A cold morning at Cedar Breaks National Monument.
Cathedral Gorge: the formations start small …
We left Bryce early to start heading back home. We thought about doing a ride in the Panguitch Lake area, but the trails had too much ice on them.
We drove through the highest national park or monument in the U.S.: Cedar Breaks National Monument, 10,400’. It was butt cold and we only stopped long enough to get a refrigerator magnet at the ranger station.
We drove on across west Utah to Cathedral Gorge State Park outside of Panaca, Nevada.
… and get bigger …
Cathedral Gorge is a funky little park with a lot of eroded formations, like a mini-badlands.
We rode our bikes around a four mile loop to explore the park’s weird formations.
… and bigger.
A mini Grand Canyon.
The trail climbs to Miller Point, where you get a view of a very small version of the Grand Canyon.
Looping back.
On the loop back, the trail passes the “caves” area.
Spelunking?
The “caves” are actually long channels eroded in the soft clay. You can walk as far as a couple hundred feet back into the eroded cracks and tunnels.
Exploring another crack.
I had never seen erosion like this, with narrow cracks extending far into the hill.
Cracking up.
There’s dozens of these eroded channels.
We kept finding new ones to explore, walking far back in the hidden passageways to see how far they extended into the hillside.
A pillar next to some structures built by the CCC.
There are also a few old structures that were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression.
Enjoying mesquite-grilled steaks around the campfire.
The Nevada state parks—although few in number—are the best I’ve seen anywhere. They’re cheap, clean, and they all have showers.
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