Day 24

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States: Utah
Miles driven: 143
Miles hiked: 3.5
Slept: In the Bunny mobile at the trailhead for Mossy Cave on the side of the road, Highway 12, UT.
10 words or less: Lost Wave lottery…again. Saw traveling family again! Breathtaking Bryce!

Missed it by that much

This time trying for the Wave lottery I was determined to be first in line. I was going to win it, damn it! Outside waiting for the drawing, I met a guy named Alex that had been traveling by motorcycle all through South America, Central America and Mexico and had decided to keep going and wind his way up to Alaska. We admired each others transportation set ups and chatted briefly about where we’d been. His trip was quite inspiring! There’s a lot of places in South America I’d like to explore now. Check out his travel blog here.

Sadly, I lost the lottery again…by one number, again. I won’t say who, but someone told me they were going to go anyway if they lost again the next day. Here is the point in my trip that I really regret I didn’t go for it. Next time I’m getting in there, no question.

Next I was off to revisit the areas in Escalante that I had only seen from the car. THIS was the reason I turned left at the T in road. I’d been on Hwy 89 a lot, so I decided to take a backway through Johnson Canyon, a lovely drive down a quiet country road, a good chunk of which was gravel. Eventually it spit me back out onto Hwy 89 at the little town of Alton. I weaved up North then East and into Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce is stunning. Like many places I saw, the photos don’t come close to representing the grandeur when it’s there in front of you. The main hiking trails are well worn, tourist-friendly paths. I got some visitor center tips on a path to take that would combine parts of three different trails to give me some solitude on most of the hike. I hiked Bryce point, Peekaboo loop, Navajo loop and Wall street and exited at Sunset point. Steep stuff! Glad I ate my Wheaties.

Midway through my hike, a family rounded a corner ahead of me. Instantly, one of the girls and I pointed at each other and shouted “Hey! I know you!” It was Megan, Jessica, Joe and Joseph, the family I’d met picnicking in Kanab two days earlier. “Weren’t you going to Arizona?” Joe, the dad, asked. It was nice to see them. We snapped a quick shot and said our goodbyes. I almost wanted to go with them and chat more. I was starting to get a little lonely.

Rain clouds began to gather, so I spent the rest of my time driving to all the vista points in the park. Years ago, my friend April had told me how much she loved Bryce. I’ve never forgot that. Initially when I had to skip it to keep on schedule to get to Zion, I was heart-broken. I drove to the highest point in the park, snapped a photo on my cell phone and texted it to April, right then and there. Thanks April! You were sooooo right!

As the sun started to set I decided to call my parents. I hadn’t told them I was on this trip until now. Back onto highway 12 (have I mentioned how amazing hwy 12 is?) I drove till I found a good spot to pull over and sleep for the night. I found a nice parking lot at Mossy Cave, which happened to have a pit toilet on site – hooray! I was right off the highway, but it wasn’t too heavily traveled that late and I popped in my ear plugs. Just before drifting off, behind my eyelids I saw flashing lights approaching. Oh crap! I was going to be told I couldn’t sleep there. But no! It was a small caravan of pilot cars, leading the way safely for a couple of bicyclists that must have been on a cross country trek. I closed my eyes and dreamed of bicyclists riding through the Wave.