May 17th, 2021

Our first official day in Bryce Canyon

We left the KOA in Cannonville in our shorts and short sleeve shirts only to get about 8 miles down the road and find ourselves waiting for road construction. Be prepared to wait for road construction when you visit any of the National Parks out West. These are places that get snow in the winter or bad weather and road repairs can only be done in the summer months. Generally, traffic won't be held up for a long time but just know IT WILL HAPPEN! As we were waiting at the first road construction site it started raining, then it started sleeting and then finally we got a bit of mixed snow and sleet. It was the craziest thing we had ever seen...and we are from Texas where our weather can't make up its mind.

Because of the quick change in weather, we chose to head down to the end of the park and work our way back since most of the turnouts would be on the canyon viewing side. It worked out great and only had to wait for parking in one location for about 4 minutes. Not too bad!

The skies were pretty gray but it just added to the ambiance of the day.

After Robert ran in and got his Stamp for Bryce Canyon National Park, we headed back to Cannonville to get some lunch and then thought we would head over to Kodachrome Basin State Park. Instead, we found an OHV trail that took us to Willis Creek Slot Canyon on BLM land. BLM in this context means, Bureau of Land Management. On BLM land, you can camp for free. Just know that you will have no hook ups at all. But hey, for a couple of days, if a site is level enough, we are game to do it in the future.

Willis Creek Slot Canyon is a bit of a hike into from the unimproved parking lot. To get there you take Skagumpah Road. It's about 6.1 miles in. Make sure to check the road before you go for high water or flooding. It was very dry the day we did it and had no problems with our 2018 Jeep Wrangler. At that time, we just had the standard tires and I don't think we even aired them down.

Once you get to the parking lot, there is a little sign that sends you on your way. There is no other signage but it's a pretty clear path and you can't get lost. The other nice thing is that you can bring your dog on this kind of hike. Most of the time we kept Bruce Wayne on his leash but there were areas where he let him go "native". He had a blast!

Once you start heading back, make sure to stop at the top of the hill before you head back to the main road. You will get the most awesome picture of the valley!

Stay tuned for more adventures of "Grounded but Still Going!"