Day Two - Scouting in Bryce Canyon National Park - June 3, 2008, Tuesday

After the previous morning's bright sunlight awakening, Judy and I were set up in another room on the second floor overlooking the boulder cliffs with the windows facing north. This was a much better setting, particularly for Judy who wakes easily at first light. We were downstairs by 7:30, Judy assisting Joette making breakfast for the guests while I continued summarizing the events of the previous day where I left off. It's so easy to forget the details with so much going on last night, especially with all the art conversations and the expectation of Mikey Carroll's arrival, this early start with coffee and quiet made things so much the easier for writing. I took walk to the front balcony and noticed an extra car in the drive way. Hopefully this was Andrew and Mikey's. Anil Rao is expected to be arriving later this afternoon after we had returned from the Bryce Canyon excursion in separate vehicle.

About a half hour later Ursa arrived with Betsy, followed by Paul, John and Sean from up the cabin on the hill. Aldo and Jon too arrived not long after. Dan meanwhile I was told was out scouting out the geology about our Inn and taking photos of the sunrise. He'd been up since 6. With all the commotion and artists milling about, planning and discussing past, current and future spaceart inspirations and projects, Mikey and Andrew arrived from their room adjacent to the dinning room where we had congregated for breakfast. The noise level suddenly got louder in the excitement of almost everyone finally being together. This is always an exciting event in every workshop, the face-to- face meeting of the extended family members. Once the introductions were made, adding faces to names we were already familiar with from the list, breakfast began in full earnest with Jon giving the details of today's itinerary.

After breakfast we assembled outside by the van for a head count. Today's trek would require lots of stops, in and out of the eleven seat van, hikes to photo sessions of various points of interests and finally a grand hike in Fairyland Canyon. Judy was anticipating a lot more pit stops than yesterday and decided to stay behind as did Sandon, Erika's husband. Judy was going to relax after yesterday's grueling day, keep Joette, our hostess of the Inn, company and help with any chores at the Inn; while, Sandon would go off exploring about the town of Escalante on his bike with his dog running on beside him.

By 9:30 AM with eleven artists packed into the van, Jon as our chauffer rumbled down the driveway and across the Bridge of Doom [our name for the gate entrance across a creek] before emerging onto the highway #12 near mile mark 54 heading west towards Bryce Canyon. Officially the route is called Scenic Byway 12 as much of it winds through the northern portion of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument which is a vast area of sandstone canyons, plateaus, unique rock formations, rivers, and cliffs.

It's always curious how a terrain would acquire its name. When early geologists saw the series of cliffs and plateaus rising from 6,000 feet from the North Rim of Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon, they called it Grand Staircase. Three billion years of geologic history make up layers of sedimentary rocks. Each of the five "steps" has been eroded, revealing cliffs of distinctive color. We saw portions of the Grand Staircase boulders, cliffs, valleys and plateaus as we winded our way 22 miles to Henrieville a splendid rustic little town settled in 1878 with farming, stock raising, and fruit orchards as their principal industries.

As for the monument itself along the way, it is a natural treasure of geologic wonders, fossils, animal, plant and insect life. It was home to the Anasazi and Fremont cultures and remains of their civilization are scattered throughout the area. There are cliff dwellings in fact behind and in front of Slot Canyon Inn on either side of the Scenic Byway 12. The route is a place of breathtaking vistas, desert flowers, canyons, plateaus, and scenery that changes with every turn. It is a place of solitude, color and light... and this morning, with orange food, gum drops, chips and circus peanuts to remind us of our tradition of hapless nutrition during our sightseeing.

Three miles west of Henrieville brought to Cannonville, a rural farming community, some five miles southeast of Tropic and the gateway to Kodachrome Basin State Park where we would visit later in the week. As we neared Tropic which lies in Bryce Valley, the park's brilliant crimson peaks began to appear. Tropic was settled in 1892 and was named for its mild climate.

We stopped at the convenience store in the center of town to gas up and purchase some sandwich meats, snacks, and drinks for the trip into the Bryce Canyon National Park. As we left, heading further east ascending out of Bryce Valley and up the Paunsagunt Plateau, we pulled off and stopped some five miles later at Tropic Ditch where we began our initial hike following a trail along a brook into the pink cliff edges of Bryce Canyon Rim. This brook-ditch which was dug by the settlers of the area in the 1870s brings water from Bryce Creek down to the Paria River. The serpentine trail curls up a sloping path of hoodoos and cliffs to a cave at one end and a small water falls at another where a log stretched across the upper end of the brook-ditch above the ten foot falls. Ursa climbed across then headed up another 80 feet slope to the red sandstone hoodoo and windows within the rocks. Jon Ramer followed later taking several photos from the rim of the region below. After 45 minutes of hiking in this area, we returned to the van to continue to Ruby's Inn village, the gateway to Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon National Park is the jewel of Scenic Byway 12. Located three miles south of Scenic Byway 12 on Highway 64, the park rises to an elevation of 9,100 feet at its southern end. Magnificent salmon pink and red colored pinnacles and spires can be seen from viewpoints along the pine-covered rim of Bryce's natural amphitheatres. There are more than 50 miles of hiking trails.

The Colorado Plateau's western edge is defined by a series of high, flat-topped mountains known as the "High Plateau". Capped by the colorful pink cliffs that rim Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, and the Table Cliffs Plateau, the High Plateaus are the last step in the famed Grand Staircase-they are the proverbial icing on top of the Colorado Plateau's "geologic layercake". The High Plateaus contain a wealth of information about the geologic evolution of the western margin of the Colorado Plateau. These forested tablelands offer refreshing cool air during the summer when the surrounding canyon country is a virtual furnace.

One reason that the High Plateaus are indeed so high is because a veneer of volcanic rock has protected the Colorado Plateau's thick stack of sedimentary rocks from more widespread erosion. In addition, regional uplift has taken these rocks on a ride from sea level to about 10,000 feet in elevation in the time space of about 65 million years. Working in concert, this has left the High Plateaus standing high along the Colorado Plateau's western skyline.

Although the Colorado Plateau is best known for its colorful landscapes of flat-lying sedimentary rock, great outpourings of volcanic rock help define its margins. The fireworks along the Colorado Plateau's "Ring of Fire" began in the middle Tertiary about 35 million years ago, when boiling magma worked its way upwards through faults and fractures that edge the plateau. This magma may have originated by intense friction between grinding tectonic plates deep underground, or perhaps was generated by upwelling when a slab of oceanic crust was shoved beneath the North American plate by subduction. Whatever the underlying cause, repeated eruptions built tall composite volcanoes of ash, lava, and breccia, which later collapsed to form calderas. The age of basalt volcanism on the Colorado Plateau shows a general decrease in a northern direction in parts of Arizona and Utah. This explains the dark brownish-black basalt balls and boulders we'd seen throughout Dixie National Forest district yesterday and the drive over north of Zion National Park on our arrival day.

Critical to the expressions of today's landscape, this veneer [as Dan calls it] of hard, resistant volcanic rock protects softer, underlying sedimentary layers from rapid erosion. Perhaps most significantly it has helped preserve the Tertiary Claron Formation, the layer that forms the pink cliffs of Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks, and also fringes the lofty Table Cliffs Plateau.

Bryce Canyon National Park's visitors centre was three miles south of Ruby's Inn, a commercial tourist area and supply center for the people an employees living in the small village of Bryce Canyon to its immediate south. Traveling near by it, we took a 30 minute break to purchase film, batteries, postcards, maps, and geology books along with a much wanted washroom facilities.

By 11:30 AM we headed into the Bryce Canyon Amphitheatre, a natural spectacle beyond imagination. Its lofty pink cliffs are situated along the southeastern rim of the Pausaugunt Plateau. Despite its name, Bryce Canyon is not a canyon at all. It is actually a series of rock amphitheatres artistically sculpted along the repeating edge of the Pausaugunt Plateau. Perhaps better described as the "Bryce Cliffs", this fairyland of standing stone is part of a long escarpment formed by headward erosion of the Paria River along the Pausaugunt Fault. Here, erosion has carved acient river sediments and lakebeds of the Tertiary Claron Formation into an unbelievable variety of unusual landforms called hoodoos. We stopped at Sunrise Point that gave a fantastic view down on these hoodoos and the valley some 800 feet below. Erosion has shaped colorful Clarion limestone, sandstone and mudstone into thousands of spires, fins, pinnacles, and mazes.

We moved onto the next site in the direction of Inspiration Point, stopping at Sunset Point first. This turned out to be a rim edge view that was within walking distance from Sunrise, so before continuing any further we decided to have some lunch. We stopped at the Campers Supply Store where I purchased some more 35 mm film. I was the only one not carrying a digital camera-oh the horror of it all finding film, yet I found some. The rest of our troop wanted some food, water and other cool refreshments to drink in the arid climate. After lunch we piled back into the van and went ascending to some 8,000 feet altitude onto Inspiration Point another lookout point overlooking Bryce amphitheatre towards a stand of hoodoos known as the Cathedral.

The sign at Inspiration Point reads 8,100 feet and the following description. "An elderly Paiute named Indian Dick describes how Bryce Canyon was formed. Before there were any Indians, the legend people lived in this place. They were of many kinds-birds, animals, lizards, and such things-but they had power to make them look like people. For some reason, the legend people were bad, so coyote turned them all into rocks. You can see them in that place now, all turned into rocks; some standing in rows, some sitting down, some holding onto others... You can see their faces with paint on them just as they were before they became rocks."

After writing out this statement, I went looking for our artists following up the trail where everyone else had gone to the southwestern rim edge. Thirty minutes later we headed out to Bryce Point at the southern edge of the amphitheatre. Once again the forest on the plateau gave way to brilliant colors of sandstone, limestone and tan and fawn colored mudstone hoodoos with steep canyons sloped some 75 degrees 300 to 400 feet below. Twisted dwarf cedar trees appeared to desperately cling in various gripping modes to the rim edges. Foxtailed pines grew up from the base of the floor tapering as it reached for the sky. The light cascading in the towering hoodoos created a florescence-like reflected light. After this scouting observation and photo opportunity we now head back out to the north end of the park to our final destination, Fairyland Point, where we would hike a couple miles down into the canyon along a moderate descending trail. On our way out we tried one other point, Paria View that faced south towards Swamp Canyon and to the horizon of New Mexico and southwest towards Arizona and Nevada. Unfortunately the road was closed due to snow and winter clean up procedures. We stopped at the visitor's centre one more time before arriving descending to Fairyland Point at 7,758 feet.

This location was well outside the amphitheatre arena but still part of the pink cliffs whose eastern edge holds Tropic Ditch. The descent trail took us into Fairyland Canyon 400 feet below. We traveled amongst pine and cedar, crossing washes and river-creek beds. Two miles in we could see where the "sinking ship" landmark ended. The trail would continue another three miles winding its way back into Bruce Canyon amphitheatre in the south. The trail continued to descend following the Paudaugunt Plateau rim over looking Paria River Valley. Fairyland Canyon followed parallel with the retreating cliff edge along the trail which we'd followed in another serpentine fashion. Just as we reached the "sinking ship" landmark where the trail makes a sharp turn towards the Bryce amphitheatre Dan, Aldo, Jon, Paul, Ursa, and I stopped to take a much needed rest in the shadow of an enormous boulder and cliff edge. This proved to be an added relief to the heat and much wanted break from hiking further. REST and the wait for the others before considering the ascent back onto the plateau-oh the anguish of the thought-took precedence.

While we waited for the others, energetic and youthful Ursa decided to climb onto a near by conic dome to gaze off at the distant canyons, haze and mountains to the south. Aldo and I too followed though I did not explore anymore than take a few pictures of the gathering of artists below in the shadow of cliff. While up there, Erika, John, and Andrew arrived. Moments late Sean, who had videoed the descent, also made it into the shade. But where were Mikey and Betsy? Oh-oh... the clever folks decided to stop off at some point after they no longer could hold back the urge to paint an inspiring formation on location within the canyon valley.

On our return ascent and hike to find Betsy and Mikey, Jon pointed out a cave carved into the base of one of the hoodoos. He wanted to scale up to it and asked for volunteers. Almost all of us followed the adventure up a steep incline of rocks, and boulders between other spires and into a hole-in-the-hoodoo column. Once inside the cavern hollow, the chimney upwards opened to an azure blue sky. After catching out breath, we descended and continued up the trail to find our missing colleagues. By the time we reached Betsy and Mikey sitting by a dried wash, another welcomed rest was in order.

Betsy was still finishing her watercolor of the region while Mikey had finished his 5 by 7 inch piece and sat back chatted amongst the cool rocks. Erika nodded to me as I brought the gathering to order to remember Beth Avary for a two minute silence as we overlooked Fairyland Canyon. Aside spaceart, Beth was also an avid Fantasy and SciFi artist. How appropriate this setting was to remember her spirit and camaraderie. The silence brought with it the sounds of the wind bristling through the trees and hollows within the valley. At the end, I thanked everyone for this remembrance our dear colleague and then yelled into the air "Beth we'll miss you"!

The next 30 to 40 minutes involved the remaining ascent onto the plateau-easy to write about, not so easy to endure the general fatigue. Once assembled at the top to catch our breath, we began to load up into the van for our ride back to Slot Canyon Inn. Before departing, Dan spotted the conical dome mound where Ursa, Aldo and I had climbed inn our farthest reach into the valley terrain below. We pointed out this feature to Erika and others to see as the crow would fly.

Back in the town of Tropic we searched the store for some beers to celebrate in the evening as the lactic acid coursed through our bodies. Jon found and purchased a single bottle of Polygamy Beer for the sheer namesake with the slogan "Why just have one?". Aldo quipped back that by definition Jon would have to share. By the time we settled back on the porch at our Inn as we waited for supper, we heard from Judy that she had spent her day sanding two long rails to the staircase up to the balcony from the driveway. It was her way of helping Joette after breakfast cleanup, whose husband has Parkinson's and whose son had other more urgent tasks at had. In the meantime, Jon found his own reply for the Polygamy Beer slogan -"because it sucks". It turned out that this brew was not a pallet winner. Meanwhile, supper this evening had Jon arrange the hiring of a chef cook us a meal of shish kabob, grilled chicken breast, salad, baked potato, dessert of butterscotch brownie a la mode. Meanwhile Anil Rao and finally arrived to yet another joyous and resounding welcome. How good to see Anil once again having last laid my eyes on him back at our 2000 Yellowstone escapade.

Towards the end of the meal but before we all would disperse to talk art, I called everyone's attention to congratulate Jon for his coordinating this workshop, organizing the itinerary and serving as our chauffeur for our group to various scouting expeditions to Capital Reef and Bryce Canyon regions before the actual plein-aire drawing and painting sessions would begin in full force as was our customary tradition. Although "Some", Betsy, Mikey and Erika [she too stole some time to do a color sketch], had already indulged in such activity the rest would surely follow beginning tomorrow. I then called upon Michael Carroll to come forward to address the assembly of artists to make his formal acknowledgement having organized the very first IAAA workshop in 1983 at first Death Valley excursion.

Mikey stepped forward with a spiral draft copy of our 25th Anniversary art book of which he is the Editor-in-Chief. He gave cordial credit to Jon, our Assistant Editor, for his energy, editorship and work to birth the book into its current form. Without Jon's help we may not have been this far along the project but his "running with it" has made it a reality and ready for our next stage to final a publisher. Several publishers have already been approached. Some have declined the proposal because they were reprint outfitters. Others were still pending. Mikey's speech at times became very emotional as he reflected back to the early years to find the organization still growing and enduring long after our initiation in 1982. How privileged and proud he felt to be involved with this ever growing entanglement of creative artists.

After a hardy applause and ovation to Jon, the balance of the evening began to unfold with further art discussions, show and tell of individual art works, computer renderings and topics of ever broader scope, including classic films for viewing later that night and during the coming week from Aldo's collection. There were also planned sightings of the ISS over-flights at various times throughout the evening. With a dark moonless night, another glorious evening of constellation hunting and identifying would take place. Jon and I meanwhile began to discuss the elements that we could consider for the next group strip-painting.

Next: Day 3

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