Day 58 - Kodachrome Basin State Park - Calf Creek Falls Recreation Area, Utah

My day began with a scalding hot shower that I had to dive in and out of as it was so near to boiling, however I was still thankful to be clean. I then made and ate my porridge with cinnamon and Craisins in it before heading out for some time on the trails. Our first stop was the 6-mile long Panoramic Trail, which was beautiful, however, before long it was so hot out that my enjoyment in the trail began to wane, I wished I had worn shorts rather than the long sweatpants the adorned my legs. We had the trail entirely to ourselves until we began to reach the trailhead on our way back, but until then, I had Luna off-leash. Luna has become extremely shade-smart over the course of this trip; last summer she would constantly lay in the sun panting like crazy with shade a couple feet away, now when it is hot, she will zig zag her path so that she walks through the shady bits. Around a mile from the trailhead we came across a couple with two large dogs and they stepped way off the trail to the side and warned that the dogs might bark. Sure enough, one of the dogs started barking aggressively at Luna, who merely looked at me for direction and treats with a small whimper of anxiety, what a good girl! After returning to the vehicle, I was not much interested in more walks in the heat, so chose to only go on one more trail to see Shakespeare’s Arch. First, I headed through the campsite again to use the washroom, then fill up my water bottle. The pump I stopped at was next to where the campground host sat, reading and I ended up talking to him for a little while; it turned out that he was from Ontario and he and his wife had sold their house and travelled around in their RV. They had loved Kodachrome Basin State Park so much that they decided to stay and campground host for a couple months. 

I headed on and drove the dirt road to Shakespeare’s Arch. It was only a 1.5 mile long trail, the arch was none too exciting, but the views were spectacular. I then headed out for my short hour or so long drive. I stopped in the town of Escalante to fuel up and check and send messages as I finally had cell service. A half hour drive away was Calf Creek Falls Recreation Area and that was where I headed to set up camp for the night so that I could do the Lower Calf Creek Falls hike first thing in the morning. I was unimpressed to find that the fee for camping here is $15. When I was in California, $15 was an incredibly cheap price for a campsite, a delight to pay, since leaving California the prices of campsites have dropped substantially, so that $15 seems very high for a site with only an outhouse and no garbage cans (what am I supposed to do with dog poop?!), however it is in a beautiful area and there is a fee of $5 to park and hike here for the day anyway!

Looking towards Bryce National Park.

"Indian Cave"

On the side of the cave, not sure what these were about.

No idea why this rock does not have a label identifying it as "Sitting Cat Rock".

In "Cool Cave".

Unfortunately I was having issues with my shorter lens and could not capture this structure in one shot with my 55 mm lens, but it looked absolutely beautiful. 

A view from the Shakespeare's Arch walk.