We awoke in the dark, to the sound of rain dripping outside our door. Falling back did not result in a lot of extra sleep. When it was light enough to see outside we saw that it was snowing. No rush to leave as the long hike we were planning was suddenly not going to be an option. So we took our time, and enjoyed the scenic drive and lots of scenic overlooks from Capital Reef to Bryce, with a little side trip down the Burr Trail.

Our first little hike was to the singing canyon.

Then we stopped at this amazing overlook about 17 miles down the Burr Trail. The trail goes for 74 miles before turning into a dirt road, and somehow connecting to a Lake Powell ferry. The overlook was far enough for us.

Here is a view looking back down the trail.

After a delicious lunch at the Burr Trail Burger joint, we drove through Escalante and enjoyed some great views.

We finished up the day with a great late afternoon hike in Bryce Canyon. It was cold and snowy when we checked in to the lodge. But we decided to head over to the rim anyway to check out the views. As we got there the sun started to peek out. We hiked from the Sunset Viewpoint to the Sunrise Viewpoint. About 3 miles, with a solid climb to get out of course. It was great to get down in the canyon out of the wind. The longer we were down there the sunnier it got and the views just got better with every step.

Tomorrow will be a long day in the car, driving from Bryce to Indio. Maybe through Zion depending on road conditions in the morning.

We love to use the drive to California each Fall to visit some of the national parks. But it is tricky to find a national park to visit this time of year. Most things are shutting down, and in many parks the scenic drives are closing, and the risk of snow increases every day. Our original plan had been to visit Great Basin, but park officials closed the scenic drive two weeks ago. So we rerouted to Capital Reef. We are glad we did. The drive in was spectacular, going past Goblin Valley state park. As you approach from the North, its not hard to imagine you are seeing a goblin sleeping on its back.

What was so great about this time of year is the contrast of the yellow leaves on the Cottonwoods and Aspens, both as you approach the park, and as you drive through.

There are many interesting hikes in the park. For our schedule we chose do do the Hickman Bridge, which is about two miles and fairly easy. The views are great.

Or in some cases spectacular!

We also did a much shorter hike to Sunset Point, This was fantastic because we were the ONLY people on the trail, so we had the point all to ourselves to enjoy 360 degrees of viewing.

Today the plan is to make our way down to Bryce Canyon. Its cold and raining so we might not see as much as we had hoped, then Monday we will hop on the freeway and make our way to Indio! Can’t wait to reconnect with all our friends, and get back on the golf course and pickleball court.

Yosemite

The plan was to go to Napa. But we have been to Napa in fact we had been to Napa already this year. So instead we decided to try Yosemite. Its a lot further drive from Mountain View but we love our national parks and so this was a nice chance to take a long weekend break and visit someplace we had never visited before.

As with most visits to a national park words don’t do it justice and neither do my pictures, but here goes.

After a seemingly endless drive in traffic to get out of Mountain View and especially someplace called “Old Gilroy” we spent our first night in Oakville. We arrived late, but just in time to get the last Pizza of the night from the friendly proprietor of Sugar Pine Pizza. We were ready to set off for Mariposa grove in the morning to see the giant redwoods.

From there we drove out to glacier point where we had a magnificent view of Half Dome. This is definitely one of the highlights of Yosemite. It is truly amazing, and the drop off from glacier point to the valley floor below is really breathtaking.

We did a short hike at Glacier Point and then drove back and made a stop at the Sentinel Dome trailhead. This would be our good hike for the day. We wondered at first if we could really get to the top of Sentinel dome but we found that we could and the views were definitely worth it. We were really tired after the hike and more than happy to check in to the Majestic Yosemite Inn. Right there on the floor of the valley we had views of Half dome and El Capitan! Because it was early fall the waterfalls were basically dried up so now we have a reason to go back again some spring!

The next morning we planned on hiking to mirror lake to see the morning views of Half Dome reflected in the clear calm waters. Umm... Little did we know that mirror lake is becoming a Meadow. Its part of the natural order of things, but it was a little disappointing after hiking two miles to find no water! Usually we are so good at researching these things!

We had plenty of day left so we decided to make the drive to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It has some good hiking too although we only did a little as it was super hot when we got there. The reservoir is beautiful and its amazing to think that this reservoir supplies drinking water to San Francisco.