Bryce Canyon City, UT to Panguitch Lake, UT – 52 miles
I woke up naturally to the sun yesterday morning around 730. After some oatmeal with bananas and coffee I went to explore Bryce Canyon National Park. Pedaled the bike about 3 miles to the Visitor’s Center where I was able to catch a shuttle to Bryce Point. I hiked the rim trail back by Inspiration Point and Sunset Point, about 3 miles I think. The overlooks of the canyon showed incredible natural features, shapes, and formations I didn’t even know rocks were capable of making. Almost felt like another planet.
I started riding around 11 after catching the shuttle back to the Visitor’s Center. It was a little hot, but some clouds quickly moved in to keep it relatively cool. The reprieve from the heat the last couple days has been nothing short of amazing. I was really starting to get sick of the heat.
Shortly after rejoining my route I summited the last of the two smaller passes and started going downhill into Red Canyon. There was a 14 mile bike path along this part of the route which was great. It’s amazing how much more enjoyable it is to ride on a bike path and not have to worry about vehicles. Also, I broke my mirror the other day, so it was a very welcomed change from the highway.
As I was descending out of Red Canyon I ran into an east bound rider. Her name was Robin and she looked as though she was in her 50s or 60s. We talked for a bit and gave each other some info on the route to come. She warned me of the heat through Nevada and said that she had rented a U-Haul and bypassed much of it because it wasn’t worth it. Not really what I wanted to hear as I was just starting to enjoy the cooler weather…
Near the end of the descent, as I was rolling into Panguitch, the wind picked up and I was riding into the most intense headwind I had for the whole trip. I decided to stop and grab some food and see if the wind would die down at all. I stopped at a Subway because it was Sunday and out here in Mormon country nothing is open on Sundays. Luckily they had wifi and I stayed awhile until I had drunk enough coffee that I wanted to get back on the bike.
The next challenge was the biggest pass in Utah – over 10500 ft. Nearly as high as the Monarch Pass over the continental divide in Colorado. It’s crazy because I never really thought of Utah as having these tall of mountains. The terrain difficulty here certainly rivals Colorado if not surpasses it. As I started the climb the scenery turned back into forested mountains and it was absolutely stunning. I saw a good amount of Mule Deer and a younger one was running through a field. When they run they kind of hop on all four legs, pretty cool.
I decided to stop around Panguitch Lake and I rode around the lake for a good while looking for a place to camp. They put all kinds of signs up saying don’t camp here and camp only in developed camp grounds, etc. but don’t tell you where the camp grounds are. It can be really frustrating when you ride down a long steep hill because you think the campground they are referring to might be down there only to find private property… Eventually I said screw it and rode a bit further past the lake to where I knew it was National Forest. I turned off on a gravel road and eventually found a good spot. I setup camp, made some dinner (vegetable beef soup and ramen noodles), and was out like a light.
