Kodachrome Basin State Park
Yesterday afternoon I went hiking in Kodachrome Basin State Park. It's about halfway between Cedar City and Boulder. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's fairly close to Bryce Canyon so I expected a lot of red rock. I got plenty of that, but that was hardly the only feature Kodachrome could boast about.
I decided to go along the Panorama Trail, which is about six miles (but the heat made it feel farther) and it's fairly flat. As I trekked along, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous because I was the only person on the trail. Only one other car was parked in the lot, and that hiker was on the trail that started across the street. So I was alone. If I succumbed to heat stroke (not that I would, I had plenty of water) or got eaten by a mountain lion, no one would ever know.
It's a beautiful hike, though. There's a cave that looks like it's covered in carved handprints. Although it's labeled as "Indian" Cave (yes, with quotation marks) it's believed that the handprints were created by bored cowboys, not the Anasazi or the Fremont. There are hoodoos and towering boulders surrounded by endless sage bushes. A series of small hills that look white with red stripes across them that I found to be quite lovely. It seems to be a largely forgotten park, because it's not directly on Highway 12, but it's really quite nice.
I decided to go along the Panorama Trail, which is about six miles (but the heat made it feel farther) and it's fairly flat. As I trekked along, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous because I was the only person on the trail. Only one other car was parked in the lot, and that hiker was on the trail that started across the street. So I was alone. If I succumbed to heat stroke (not that I would, I had plenty of water) or got eaten by a mountain lion, no one would ever know.
It's a beautiful hike, though. There's a cave that looks like it's covered in carved handprints. Although it's labeled as "Indian" Cave (yes, with quotation marks) it's believed that the handprints were created by bored cowboys, not the Anasazi or the Fremont. There are hoodoos and towering boulders surrounded by endless sage bushes. A series of small hills that look white with red stripes across them that I found to be quite lovely. It seems to be a largely forgotten park, because it's not directly on Highway 12, but it's really quite nice.