(c) 2010 Lydia Hinshaw
On the way from Cedar City to Cedar Breaks
It's still winter at 10,300 feet in Cedar Breaks
Comet McNaught puts on a showDIXIE NATIONAL FOREST, UT -- A heat wave of sorts coincided with the first weekend Prince Charming and I had had off together. This presented a problem. We wanted to go someplace cool, and the coolest place within 100 miles around is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we are already living.
So we scoured the map, and consulted co-workers more familiar with the area than we are. Cedar Breaks National Monument was a good choice. It is more than 2,000 feet higher, and therefore likely to be several degrees cooler, than the North Rim.
Saturday afternoon we drove 130 miles north, down onto the desert and then up into mountains again. We arrived about dark at an RV park a dirt road and awoke Sunday to pleasant 40-something temperatures.
Cedar Breaks was about 10 miles farther along, on a road that only opened for the season Saturday morning. There was still plenty of snow, which at one point was higher than the Eurovan.
Campgrounds in Cedar Breaks weren't open yet, but we found a wonderful one at Duck Creek in the adjacent Dixie National Forest.
Monday morning I got up early and hauled my cameras to a nearby pond to look for wildlife. The ducks were uncooperative, and I don't blame them. The trail around the lake was littered with shotgun shells.
My most interesting find of the morning was a comet, clearly visible just before sunrise.
Naturally I had to consult the Internet later to find out what I was looking at. It's the Comet McNaught, named for the Australian-based astronomer who discovered it about three years ago.
So we scoured the map, and consulted co-workers more familiar with the area than we are. Cedar Breaks National Monument was a good choice. It is more than 2,000 feet higher, and therefore likely to be several degrees cooler, than the North Rim.
Saturday afternoon we drove 130 miles north, down onto the desert and then up into mountains again. We arrived about dark at an RV park a dirt road and awoke Sunday to pleasant 40-something temperatures.
Cedar Breaks was about 10 miles farther along, on a road that only opened for the season Saturday morning. There was still plenty of snow, which at one point was higher than the Eurovan.
Campgrounds in Cedar Breaks weren't open yet, but we found a wonderful one at Duck Creek in the adjacent Dixie National Forest.
Monday morning I got up early and hauled my cameras to a nearby pond to look for wildlife. The ducks were uncooperative, and I don't blame them. The trail around the lake was littered with shotgun shells.
My most interesting find of the morning was a comet, clearly visible just before sunrise.
Naturally I had to consult the Internet later to find out what I was looking at. It's the Comet McNaught, named for the Australian-based astronomer who discovered it about three years ago.
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