Day 64: Trees Growing Out of Rock

Wednesday August 3rd

Escalante, UT --> Bryce Canyon National Park

49 miles. +3642 ft. -1837 ft.

Hi dear readers, Sophia here to continue sharing the wonders of Utah! Easily the most surprising state on our journey so far.

I actually started writing this particular blog post on my 40-page $2 journal I got half-way through the trip because all my devices were dying/dead (fyi: I've been terrible at journaling every day but at least I have two tiny yellow flowers drying in the back pages!). A lot of my journaling has been short phrases attempting to capture the moments of awe that sweep by me as we bike.

On scenic byway 12: watching trees growing out of crevices in the rock

rocks like grand terraced fortresses

rising to the clouds on either side

I constantly wonder

should I stop take a picture? whenever one of those scenic turn-out signs pops up

but that would break the flow of -

And that's where my pen-and-paper blogging ended because I wasn't sure what to write next and also we were about to eat some delicious pie (stayed tuned for the next day's blog post!).

There's just something about rushing at top speed in aero-tuck position through a winding almost car-less road and out of the corner of your eye, you see the landscape change from meadow to pine forest to craggy rocks of red, yellow, and pink. That's Utah by bike. You want to stop and fill up your phone storage with photos but at the same time the wind blowing off the sweat from your face feels amazing and there's always more to see just a little further ahead.

bits of Bryce Canyon in the early whispers of a thunderstorm (i took this photo while biking!)

If you read the captions, you'll already know this but we biked straight into a thunder and lightning storm (shocking since most of us expected little to no rain in Utah). The thunder came merely two seconds after the lightning flashed (fun fact: you divide the time difference in seconds by 5 to find how many miles away the lightning struck!). Thankfully, we found a trailhead with a bathroom to shelter underneath while we called Franklin to come rescue us.

the colors are much more vivid in the rain! (i took this photo from our spot under the bathroom roof and I thought that capturing these two fat raindrops would be cool but the tiny ones scattered across the photo are nicer i think)

A few more highlights of the day (read the captions :) ): oops that looks like a frowny face

We ate lunch at 4pm, and a ravenous Sophia took the job of Trash Can for the first time on the trip (i.e. finish the rest of the food straight out of the pot)

a lizard friend! there was also an extremely friendly squirrel/chipmunk

getting ready for our first rodeo (I am wearing long skin-colored socks because that's just what you wear to a rodeo :P)

Probably my favorite event during the rodeo: they had little kids ride sheep (called mutton busting)

surprise chocolate cake for our dear Maxwell's 23rd birthday!!!!!