A Fabulous Final Day in Torrey, Utah

October 4-5, 2017
Torrey, Utah

Utah's Highway 12 is number two on Fox Travel's list of top ten most beautiful highways (in the world!). It's just a right turn out of our driveway for our day trip on this scenic route.

We start out through patches of golden Aspens, as we gain elevation the views stretch in all directions. Capitol Reef is just as beautiful from up here :-)

We climb to over 9,000 feet where cattle graze freely. The views are spectacular, but I feel better when we head down the other side. As we near the little village of Boulder we enter miles of petrified sand dunes. 

We climb up the other side above dark canyons and more red rock cliffs. It truly is a beautiful highway of wonderful diversity. 

We follow this interesting van for a few miles. Lasers? Yeah, no problem staying back....

Along the top of a deep ridge we enter Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. 

Highway 12 continues on to Bryce Canyon which is our next stop, but with two 8% grades, a 14% grade, and a narrow section with deep caverns on both sides, I think we'll take Highway 89 on travel day. We turn around at one of the view points after driving about 30 miles further than we originally planned. 

We have plans for dinner so we bypass a big meal at Hell's Backbone Grill (we will definitely come back for the chipotle meat loaf that looked so good in John and Pam's post), and grab a great salad next door at the Burr Trail Grill. 

We only saw part of it, but from what we experienced, the "most beautiful" claim is well deserved.

Almost two years ago we just missed Tim and Amanda in Borrego Springs, CA. I've been reading her blog for several years, and we finally catch up with each other again. They're boondocked near the national park and we arrange to meet at Cafe Diablo. In a town with mediocre eateries, this is a delightful surprise. 

Great conversation with fun people always goes by too quickly. I'm so glad we had this opportunity to get to know them better. The two couples next to us overhear that we're fulltimers, and we spend some time answering their questions about this life style we all love so much. It's always interesting to watch people's reactions :-))

I had to include the vegetable art - thanks Amanda and Tim for a fun evening.

Although not the incredible scenery of Highway 12, our drive on Thursday morning along Highway 89 is still pretty. Really, since we got to Salt Lake City a few weeks ago, all we've seen of Utah is beautiful.

Panguitch is another small, clean town near a couple national parks. With the elevation lower than Bryce it's a better stop for me. We pull into Hitch N Post RV Park and after a warm welcome from the helpful office staff we get set up. 

I've already changed dates twice here and she still gives me the option to change sites if our satellite doesn't connect through the large tree next to us. Of course that means it does connect :-)

This all gravel park includes a small motel and a handful of seasonal sites. Level, FHU 50 amps, good park WiFi and strong AT&T connection - it's a nice little park with tight spaces typical of parks in town.

Friday morning we're off to see our fifth national park in Utah - Bryce Canyon!