Today we start our long drive towards Idaho to see the total solar eclipse and as usual we are planning to stop multiple times along to way to break up the boredom of the drive and visit the local attractions. We are planning on driving two days towards Idaho and then returning in two subsequent day back to Arizona.
We weren't sure for a long time if we should go to see the eclipse but decided on last moment notice that we should go of course:). Our first stop is at the mushroom festival where we booked tickets far before deciding whether to go to see the eclipse. As the mushroom foray starts at 9AM we have to be on the road at 6AM and therefore we are surprised at how many people made the long trip for the foray (it seems an increase from last year) which this year is located at the Crowley Pit Snow Area.
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| Quite busy today at the mushroom festival | Didn't expect this many people |
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| Describing the mushrooms | Wildflowers in the forest |
Given the number of people we are split in two groups each with an experienced leader showing us where to look for mushrooms and for each find describing how to identify if it is edible or not. After two hours of searching even we have enough for a dish however unfortunately given where we are going we will not be able to use them before they spoil. At the end all the finds from both groups are put on a table and the experienced pickers go once more over all finds pointing all the different ways you can identify the edible mushrooms.
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| Mushroom habitat | Some of the finds |
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| Expo of the found mushrooms | Not all are edible :) |
From the mushroom foray we are driving around the San Francisco Peaks and on highway 87 towards the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. While today we have no time to make the extra drive towards the Rim we stop at the Le Fevre Lookout which has a great view over the Grand Staircase of the Escalante. The name is derived from the series of topographic benches and cliffs that, as the name implies, step progressively up in elevation from south to north and they can easily be seen from the viewpoint.
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| View from Le Fevre Lookout Point | Going down |
Descending from the Grand Canyon plateau we arrive in Kanab. Today we do not plan to visit a lot in Kanab because we plan to stop by here when we return from the eclipse for the night. However we take a break near the Little Hollywood museum trying to decide whether to enter it or not but given the late time we decide to skip it for now. As an aside the reason there is a movie museum here is because Kanab and the surrounding area was used as a background location for many movies the latest being a Dr Who episode.
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| Little Hollywood museum | Stagecoach nearby |
We stop once more at an art museum along the way in the house of Maynard Dixon, a renowned Western painter, which is already closed when we stop unfortunately.
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| Maynard Dixon home - now a gallery | Natural art :) |
Our last stop before sunset is in a meadow in the mountains near Beaver which is our destination for the night. It is a great place to take some photos and view wildflowers before the last descent towards Beaver. The hotel is an easy find and we decide to eat from our provisions instead of going out and then we retire for the night.
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| Passing through the mountains | Light and darkness |
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| Blackeyed Susan | Beautiful flowers |
In the morning after a continental breakfast we decide to take a short stroll through downtown Beaver before leaving. It has a nice historical downtown with some well preserved early 20th century historical buildings like the Opera House or the Victorian style former Courthouse, which now houses the Beaver Courthouse museum. Unfortunately all of them are closed as it is Sunday so we can admire them only from the outside.
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| Short stroll in Beaver | Antiques store |
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| Beaver Courthouse | ...and the opera |
After finishing our short sightseeing tour it is time to get on the interstate for our drive towards the north of the state. Here we are surprised to learn that the maximum speed has increased on Utah interstates from the last time we visited from 75 mph to 80 mph which is quite ok with us as we have a long way ahead of us. While we could arrive at our next accomodation in 3-4 hours we are planning to detour on side roads which might increase the time taken significantly so any legal speed increase is quite helpful.
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| Empty interstate | Highest speed limit we have seen |
Our next stop about one hour from Beaver is Fremont Indian State Park and Museum which protects a large area of petroglyphs and also houses a small museum in the visitor center. While small the museum is certainly well worth a stop as it has a number of interesting artifacts found in the region, some during the construction of the interstate. We especially like the small cache of objects that was unearthed in a nearby cave containing typical items that were taken on a hunting trip.
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| Fremont Indian State Park Museum... | ...quite a few exhibits |
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| Interesting find of an Indian cache | Lots of arrowheads |
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| Obsidian rocks | Typical footwear |
From the visitor center we decide to walk the short 0.3 miles interpretative trail, Parade of Rock Art, that starts right next to the visitor center. It is at the recommendation of the ranger who recommended a few more stops nearby that we plan to do as we continue on our way. Quite soon after starting on the trail we see petroglyphs seemingly everywhere on both boulders and cliffs with some of them in the Eastern Utah "extraterrestrial" style that we are quite in love with.
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| Start of the short interpretative trail | Snake petroglyphs |
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| Quite a few petroglyphs | Close up of some of the petroglyphs |
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| Is that one really ancient? | More typical petroglyph |
Before returning to the trailhead on the short loop we pause near a bench for a while to enjoy the views and count the lizards flitting on the beautiful moss covered rocks.
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| View of visitor center from trail | There is another trail leaving from here |
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| Lizard sunning | Beautiful moss |
The next petroglyph sites in the state park that were recommended to us are accesible from the road that exits to park and we stop at each of them, climbing to them when appropriate or watching them from a distance when not. The most impressive pictoglyph is actually far in the distance on the other side of the interstate on a cliffside, it is quite huge and we can only imagine how big it would be if we could get close to it.
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| Petroglyphs on the top of the rocks | View from the rocks |
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| Close to the petroglyphs | There are lots of them |
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| Can you see the huge petroglyph on the mountain side? | Interesting rock formations |
Before returning to the interstate we have one more sidetrip to make towards an attraction that we found out about from promotional pamphlets that we picked up at the hotel - Big Rock Candy Mountain, named after a popular song in the early 20th century. We liked the photos and because we are passing nearby we decide to take a look and see if the reality looks the same as the photos. The short answer is yes but only if you stand in the right spot :).
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| Big Rock Candy Mountain | Empty rodeo grounds |
From here we return to the interstate but soon we have to leave it again as we take route 89 north towards Salt Lake City through multiple historic towns planning to stop along the way whenever we see something interesting. The first place is Manti, a small town with an oversized Mormon Temple. It feels like we were transported to Europe where often a huge cathedral overlooks a small town at its base. The Manti temple is one of the earliest Mormon temples and was the location of the Holy of Holies until the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated.
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| Manti Temple in the distance | Looks like an European cathedral |
Our next stop is in Ephraim but less for sightseeing - rather we are hungry and this is the first McDonalds (or any other fast food restaurant) we have seen for some time. Given this we are suprised that this is the first McDonalds we have seen where you can order and pay at an automated kiosk - we do it half and half - order at the kiosk but pay at the checkout line.
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| Haven't seen McDonalds selfpay before | Ephraim Co-op Building |
Full now we continue on the 89 highway and stop in Fairview to see the outsized Fiarview Museum of History. While it looks like an interesting place to visit, it is closed as it is Sunday (and almost everything is closed to day in Utah). As a bonus it also starts to rain so we cannot stop for some time as we continue on towards the Salt Lake City area.
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| Fairview Museum - old building | And the new building |
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| Outside exhibit | Old carts |
On the way we discover in our notes that one museum might still be open even on Sunday but unfortunately it is closed by the time we arrive and then we decide to stop at a state park near the Utah lakeshore however the entry fee is unexpectedly high and it makes no sense to pay it for 1h of sunlight so in the end we drive directly to out hotel with no further stops. The closest hotel we found to Idaho that was reasonably priced is in Ogden, still one hour out from the Idaho stateline and about three hours away from the path of totality - everything above Ogden is either fully booked or crazy expensive ($500 for a Motel 6 room for example). Given this we go to sleep early as the next day we have to leave quite early to ensure we make it during the expected crazy traffic.
Today we wake up quite early and are soon on our way north. The traffic is busy but not horrenduous and there are no portions really where it is stop and go. We are not sure where to go as we want to avoid the major gatherings of people due to traffic concerns and in the end settle on a little known National Landmark, EBR-1. EBR stands for Experimental Breeding Reactor and it also seems like an interesting place to visit post eclipse. We arrive here without any issues and pick a parking spot to watch the eclipse.
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| Entering Idaho | Everywhere there are people waiting for the eclipse |
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| Our stop - EBR-1 - a nuclear reactor | We are certaunly not alone |
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| Industrial machines in the parking lot | Eclipse is on the way |
One thing that we are missing for the eclipse are eclipse watching glasses - as we decided quite late to see the eclipse there were none to be found online and the only thing that we could find were some solar watching binoculars which are not that handy compared to the glasses. When we ask an EBR-1 employee that distributes commemorative postcards about any extra ones, there are none but luckily she passes by lately and she had found one more which is quite fortunate for us as it makes viewing the partial eclipse a lot easier. When the totality comes it is quite sudden - it gets dark almost instantly and it is quite surprising, almost like someone threw a switch. We expected a more gradual decline in brightness but to us at least it seemed very sudden. For the two minutes of totality it is an eerie feeling and we take as many photos as we can of the eclipse - no glasses needed now :). The eclipse is gone as sudden as it arrived leaving behind disoriented birds and rabbits and a quite impressed and subdued crowd.
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| Almost fully covered | Night in the middle of the day |
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| Total solar eclipse | Right before the end of the full phase |
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| After the eclipse | Disoriented rabbit |
After the eclipse it is time to visit EBR-1, an experimental nuclear reactor that is now a national landmark. On December 20, 1951 EBR 1 became one of the world's first electricity-generating nuclear power plants when it produced sufficient electricity to illuminate four 200-watt light bulbs. The reactor was deactivated in 1964 and can be now visited for free and it is quite an interesting site.
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| TIme to visit the Experimental Breeder Reactor | Quite an interesting museum |
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| The generator | Explaining fusion reaction |
It is very well explained and as we pass from room to room on a self guided tour looking at the control panels, generators and nuclear rods storage we learn quite a few new things about nuclear power. Also interesting for us is that a couple of the bulbs that were first lighted by the plant are on display - they are quite huge compared to modern lightbulbs.
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| View from above | Control panel |
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| The first nuclear powered bulb | Fuel chamber |
After finishing our tour it is time to return to Utah however this time the traffic is heavy and stop and go quite a few times. Therefore we first stop near Atomic City to investigate some interesting warehouses near the road and wait for the traffic to subside however as reach the interstate it is bumper to bumper so we decide to detour further east and at least visit something interesting instead of being stuck in traffic.
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| Warehouses near a dirt road | All of them seem abandoned |
The detour that we have chosen will take us past Soda Springs which is the home of an interesting phenomenon - the Soda Springs Geyser. It is claimed that it is the only captive geyser in the world and it was created due to a mistake - while drilling for mineral water to fill a natural hot springs swimming pool they released the captive geyser which has since been capped and it is being released every hour on the hour. We are doing our best to arrive before the eruption and we manage it with some time to spare that we use to sightsee around the geyser.
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| Soda Springs geyser | Waiting for the eruption |
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| Mineral water river | Interesting formation |
The eruption is even late however when it arrives it is quite impressive - a 100m jet of mineral water straight up. At least it is straight up in the beginning before the wind starts blowing it towards the car park covering all cars in (not healthy for the cars) mineral water.
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| Here it is | Quite impressive |
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| Mineral water in the wind | The spray is dangerous for the cars |
From Soda Springs we pass near Bear Lake, a large freshwater lake on the Utah-Idaho border. We stop at a few viewpoints and parks along the way and even take a longer hike up a jeep road for a great view over the lake and the surrounding area.
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| Walking towards the overlook | Bear Lake overlook |
From here it is time to drive back towards Salk Lake City from where we still have a long way to go to Kanab where we will spend the night. On the way we stop for a short hike at Jardine Juniper trailhead to stretch our legs. While the total hike is quite long - about 6 miles one way we only hike for a short distance enjoying the creek and the cool temperatures after a hot day. There are also wildflowers by the side of the trail which is a nice bonus.
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| Jardine Juniper trailhead | Nice trail |
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| Bridge over a creek | The creek |
There is one more stop along the way at Stokes Nature Center which unfortunately is closed so we only hike for a short distance before returning to the car. After that it is getting dark and we are quite behind our expected schedule so we drive almost continuously towards Kanab. Passing through Salt Lake City we notice that the traffic is slightly better this late in the evening and south of Salt Lake it opens up with no additional troubles till Kanab. It is 2 AM when we arrive at the hotel so after checking in we are soon fast asleep after a very long and eventful day.
We wake up late in the day and leave the hotel right before checkout time. Before leaving Kanab today we have time to visit multiple stores on the main street hunting for souvenirs and anything else interesting. Leaving Kanab we have only one major stop planned after the tiring previous day - a hike into the wilderness surrounding Kanab up a mostly abandoned road. It is a nice hike with some great views of the Grand Staircase as we climb the plateau through the wilderness for about 1 mile before returning to the car for the 6 hour drive to Phoenix. Overall while tiring it was a great trip where besides the spectacular eclipse we also visited quite a few places that we were not even aware they existed before researching the trip.
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| Breakfast in Kanab | Our hotel |
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| Hiking in the wilderness | Typical southern Utah landscape |
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