Day 4

Day 4 - Wednesday, September 20, 2017

On day 4 we start the day by exploring Bryce Canyon National Park by driving our motorcycles, or taking the free Park shuttle which begins service at 8:00 am, along the main Park road to Rainbow Point and then back again, stopping at overlooks along the way to view the colorful hoodoos. We may also wish to take a couple of short easy to moderate hikes to view the rock formations closer. We should anticipate to spend at least 4 to 6 hours to enjoy the scenery in this Park. The Park is especially beautiful during the early morning hours when the rapidly changing light and shadows make the landscape even more magical giving us some unique opportunities for great photos. There are literally over 100 things to do at Bryce Canyon, we will just have to see how many things we have time for!

Two to three hour horseback tours are also available to view some of the hoodoos within the Park

Once back on Hwy 12 we again turn our motorcycles westward and travel 14 miles through the scenic Red Canyons to US Hwy 89. If we spent more of the day at Bryce Canyon than we had planned we will head south to Carmel Junction on Hwy 89. However, if time allows we take, what I call, the dog head ride (see map above). We heard north on Hwy 89 and go 7 miles to Panguitch where we turn onto Hwy 143 and ride southwest into the Dixie National Forest. In 32 miles we reach Hwy 148 (Cedar Breaks Scenic Byway) and head south which allows us to view the huge natural amphitheater of canyon walls which make up part of the Cedar Breaks National Monument. There are several great overlooks which give us some great photo opportunities as we ride 8 miles south until we hit Hwy 14 and turn our bikes east to reconnect with US Hwy 89 which is 23 miles down the road.

The area between Panguitch and Cedar Breaks National Monument was the site of an extensive forest fire during mid-June to mid-July of 2017. The Brian Heads Fire burned nearly 72,000 acres of forest in the area. We will see some of the damage where the fire crossed Hwy 143.

(Bryce Canyon is at +8,000 to +9,000 feet of altitude and Cedar Breaks is at over 10,000 feet so we can expect a bit cooler weather and other affects of higher altitude in these locations. While this late season trip may find us riding in some cooler weather we may also be lucky enough to view the foliage changing color in the higher altitude areas, an added bonus to our trip! Can you imagine these colorful rock formations also being enclosed within a vibrant forest of color? We may very well see the aspens changing to gold on our ride up to Cedar Breaks and around Bryce Canyon!)

We now turn southward on Hwy 89 until we reach Mt Carmel Junction 22 miles down the road where we head westward again, this time on Hwy 9 and 13 miles later we reach the east entrance of Zion National Park. The road through the upper east canyon area of the Park is about the most scenic road you'll ever see, and riding it on a motorcycle gives us a 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape.

About 5 miles into the park there is a mile long tunnel with a very small parking lot along the right side of the road where I hope we can find room to park our bikes (there is also a parking lot on the other side of the road but it is typically made inaccessible to west bound traffic). This is near the trailhead for the Canyon Overlook Trail which is about a one mile (round trip) hike to give us a dramatic view of a portion of the Zion Canyon area.

Once back on our motorcycles we continue west exiting the tunnel and slowly ride the switchbacks to the base of the canyon valley and arrive at our lodging in the town of Springdale.

Twilight: 6:44 am (MDT)

Sunrise: 7:15 am (MDT)

Sunset: 7:33 pm (MDT)

Twilight: 7:59 pm (MDT)

Day 4: 171 miles 4 hours of saddle time

Continue to Day 5