Travel Day

21 May 2015

The original plan for today was to ferry across Lake Powell to Bullfrog and try something call the Burr Trail which is a back road across the Escalante Escarpment, a large region of slick-rock canyons.  This is a short-cut to Bryce Canyon that adds about a day to the run.  On three different trips through this area in the past 3X years, I've been on the verge of attempting this route, but was never equipped to wait a few days for help if not successful.

On inquiry to a local who seemed familiar with the route, he just snickered and said "Try it if you want, but don't expect to have a front or rear bumper at the end, assuming you don't just slide off the side of the switchback climb out of the canyon before you even get to the end.

OK - Plan B which was a whimpy but beautiful drive from Halls Crossing to Hanksville, through 130  miles of classic canyon country, with nary a town in between except Hite and Fry Canyon, which as far as I could tell, together, have a population of approximately zero.  (To be honest, Halls and Hanksville barely qualify as "towns"either, but we did spot moving humans.)

Stopped at ruins we spotted on the way to Halls yesterday.

Lunch Break

Boat Ramp to Lake Powell at Hite, UT
(Notice that there is no water at the end of the boat ramp.)
((Hence the previously mentioned population problem.))

On arrival in Hanksville we stopped at "Blondi's World Famous Shakes and Burgers".  Extremely friendly service and outstanding fries.  An extended family of, it looked to be six or seven, owned/staffed the establishment.  The lady owner offered that they just bought it a few weeks ago and she was training sons and in-laws in the essentials of the restaurant business.  We were the only customers at the time so I have to say we got really personalized service.  It'll be a tough startup, but they deserve to be successful.

Good night from a dispersed campsite outside of Goblin Valley State Park.

Brad and Val