SW Road Trip - Day 3

Page, AZ to Panguich via North Rim

Our plan for the morning was to drive to Kanab, UT and enter The Wave lottery at 9 A.M. The Wave (google it) is a rock formation that the Park Service only issues 20 permits for per day, drawn at random each morning, ie its rare to win. Unfortunately, we got F-ed up by the time change as Navajo Nation and Page, AZ do not observe Daylight Savings. Realizing we were going to miss the lottery, we headed south to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon through Kaibab National Forest. Its a beautiful drive though dry pine forests and alpine meadows. The trees were a sight for sore eyes after a couple days of scorched red rocks and dirt. We even found a patch of snow on hiding out on the north face of a slope. 

To say The Grand Canyon is massive in an understatement. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. We hiked to Bright Angel Point near the visitor center and then drove northeast to Vista Encantada. A short scramble off trail from the parking lot brought us to a rocky outcropping with a great view where we cooked up some mashed potatoes, black beans, cheese sticks, and coffee. 

Back on the road, it was a 3+ hour drive back up to Bryce Canyon. 

We pulled into Bryce Canyon just before sunset and headed right to Sunset Point. Compared to the Grand Canyon and other canyons we had seen thus far, Bryce was the most detailed. The thousands of banded spires each seamed to be carved with such precision. At dusk we hiked a shortways down the Navajo Loop trail. I really wish we could have spent more time than the hour or so we had there. Pulled into our hotel in Panguich, but it was late and all the restaurants were closed.