We'd never heard of Cedar Breaks before, so we were not sure what to expect. Our campground had a brochure and the picture on the front looked amazing. Shaped like a hugh coliseum, the amphitheater is over 2,000 feet deep and over three miles in diameter. The huge bowl is filled with bright orange, pink and purple spires, columns, arches and canyons. We don't want to bore you with all the really cool stuff we learned about Cedar Breaks, but if you are interested, you can check out the brochure, Cedar Breaks Geology.
Great White had quite a workout today driving up from Panguitch, which is at 6,600 feet, to the scenic drive, at over 10,500 feet. Kathy also had a workout, since anything over 10,000 feet in elevation leaves her a bit breathless. We looked for an easy hike to help us acclimatize, and we found a trail guide online and decided to hike the two mile Alpine Pond Nature Trail. What we didn't count on was the fact at this elevation, there was still snow on the trail!
While the snow was not covering the entire area, it did seem to like to drift and pile up right along the trail. Luckily, another hiker had preceded us on the trail, so we didn't have as much trail-finding and trail-breaking as we might have had.
One of the highlights of the hike is the spring fed Alpine Pond. The water really is that strange color green shown below. One end of the pond was still frozen.
The pond made a perfect spot to stop for lunch. Here's Dave chowing down on his hummus and green chili spread sandwich on whole wheat - yum!
After lunch, we soldiered on, climbing over snow piles on our way to the view of Cedar Breaks. Our efforts were not in vain. The space is so expansive and the colors are so vivid.
It is not the Grand Canyon, but it was plenty far enough down to the bottom that Kathy couldn't look over the edge.
We were originally going to hike over to the Chessmen Ridge Overlook, but post-holing through snow drifts was taking its toll on Kathy. We made the hike an out-and-back rather than a loop. We then just drove over to the scenic overlook. Yep, the elevation was 10,467 feet (that's 3,190 meters for my British friends).
It is impossible to capture the entire amphitheater in one photos, so here is the view to the south.
And this is the view to the north.
And I couldn't resist adding this little guy. The little white block of limestone is perched on top of a little spire of red sandstone.
On the way back to Panguitch, we stopped at Panguitch Lake. Once a natural lake, it was damed and expanded to become a reservoir. This mountain lake is stocked with three different types of trout - rainbow, cutthroat and tiger.
Across the road from the lake is a fishing camp complete with country store and cafe. We poked our heads in and found the beer cooler. It didn't take long before we had a couple cold ones popped open and were enjoying the view from the porch. We were entertained by a couple of hummingbirds enjoying the feeders the owners set out.
The ride back down to Panguitch gave us a chance to view the immense valley we are located in. We can't wait to go visit the other parks.
Chat at you later!
Such beautiful places! =)
ReplyDeleteBrian Head UT