Day 22 – Kodachrome Basin State Park & Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

Megan’s Take

Today we traveled down scenic highway 12 from Bryce Canyon UT to Torrey UT. The views are AMAZING. From a random Google search today, I actually discovered that Car and Driver magazine rated this as one of the top 10 scenic drives in the U.S.

Our first stop on the drive was Kodachrome Basin State Park. We did the 3 mile Panorama trail, which both kids hiked on their own. The trail passes around a lot of geological formations and was relatively easy in terms of elevation change.

Then we drove to Escalante, giving the kids time to relax en route, and stopped at the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park to hike the 1 mile main trail which has petrified wood scattered around the trail.

(Emilia hiked it with encouragement, but Emmett told us he “wanted to relax.” So he got a ride in the hiking carrier, during which he took a power nap. Afterwards, he told us that he “really liked” that trail.) I wasn’t sure what petrified wood would look like. It’s much more colorful than I had expected.

We all thought it was interesting seeing “wood turned into rock.” There was a small rock shop outside the park that sells petrified wood specimens, and I had told Emilia that she could come with me to the shop if she hiked the 1 mile trail. So after our hike, Emilia and I (plus Emmett) bought small pieces of petrified wood there. Down the road, however, there was a rock stand with little kids. We had passed them a couple times to and from the park, and they were patient and enthusiastic in waving their rock stand sign. Instead of lemonade, they were selling rocks, and I wanted to humor them. We stopped in front of their stand, and they were very excited to show me what they had. Well they had a huge piece of petrified wood that they sold me for $40. They gave me a really good deal on it, and I’m glad I could support their entrepreneurship.

The rest of the afternoon was scenic driving from Escalante through Boulder to Torrey. Phil and I stopped, took pictures, and enjoyed the view while the kids played, then fought and complained about being hungry for the rest of the drive. We rolled into Wonderland RV Resort – pros: spacious site, scenic views, friendly horse in the field right behind us; con – no pool or playground, MOSQUITOES.

Phil’s Take

Kodachrome Basin State Park was definitely worth the time and effort to hike it. I was quite impressed that Emmett hiked the whole 3 miles himself, though I was not there for a portion of it. There were two offshoots from the main trail we were on that Megan didn’t want to bother with taking the kids on, so I went alone. The first was called the Secret Passage. I happened upon a cool bowl-shaped area that was obviously the reason they established the trail.

Right around the corner, I saw three rock formations that looked like teepees.

The other area I saw alone was the Panorama Viewpoint, which gave a great view of the park overall.

After we got back into the truck, we drove to the end of the road in the park and I was able to catch this panorama of the horseshoe shaped cliffs (while standing on the top of the camper for a superior view).

All in all, I’d say this was a beautiful state park, and far exceeds anything we have in Indiana.

The drive to Escalante Petrified Forest State Park was short, and while beautiful, paled in comparison to the drive after that. There are some pictures in the gallery along that route. What Megan didn’t mention about Escalante Petrified Forest State Park was that there was a reservoir that we got a good look at near the end of our hike.

The drive from Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef on UT-12 cannot be oversold. I think in terms of scenic drives, this one was the best, which is a huge contributor to why today had more pictures than any other so far.

There were multiple valleys we traveled through, including two major ones. The first snuck up on us, with us landing at this stop after rounding a bend. We had no idea this was coming.

This vista looks across many miles of barren rock with very little vegetation and overlooks the Million Dollar Road, not to be confused with the Million Dollar Highway we drove near the beginning of our trip between Durango and Ouray.

After driving across most of what you see here, we found ourselves in a canyon that had a coffee shop with the most incredible view. The parking is above the shop, which is where I took this panorama from. The shop is around to the right just below the ledge I was standing on.

After going through that canyon, we climbed again and found ourselves overlooking yet another valley with a huge beautiful canyon (seen as the featured image of this post). I grabbed this panorama at the top of one of the hills.

After finishing our drive along the ridge that overlooked that valley, we came into view of the valley where I think Capitol Reef National Park is located. There was a vista with a great view of this valley as well where I was able to capture this panorama.

It was raining a bit as I was setting up and getting dinner ready. I had to go outside right after it quit and it appeared that there was a cloud of gnats at the door to greet me. I was just sitting a pot outside, so I was brief. I discovered only after I came back inside that they were not gnats, they were mosquitoes. This place is not going to be pleasant. I’m hoping the hikes are nothing like this and it’s just something to do with the irrigation or other circumstances in this little town.

That’s all from my updates, you can see the rest of the pictures, and there are a ton, in the gallery below.