Utah Vacation-Cedar Breaks

Today, the sky was a little different that usual. The sunrise had more color and the color spanned a greater width of the sky. At the time, I didn’t give it much thought.

The plan for the day was to drive up to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Cedar Breaks is known for its hoodoos, fins, windows, and colorful layers of rock. We ate and were on our way before 10:00 AM. The drive was less than two hours and climbed from about 5000 feet in Kanab all to way up to over 10,000 feet at the park. On the way, we noticed that the clarity of the scenery was not as sharp as it had been on our previous drives. We also noticed that there were a lot of RV’ers on the road, presumably heading home after the long Labor Day weekend.

We arrived at Cedar Breaks after 11:00. We noted that it was only 71 degrees, which was a pretty big drop from what we were feeling up to this point. We checked in at the payment booth and were able to use our receipt from Lake Mead and upgrade to a full annual National Park pass. No more park fees for a year. We walked along the path for a little way and came to an information center. We talked to a Park Ranger and she told us that the haze was due to all the wild fires burning in California. Later, Andrew found a sky view app that clearly showed the smoke moving East from California into Utah. This explained the colorful sunrise, but it also dampened my enthusiasm for seeing the sights in their best light.

We explored the area and walked over to the Point Supreme Overlook. I was amazed at the view. It’s mind boggling trying to imagine what this place must have once looked like and what forces were in action to create the current scene. That said, I still wished that the sky was clear and that we could see all the details in the distance.

The view from the Point Supreme Overlook

Next, we followed the Ramparts Trail to Spectra Point and Ramparts Overlook. The trail rose and fell for a total elevation change of 400 feet over two miles. The views along the way were amazing, but just not as nice as I knew they would be on a clear day. The hike back up was pretty tough on Andrew and Susan and we stopped many times to take a break. Eventually, we made it back to the top and headed for the car to grab lunch.

The view from Spectra Point

We grabbed our cooler and food from the car and walked to the picnic tables near the Visitor Center. We shared a table with a man who once lived in Tukwila, Washington. He worked for Boeing back in the heyday when the 747 was first developed.

After lunch, we drove along the park highway and stopped at all the overlooks. As the day proceeded, the winds started picking up and by the time we reached the last overlook, I felt like I was going to be blown over as I walked to the viewpoint. Luckily, the wind was blowing away from the drop off.

At this point, we had seen everything and were too tired to tackle the Rattlesnake Creek Trail, so we headed for home. We decided to go back the long way. We first drove North to the town of Brian Head. It has a ski area and there were lots of people there taking their mountain bikes up the lift and riding back down. We also passed the trail head of the Twisted Forest hike that some reviewers described as the best in the world and others say to add it to your bucket list. Given the amount of haze, the crazy wind, and the attraction of the best hike in the world, I plan to go back on a clear, sunny day.

Back in Kanab, Susan wanted to get some groceries, so we stopped at Honey’s Market. While Susan shopped, Andrew and I walked a few blocks to Big Al’s Burgers. The place was pretty busy and we were told that it would be a 30 minute wait for food. I said that was fine, we just want shakes. We got our shakes and walked back to the grocery store to wait for Susan. Back at the condo, we noticed that the sun was red. There was no visible sunset tonight.

Red sun hours before sunset

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