Day: 55
Date: 27/05
City: Hatch, Utah
Miles ridden: 128
Cumulative miles:4704

After a relaxing day, we set off for new adventures. Starting our bikes was easier this morning, turns out that dumping 64L of petrol and refilling the tanks solved the problem. In the end it really appears to have been dirty fuel that caused the problems.

Our first destination was a ride to the petroglyph in the Parowan gap. When we came closer to the gap, it got really cold very quickly. When we arrived, a gusty wind was blowing and we put our liner into our jackets.

The gap, the petroglyphs and putting the liner in

We took a couple of pictures and started to ride to Bryce Canyon NP. It was nice and warm with the heated liner plugged into the bike. It did get a bit windy whenever we hit the highway or were crossing some plains. We made a food and petrol stop and continued to Bryce Canyon, but first we passed through the Red Canyon. The pictures don’t do the colour justice; the red was much brighter in reality.

When arrived in Bryce Canyon, we went into the Visitor Centre where Sigrid met Bryce, a soft toy squirrel; she couldn’t put it down again.

I must admit it looks really cute, so we added him as a new member in our travel group. The naming was easy, we found him in Bryce Canyon so we called him ‘Bryce’. To tour around Brice Canyon is easy, a bus service drives you around, nothing to pay as it’s all part of the park fee. So we all hopped onto a bus and drove to Bryce Point, had a look and took some pictures. The view was amazing.

Wombat and Val continued with the bus to the next view point, Sigrid and I walked a bit further down to take some more pictures. We arranged to meet at the Visitor Centre when everybody finished sightseeing.

The next stop for us was Inspiration Point. The walk was a bit steep but the view was rewarding.

We had some delicious lunch (muffins, banana and water), then continued to Sunset Point took a couple of pictures, and here is “Bryce’s” first appearance.

On our way to the sunrise point, we meet a nice couple, George and Ruth Dunham from Winter Haven, Florida.

We talked for a bit while we walked to the Sunrise point. George gave us some hints on Alaska, they have been there before and suggested some nice area to visit.  When we arrived at Sunrise point, we took a couple of more pictures, said goodbye and walked to the bus station. When getting back to the Visitor centre, Val was waiting for us while Wombat had gone to look at other viewpoints that were only reachable with your own vehicle. Val was a bit concerned that Wombat would not be back early enough for dinner and that we had to ride at night. So we called the restaurant to check, and they confirmed that they’d serve us until 9:00PM. That was enough time for us to get there. We looked at the sunset time and the estimated time to get home. When we decided to leave, Wombat arrived, just in time. We arrived at the motel at sunset, so all went well. Part of the ride was into the sunset, sounds romantic but is really a pain since you can’t see much of the road. Arriving at the motel, we still got something to eat.

Tomorrow we will visit Zion NP and ride towards Las Vegas.