It is Autumn

Today was absolutely fantastic. Highway 12 which I had been following was really good between Escalante and Boulder. This is not surprising, as the cream from Escalante was still being delivered to Boulder by mule train in the 1940s, and the area was the last part of the US that was mapped because the canyons formed by the Escalante river were so complex. In fact I think I read somewhere today that Bryce Canyon is part of the Escalante river canyon formations.

I had breakfast in a cafe with a view of the river from way above it. Then I went down Burr Trail road, which goes through Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (not sure why some parks are monuments) to Capitol Reef National Park (where it becomes a dirt road) where I turned back. The Grand Canyon will have to be very special to be better than the incredible wall that the Escalante river has carved that you see as you come back along Burr Trail.

I continued on highway 12 which went to 9600 feet, and was overlooking the two parks, turned onto highway 24 which almost immediately started to go through Capital Reef, and then went to Goblin Valley Park.

While I was still on highway 12, I kept seeing yellow stuff at the tops of the hills, as they became cliffs, and I couldn't work out what it was, as the pines were all below the yellow stuff. It turned out to be birches in full autumn colours. This was really nice, as the canyon lands were below. I think the formation may be the grand staircase, but possibly not.

During the day I saw several sets of petroglyphs, but as they were all on sandstone, the were not very old - they were all AD rather than BC.

Goblin valley is well named, and nearby are a number of squarish rock formations that just seem to come out of the ground, and this one is called Grand Temple. Most of the goblins are all together in a huge amphitheatre, but three are separate.