Cathedral Valley & Scenic Byway 12

The Kansas Turnpike is Stupid

I bought a yoghurt parfait and juice in the 7-11 last night and that works fine for breakfast. I am still sleeping fitfully, nearly halfway through the trip. It hasn’t affected me during the day so far – no yawning episodes for instance. I just hope things settle down soon.

Before I leave I call to pay my Kansas Turnpike toll. This proves to be one of the most painful and frustrating things I have ever had to do. Ever. The stupid, petty bureaucracy of their system is frankly unbelievable. It’s not (mostly) the fault of the lady I’m talking to – although she does seem a bit stupid as we repeat some aspects of paying two or three times – but the system itself.

She finds my record and it has now been processed, so it can be paid. Unlike the Golden Gate Toll a few years back where you just give them your credit card details, Kansas requires me to have an account before I can pay. I question the logic of this given I’m from the UK, it was a rental car, and I’m unlikely to go back to Kansas.

But, no. The system demands I have an account. She asks my address but then finds the system cannot process a UK address. So she puts the address of the company she works for as my address. How stupid is that? Then there is a problem because I am not the owner of the car. In addition to the licence number and who owns it, the system also requires the address of where the car is registered. It is a Florida licence plate and I have no idea.

The lady seems absolutely confused about how to process this. “You must have hundreds of rental cars getting tolled every day,” I say, “How do you process them?” No response.

By now I was so frustrated and not a little angry. It was also taking a huge amount of time and at times we appear to be getting nowhere. To be honest I cannot remember how she resolved it, there was still much going back and forth, but she did eventually sort it. I paid my toll. She asked if I wanted an email receipt, I said yes, repeated my email address to her three times – and never received a receipt. What a surprise.

Cathedral Valley

Moab is cloudy, overcast and cool at 71º F / 22º C when I leave at 11 am. It remains that way for the rest of the journey north on US-191 N, then west again for a while on I-70 W. It’s my last time on I-70. Yippee! I then turn left onto UT-24 W, which is straight, narrow and boring. Until I come across Kathline Rock. What a sight. It is surrounded by many other similar shaped rocks. Despite copious post-trip research, it appears only Kathline is named.

It sits there at the side of the road like some giant, over-sized yet beautiful turd of a rock. The etchings from erosion into its faces are incredible. The land is flat for miles around this cluster of amazing rock formations. It just rises up out of the desert around it. Half a mile further on there is another cluster of similar rock formations, The Coves Mesa. Here there is another Double Arch.

Those surprises out of the way, I drive on to Hanksville. Not a lot to see there though as I drove through, but, oh boy, is it the gateway to something weird and wonderful ahead.

I begin a drive through a landscape I have never experienced before. Even now I find it difficult to describe it other than “alien”, like another planet from a sci-fi film. I may have used this phrase before but the scenery is just astonishing. There are mountains and rocks formed into shapes and colours I’ve never seen before. Giant monoliths that rise from the desert floor. Great slabs of rock created in incredible formations.

Capitol Reef National Park leaflet

I drive a mile and the rocks change again. Shape, colour, size, patterns, ever changing. It’s truly amazing to see. Part of Capitol Reef National Park, the region is called Cathedral Valley. I only drove through the lower part of the Cathedral Valley region, it’s a much bigger area than I saw. It is supposed to be amazing but most of it is only accessible with high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicles. Further down the road I stop at the Park’s Visitor Center to eat my lunch in the parking lot. At 2 pm the sky is beginning to clear a bit and it is now 77º F / 25º C.

Utah’s Scenic Byway 12

Setting off after lunch, a few miles up the road I turn left onto UT-12 W, Utah’s Scenic Byway 12, and enter Dixie National Forest. The road becomes lush with tree-lined hillsides as I climb, and whilst not a particularly challenging drive, it is fun. It is also a pleasant change from the flat deserts of recent days. The summit of the road is at 9,600 feet.

Anasazi State Park Museum leaflet

There is a short rain shower just before I stop at Anasazi State Park Museum. This celebrates and commemorates a very early human settlement here, circa AD 1050 to 1200, by the Native American Ancestral Pueblo people. They used to be called the Anasazi.

Part of the original buildings they constructed and lived in still exist on the site, amazingly well preserved. The museum contains history and artefacts of the inhabitants such as pottery, arrows and spear heads. It was fascinating and well worth a stop.

About 8 miles south of the Museum, on the section of UT-12 called “The Hogsback”, there’s a really scary bit of road that is perched atop a narrow mountain ridge – and without any guardrails – which has steep, sheer drops on either side of 100s of feet into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It really catches you by surprise, there’s no warning it’s coming up. Drive very carefully! (NB. There seems to be some debate as to whether this section of road is called The Hogsback or The Hogback.)

A couple more short rain showers fall but it soon brightens up for good. The road scenery changes again and I’m driving through small rock canyons with the road twisting and turning through them. The road descends and the scenery becomes more ‘normal’, sweeping through trees and grasslands, with mountains forming a backdrop in the distance.

Tropic is Small and Quiet

I knew the town of Tropic was small by the fact that lodging and eating options were very limited. There is no bar in the town for instance. I chose the Bryce Canyon Inn for its location near to tomorrow’s main event just down the road.

The Inn is actually a number of discrete cabins. Inside mine, it’s good. There’s everything you might need and all in good condition.

I bought tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch earlier at a gas station when entering town. For dinner I opted for The Pizza Place, which is next door to the Inn. It had good reviews and stayed open to very late hour of 8.30 pm. Other restaurants in town – the other two – closed at 8 pm!

There is no option to buy just a slice or two of pizza, so I have to order a 10”, which I know I won’t finish. I also doubt I’ll be able or willing to eat the rest on another day. It is what it is. I also discovered that they served beer. The pizza was tasty and good, as was the beer. It was somewhat expensive but I am in the middle of nowhere just down from a major tourist attraction, so not unexpected.

Back to my cabin earlier than normal, I had stashed some beer in my fridge. I drink a couple whilst doing some diary and watching some sports on TV. Then to bed.

I realised I’m about halfway through the trip and it’s been 95% Interstate driving, so I’ve had little driving-wise to comment on – other than it’s been 99% boring… Until today that is.

Some of what I saw today really imprinted itself on me, but other sections of the drive were a bit of a blur for some reason. Maybe I’m not really in a road trip mindset yet. Or just overwhelmed by Cathedral Valley! It certainly was mind-blowing. Scenic Byway 12 was a pretty good drive as well. A very good day!