Start Location: Sedona, AZ
Ending Location: Tropic, UT
Miles Today: 382
Trip Miles: 3974
States Visited: 8
National Parks: 7
National Monuments: 3
Low Temp: 59.5° F
High Temp: 94.7° F
Min Elevation: 3819'
Max Elevation: 9120'
Route Map:
National Parks 2012 - Day 12
Unfortunately the 28 mile ride out of Sedona this morning was not
quite as much fun as the ride in last night. There was a huge
storm there overnight but it was not raining when we left the motel.
Of course it started raining before we even got out of Sedona and
rained all the way to Flagstaff. All those tight turns seem a
little more precarious when the roads are wet. We also got wet
but dried off fairly quickly once the rain stopped.
We drove through Flagstaff and then headed north on route 89 where we bypassed the Wupatki National Monument since we were on a mission to get to Bryce today. We stopped in Page, AZ for a quick lunch and then drove through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument on our way to Kanab, UT where we made another short stop.
From Kanab we continued north on 89 to route 12 where we turned east and headed to Bryce Canyon National Park.
We actually drove past the park to Tropic, UT which is about 7
miles past the park and checked into the motel where we already had
reservations. We arrived at the motel about 3:45, quickly
unloaded, and headed back to the park. We got to the park around
4:30 and drove straight through to Rainbow Point which is at the far
end of the park at about 9118' elevation. The is our favorite
park and the views always amaze us. After enjoying the views and
taking some pictures we began the trip back down from Rainbow stopping
at numerous pullouts and designated stopping points on the way.
We left the park about 6:30 and headed back to the motel and a
leisurely dinner. We were definitely glad we made the stop and
will surely be back again some day.
That's probably it for
National Parks on this trip but we think we did pretty well.
Tomorrow we head for Ogden and our next stop on the way home.
