Highway 12 Cattle Drive, - Green River State Park

We left Escalante about mid morning looking forward to a pretty relaxing driving schedule today. We continued on highway 12 and experienced one of the most jaw dropping gorgeous stretches of road ever! The 25 mile drive between Escalante and Grover has views that easily compete with Zion and Bryce. The fact that we didn’t expect it made it even more impressive. We saw deep red hoodoo canyons, amazing vista views, alpine meadows, and up near the top of the pass miles and miles of Aspen Groves. We were also amazed that the terrain changed from canyon wild west to Texas mesquite prairie to Sierra Mountain-like tall pine trees all within the 25 mile stretch. We also went from mid-70’s to low 50’s and saw patches of snow on the pass. What was the most amazing surprise was when we were coming off the mountain and went around a bend, a cowboy on horseback was in the middle of the road signaling us to slow down. Within moments we shut off our car and were in the midst of a cattle drive. Mom, dad, and little kids were all on horseback driving the mooing cattle past us. See today’s pic of one of the cowboys just a few feet from our car. It was pretty amazing to see cars stopped on both sides of the road as an entire herd of cattle are driven down highway 12. About lunch time we pulled into Capitol Reef State Park. It’s similar to Bryce, but instead of rounded eroded hoodoos and canyons this red sandstone looks much more brittle and broken. We had a picnic lunch at the historic Gifford Homestead in the park. It was founded in 1879 by some crazy ass Mormons who were bound and determined to plant an orchard, raise cattle and make a go of it in this piece of hard scrapple land. They lasted for about 50 years then pulled up stakes. However, their sweet little orchards are still producing fruit and the park has preserved the homestead. It was freezing in the park and the forecast for that evening and the next day called for rain and maybe snow! Egads, the weather was a changing and I was anxious to get a move-on. We continued driving for about another hour until we reached Green River State Park right off Interstate 70. From my planning research we were a little worried that this park was going to be a little too upscale for us. It bragged about lush green lawns and was surrounded by a golf course. Well, here’s proof not to believe everything you read on the internet. Yes, it has green lawns and is in fact surrounded by a golf course. What it doesn’t say is that it is located in a very hard hit town. As we drove thru “town” we passed several abandoned motels, empty gas stations, boarded up buildings and broken down trailer homes. It seems the only business in town are competing RV parks – all pretty pathetic. We asked the campground host if there was a grocery store in town, but he kindly reminded us that it was Sunday so of course it would be closed. Mmm – why is the only bar in town open on a Sunday, but the grocery store is closed? Just askin’… Since we are down to canned chili or peanut butter, we decided to eat out. Well, the restaurants in town are pretty slim pickens. We settled on a “Fine Dining” restaurant, which was pretty much like a Denny’s. The cool thing is that it was located right on the Green River and the waitress was fun to talk to. (Apparently this is watermelon country). We are currently experiencing strong winds in the 40- 50 mph range. It’s warm (77 deg) and not raining so I’m not complaining! Tonight’s entertainment is watching our fellow campers attempt to set up tents in 50 mph gusts. Pretty amusing. Sick aren’t we?! Tomorrow we explore The Arches and venture into the Rockies!