April 24-25 2013 Escalante, UT

Leaving Bryce Canyon, on to Escalante, Ut for the famous canyons of the Escalante.

The  bus getting a bath. Perhaps an exercise in futility since we are going to drive on a dusty dirt road. A model in the BLM visitors center in Escalante of cyanobacteria strands with sand particles at 90 magnification. Which is the crust on the soil in desert. It helps set nitrogen in the soil and hold moisture so that plants can grow. It you step on it you kill the crust and it takes years and years to grow back. They had microscopes set up with dirt samples set up to look at, looked just like this.

Here is what the crust looks like in the wild with out a microscope. The bus in free BLM camping off the Hole in the Rock road in the Escalante.

John preparing a romantic dinner outside. I love it when it is warm enough and light enough to eat outside. Full moon rising.

John with a glass of moonshine. Devils Garden in the Escalante.

Spires, hoodoos and faces. John pushing over a rocks again .

Under an arch in Devils garden and  Metate arch.

Standing rocks in Devils garden.  Escalante River. We were hoping the water level was high enough to do a multiday trip down it, but it is too low.  John went once before he knew me.

Virga clouds at sunset. Rain not reaching the desert floor.

Iguana type lizards, John riding one, crested wheat grass backlit at sunset, worm looking holes in the rocks and desert barberry blooming. It smells so sweet, perfumes the air.