Saturday, August 11th: Panguitch, UT or … a preview of Red Canyon

My human gets a chance to play a bit: our reservations in Bryce run from august 15^th – so plenty of time. But the call of the Red Canyon is so huge… she just has to jump on Sweet Machine and roll up there. 

The center of Panguitch has a monument dedicated to the early pioneers: they had such a severe winter in those early years they lived here they needed to get some food from another place. On their way they had to abandon their wagons and go on foot. But even that was hard in the deep snow. So they used two quilts: they stepped on one, threw the other just in front of the one they were standing on, they then hopped onto that one, took the one in the back... this way they got to where they wanted to go (Parowan). The city still celebrates the quilt race!

The name says it all: it’s a canyon and its red. 

Awesome! She cycles to the Visitor Center and looks around the toys, books, exhibits. A woman there says:” Clouds are coming in” and indeed… the big fat fluffy clouds are all around. My boss tries to linger a bit along the road wanting to become one with nature. The sudden change from a red looking scenery to the green sage scenery is so amazing!

 As she sets out to the Indian shop, she feels some fat drops falling on her. Where does this come from? A bird? No, it’s the thunderstorm rolling in. 

Hurry down to the shop! Just in time before the sky empties all the buckets of water it has up there! She is in good company with two cowboys sitting next to her: Jake and she forgot the other one’s name. 

She sits there wondering when sky will look blue again, but the woman in the store just kills that idea: “don’t know when it,s going to stop!” So she takes her chance – it’s all kind of downhill and tailwinds will blow her to Panguitch where the sun seems to be shining. Well – it was a fast ride at 33 km/hr. She looked in her mirror and saw the black threatening sky behind her – giving that extra shot of energy needed to climb over the small hill. And yes, Panguitch was dry and stayed dry all day long. Amazing how different the weather can get here. She had pizza and brought some home to the KOA – good for us! The rest of the day we spent at “home”.