Arizona, New Mexico & the Grand Canyon Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Aaron Anderson [109]
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RABBITS & RATTLESNAKES
No, it’s not the name of a new band; rabbit and rattlesnake are the kinds of sausages you can try at Buffalo Bistro (www.visiteastzion.info/buffalobistro.html) in Glendale. Hang out on the rustic back porch while your buffalo ribs sizzle on the grill and the boisterous owner-chef holds court. Stop for dinner en route from Zion to Bryce (April through October, reservations advised); who knows, the Testicle Festival (Rocky Mountain oysters served) may even be on.
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Your most comfortable bet is to base yourself in the microscopic town of Boulder at Boulder Mountain Lodge (66 miles northeast of Bryce), a rustic eco-lodge with high-thread-count sheets. Then you can dine on soulful, earthy preparations of locally raised meats and site-grown organic vegetables at the associated Hell’s Backbone Grill. If you can tear yourself away after waking up to birdsong on the 15-acre wildlife sanctuary you should at least go for one backroad drive through the GSENM.
Just west of town, the rough gravel-and-dirt Hell’s Backbone Rd climbs steadily uphill for 14 miles before reaching a one-lane bridge teetering above a plunging canyon sure to give you vertigo. Cut the engine, get out and listen to the wind funneling up the canyon while giant crows float silently on the thermals above. Look to the east, where Boulder Mountain is carpeted with deep-green forests and stands of quaking aspens that turn a gorgeous gold in September.
Do pay a visit to Anasazi State Park before you continue on. Thousands upon thousands of pottery shards, on display in the museum, were excavated here in the 1950s. Outside are the scant remains of the Ancestral Puebloan archaeological site, inhabited from AD 1130 to 1175.
Ever wondered what happens when the earth’s crust buckles? See for yourself at Capitol Reef National Park, 48 miles northeast of Boulder. The rocky valleys, petrified yellow sand dunes and steep switchbacks along Hwy 12 hint of the geography to come. Over the course of millions of years, a 100-mile-long monocline fractured and uplifted, creating Waterpocket Fold, the centerpiece to Capitol Reef NP. (The formation once blocked settlers’ westward migration like a ‘reef’ blocks a ship’s passage.) An interpretive drive leads south along the fold, past abandoned homesteads and orchards where the sweet smell of free-for-your-picking pears, apricots, peaches and apples hangs in the air June through October. Pitch your tent next to the fragrant fields at Fruita Campground and listen as the Fremont River babbles along.
If you’re camping there’s little reason to go into the closest town, Torrey, 11 miles west. Well, except to eat at one of southern Utah’s best restaurants, Café Diablo. Its stylized Southwestern cooking – including succulent vegetarian dishes – bursts with flavor. Even if you order just appetizers ($9 to $11) and dessert, you won’t leave hungry.
You have to venture north into the park to get an up-close view of the monocline’s Capitol Dome. Arrange a shuttle and bike rental from Backcountry Outfitters and you can pedal the 58-mile loop through Cathedral Valley. An otherworldly landscape of stark desert (bring water!) studded with rounded hills of volcanic ash and towering sandstone monoliths rewards the effort. The sedimentary layers you see – chocolate browns, ashen grays, sandy yellows and oxidized reds – together reveal 200 million years of history.
If Capitol Reef reveals the passage of