September 30, 2018
Waking up to a blue dome morning we were back on the road early, heading south on the Notom-Bullfrog Road for another 12 miles, continually passing between the national park and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, before intersecting the Burr Trail. Although every filling in my lower jaw was loosened by the washboard surface of these roads, the scenery was breath-taking.
The Burr Trail is reputed to be the most scenic road in this national park, and it certainly lived up to the hype. The road is extremely narrow, windy, and steep as it climbs switchback after switchback up the canyon walls to the top of waterpocket fold. We stopped a few times for photos, but the danger of falling rocks and my fear of heights kept those stops to a minimum.
Once we reached the end of the Burr Trail we were in the town of Boulder where we dined at the Burr Trail Grill. We loved the food, burgers & pies, and the atmosphere, outdoor/western/funky. Leaving Boulder we continued along the “million dollar highway” to the town of Escalante. The road which was built by Mormons in the 1930’s, was considered excessive costly at the time; nowadays you couldn’t build a off-ramp for that price. However, the views along this road are certainly million dollar views as you climb and descend through our nation’s largest national monument.
We lucked out again, getting one of the last two campsites at the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. This campground had flush toilets, showers, and shaded canopies at every campsite. We were actually in one of the group sites which overlooked a small lake. After a night in the dust bowl of Cedar Mesa, we were thrilled to have a shower. A year ago, when we first arrived at Moab, we spent our first night in a group campsite, which we ended up sharing with a nice German family who were driving a large Winnebago rental. So we had to laugh at the coincidence when another German family pulled up and asked to this site. They couldn’t have been nicer!
