Fremont River. What they called themselves is lost to history. After the Fremont People disappeared from this area, Ute, Shoshone, and Paiute tribes traveled through the canyon to hunt and gather seeds. They too added their art to the rocks. Therefore, what we saw today was a blend of different cultures and the different styles indicate different eras.

We drove to see Newspaper Rock which,

allegedly, has more than 1000 petroglyph images, but even with binoculars, we failed to see them. The Cave of Hands was interesting. It was a wall covered in yellowish-orange and red handprints. It reminded me of the crafts G3 made when he was little using his handprints. The legend behind the red pictograph blanket was sad. One winter, while a tribe of Paiute were traveling through the area heading to their winter homes, a baby died. The tribe buried him, but his mother spent the season worried that he was cold. In the spring, she returned to the spot of his burial and painted a red blanket so that he could use it to stay warm. The blanket is still plainly visible, even from a distance.

G3 did not have much interest in the petroglyphs, however, he did enjoy playing with the atlatl—a spear thrower. It is a hunting tool that predates the bow and arrow. He—and I—got to throw spears at a bale of hay and a fake wolf. Years ago, we first tried out the atlatl at a Native American museum in Connecticut. We enjoyed it so much that Kati made one for us to do a demonstration with the Cub Scouts. The boys all had a great time taking turns with it.

After the state park, we stopped at Butch Cassidy’s home, the one he lived in for four years between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. We went inside the tiny log cabin, and sadly, everything is covered in bird poop. I was disappointed there weren’t interpretive signs to tell us about either his childhood or his life of crime.

Before entering Bryce Canyon National Park, we drove through Red Canyon National Forest. It was beautiful. I had Kati pull over so I could take pictures. The canyon walls are a vibrant red and the tops of them have been sculpted into some really cool shapes by the elements.

As always, we stopped in at the visitors center at Bryce before doing anything else. I got G3 a patch and we consulted the Ranger about where to go and what to do. Once we had a map and a plan, we went into town—a small touristy place near the entrance of the park—to get dinner since G3 was hungry. The food wasn’t great, but at least it was somewhat filling. We got ice cream for dessert and it was better than our meal had been.

We are camping in the park. We will stay here for four nights and use it as a base to explore other parks nearby. Longer day trips—when possible—are preferable to breaking down and setting up every day. The campground is large. They have 99 sites all small and squished together. We, however, got lucky again. Our site is slightly less claustrophobic than many of the others.

Bryce Canyon is gorgeous. It is so much prettier than the Grand Canyon. The walls

are a rust color with bands of white running through them. The walls of the canyon have been sculpted by torrential rain and melting snow which erodes the softer stone. Ice freezes and thaws, cracking the stone and forming hoodoos, which in some cases are reminiscent of battlements and in others are reminiscent of spires.

By the time we reached the canyon it was late evening and  the temperature had dropped. Since the air was comfortable, we went for a short three mile hike. The Ranger recommended the Queen’s and Navajo combination trail that starts at Sunset Point. It took us along the rim for a short bit before taking us into the canyon. It was a gentle descent, allowing us to take our time and enjoy the beauty surrounding us. The climb out of the canyon was much steeper and took us up a series of switchbacks. When we returned to the rim, the sun was setting, casting a pinkish hue over the clouds and canyon.

Back at the campsite, we had a small fire before retreating into our tents and going to bed.