Wednesday, August 29, 2012. Day 4, Price to Bryce Bicycle Ride: Boulder to Escalante.
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Map and Elevation Change graph for Day 4.
x-axis: starts at zero miles, each hatch mark equals 10 miles.
y-axis: starts at 5000 ft. each hatch mark equals 500 ft.
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Early morning's low light and cool temperatures accompanied the cyclists as they left Boulder at 7:30 a.m. Today’s short ride included a series of ups and downs along Utah Highway 12, a designated Scenic Byway through the canyon country of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
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| Undulating Highway 12 winds its way through the Monument. |
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Tim overlooks the canyon containing Upper and Lower Calf Creek
Falls and Calf Creek Recreation Area. |
Calf Creek Recreation Area is the main attraction along this stretch of highway. The six-mile round-trip hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls and the four mile round-trip hike to Upper Calf Creek Falls provide excellent examples of the geologic and scenic wonders of this region. Tim and I have hiked both trails in the past; however we didn’t take the time for this side trip today.
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| Along the Lower Calf Creek Falls trail. |
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| Upper Calf Creek Falls. |
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Lower Calf Creek Falls.
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Leaving Calf Creek the road climbs through multi-colored sandstone formations, then descends through ranchland to the town of Escalante. Tim and Mark rolled into town by 11:00 a.m. and we found our luxury B&B, the Slot Canyons Inn, 5 miles west of there. We arrived too early for check-in—what to do instead? We decided on a trip to Peek-A-Boo and Spooky slot canyons in the National Monument. These two slot canyons, although non-technical, are full of challenging climbs and narrow passageways. Click here to read my report about our day of action and adventure in the slots.
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The arrow is pointing to Tim as he climbs a hill between Calf Creek
and Escalante. If you can't see the bright jersey, click on the photo
to enlarge. |
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This photo illustrates why Highway 12 was
designated a National Scenic Byway. |
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| Tim and Mark, rolling into the town of Escalante. |
After our adventures in the slot canyons we returned to the appropriately named Slot Canyons Inn and savored meals of local grass-fed beef while dining alfresco at The North Creek Grill, on-site at the B&B. Everyone agreed—this was our favorite day of the journey so far!
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This piece of tile work graces the
front wall of the Slot Canyons Inn. |
To view the other four days of the Price to Bryce bicycle adventure, click on the following links:
