Day 18 – Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Toadstool Hoodoos, Winslow, AZ

Day 18 – 5/30/2021 – Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Toadstool Hoodoos, Winslow, AZ

Our morning begins early, since we have a long way to travel, and leave our hotel in Tropic.  Traveling again west on Rt-12, we pass Glory Cove, Tropic Ditch Falls, and Mossy Cave trailhead.  Along this section of the road, we are in the northern most section of Bryce Canyon National Park with its spires and hoodoo formations.

Just before we reach the road to Bryce Canyon, we drive by a group of Brahma cattle.  I find the brand funny.  A bar over a B and a crossed out heart; does that read “no love for Bar B?”  LOL.

After driving about 10 miles from the Bryce Canyon turnoff, we enter Red Canyon.  Passing places like Butch Cassidy Draw, we drive through the Red Canyon Arch.  If you look closely there are rocks hanging precariously above the road. 

Shortly after passing through the Red Canyon Arch, we pass the Visitor Center and see these two hoodoos.  According to what we have read, this formation is called the Salt & Pepper shakers or as the Hopi would call them, the Ancients.

Now that we are on US-89 heading south, we pass a number of ranches.  This one is an old fixer upper that even has a mother-in-law house. 

Approaching Coral Pink Sand Dunes, we can see that many dune buggies and other dirt vehicles use this area.  You can see the trails left by previous riders.

Parking at the dune trail parking lot, we move up the dune to the top and have this view before us.  At this location, the dunes seem narrow, yet extend a long ways to our left and here to our right.  The trees in the distance are in a part of the dunes. 

At one spot on the top of the dunes, which had fine, very soft sand, I found four track trails.  One of them is from an adult Tiger Beetle. 

Climbing to the other side of another dune, I have a great view looking back towards the east.  The dune goes up and over the hill, in front of us, to more dune area.  Again, the dunes also continue further to the left out of the picture. 

We found it unusual to see a section covered with flowers that appears to be lupines at the top of one of the sand dunes.  I the upper left background you can see another beetle track.

Returning on the road we came in on, heading back to US-89, we again see a parking area for campers and dirt vehicles.  You can see an SUV at the entrance of the dunes.  Bring your toy-hauler up to the park and ride for the weekend. 

I thought, and apparently wrong, that we would have been out of hills like this, but we are in the southern end of the Grand Staircase National Monument.  There are so many layers in this hillside it is almost too difficult to count them all. 

We reach Kanab and US-89 turns east.  Here is one section of cliff that has, as we have seen before on cliff sides before, appears to be a carbon line as I have heard before.  The premise is that the earth was at one time in the past covered and burned in ash from either fires or volcanic eruptions. 

The terrain remains similar and we almost missed our planned stop at the Toadstools Trailhead. 

Beginning our hike, we are following a dry streambed and on both sides of the trail are cliffs like these. 

While hiking along the trail, we get a glimpse of some toadstool hoodoos on a hilltop.  Notice the darker harder stone on top of a spire of softer stone.  The softer white stone weathers faster becoming the spire-like feature under the hard rock making the feature look like a mushroom.

Reaching the end of the trail, I had to wait before people moved off the rock.  Still look at the too mushroom shaped hoodoos.  A very thin spire holds the mushroom top on the right. 

Other mushroom hoodoos in the flat slickrock area. 

Check out the size of this mushroom toadstool hoodoo.  You can see people trying to stay cool in the hoodoo shadow. 

I do not realize it until I get back to the trailhead, but if I had traveled to the left around this rock wall, I would have come upon more mushroom hoodoos.  Maybe we will stop next time, if we ever come back this way.

Walking back to the car, we see more of the weathered walls with the multiple layers. 

We are nearly in Arizona and I took this picture because of the speed limit sign in the desert.  I think there is a road there, but when I took the picture, it was for the tower and other formations I the background. 

As we approach Lake Powell and the Glenn Canyon Dam, we can see part of Wahweap Bay on the Colorado River. 

This slab of sandstone exhibit contains the dinosaur tracks made by a one-ton, twenty-foot long, meat-eating dinosaur.  The Dilophosaurus tracked through the mud 170 million years ago, when this was a different landscape. 

From the patio viewpoint I can get a picture of the whole dam and the Colorado River below.  

Before we go across, here is the bridge over the Colorado River from the Glenn Canyon Dam viewing patio. 

From the viewing deck, we can see the Colorado River, Lake Powell, and Wahweap marina in the background. 

After a quick stop in Page for lunch, we head out of town to the Horseshoe Bend Overlook.  We find a parking space after paying our entry fee and begin our three-quarter mile hike to the river’s rim.  As you can see, there are already quite a few people at the overlook.

Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River.  What a fantastic sight.  It might be difficult to see, but there are many kayaks in the water below with about 12 on the sandy beach right under us.  A panoramic picture is the only way to see the whole scene in one look.

Still on US-89 heading south the road is now the Vermillion Cliffs Scenic Road.  If there is any question of how scenic the drive is all you have to do is look out the window. 

Traveling long the Vermillion Cliffs, we eventually reach Flagstaff, Arizona and turn east on I-40. 

We are traveling by Winslow, Arizona and we, or I, must stop and check it out and “Take it Easy”.  Standin’ on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona, this area was dedicated in 1999 as a tribute to the memorable song of the 1970’s that made Winslow, Arizona a town to sing about on famous Route 66.

We will stop in Holbrook, not too far down the road for the night.  After that, for the next two days the plan is to drive back home in Florida.