Smoky Mountain Road
We'd spent the day before on Hole In The Rock Road and it was hot and sunny all day. It looked like our weather would change, and the morning was overcast and almost chilly. There were no complaints as we enjoyed our morning drive. The trail was easy to find in town, and we were soon on dirt.
We spent the entire previous day looking at the huge Straight Cliffs, and then we spent the next day on the other side. The other side was made of small hills instead of the dramatic cliffs, but we enjoyed the desert scenery.
We passed the end of Death Ridge, knowing that was our return point much later in the day. Our trail twisted and turned across the huge Kaiparowits Plateau, and we definitely enjoyed the drive.
At the intersection with Left Hand Collet Canyon we found a cabin and a corral. There were lots of cows and evidence of cows all around, and the corral didn't look big enough for all of them. We'd be doing that trail in a couple of days, so we continued on.
We weaved through tight canyons and over small hills. Then, almost suddenly, we popped out onto a long stretch of flat and mellow road. We picked up the pace and soon found ourselves on the edge of a huge canyon. We could see the water of Glen Canyon. There was a big overlook at that point where the straight road turned curvy, so we stopped for lunch.
We had a great lunch with a nice breeze, overcast skies, and warm-but-not-hot temperatures. Unfortunately, the lighting didn't work well for pictures but it was still gorgeous. We spent quite a while at the overlook just taking it all in.
The trip down the side of the mountain was fun and scenic. We saw the only car on the road with us at that point, coming the other way. The passengers of the lone SUV took lots of pictures of us as we passed. It looked like a happy group.
At the bottom, the trail was mellow and it was insanely windy. The Moon was weird and really cool. We thought about checking out Crosby Canyon Road but we weren't sure we could spare the time. Later, we were happy we skipped it because we got back to Escalante in the dark.
We didn't find a gas station in Big Water, but we weren't planning on one. We thought we'd need to head down to Lake Powell for gas, so we started that way. We were surprised and happy to find gas a lot closer, just a short distance down the pavement. We even got ice cream.
It was an enjoyable drive, and everyone was really having a good time. We turned around and headed back west on the highway to find our next trail and our next adventure, setting out to complete the Grand Staircase Loop.
