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Enter the Dragon

Saturday, May 21th – Kanab, Arizona/Utah – Day 100 

Day 100! We have been travelling for 100 days in a row. We have learned a lot about how to minimize expenses on the road, how to keep a cooler cool for days on end, how to clean dishes with two cups of water and much, much more. At times it has been stressful but there is always a fantastic new view, hike or experience to remind us how lucky we are. We can’t wait to see the rest of the sights in Utah and Nevada but are looking forward to leaving the desert and going back to the coast. The pace has picked up as we realize we need to be in Victoria, BC in just over a month; packing up everyday to move to a new location. 

For the next little two days, we are staying in our Landfill road paradise and doing day trips to visit the Grand Escalante Staircase and Bryce Canyon. At least we can leave the trailer set-up. 

 Our first stop was the Grand Escalante Staircase visitor center. We learned that the Grand Escalante Staircase is more a region then a specific stop. One of the most remote regions in the country, it was apparently the last area to be officially mapped. The friendly Bureau of Land Management employee suggested a bunch of potential hikes in the area. We were considering going to Pink Coral Sands State Park and he replied, “If you like wind and sand, you’ll have a great time”. We opted for two alternative hikes: the Belly of the Dragon and the Sand Caves. 

 We needed to run errands and resupply, so we started at the laundromat, and I took care of the laundry and the kids while Mom ran errands. The laundromat had Wi-Fi and that is the only time we allow the kids to watch Netflix. They had a great time. We also went to the hardware store for some trailer parts. When Gen was about to vacuum the car, she accidentally locked her keys in the car, a quick CAA call lead to a person showing up in no time. Apparently, they were a block away when we phoned. We were back in business. 

 The Belly of the Dragon hike was a manmade drain that engineers drilled in sandstone underneath a highway to allow water to flow. Water over time has carved out the bottom to make more of a tunnel underneath. The tunnel is about 16’ in diameter and only 100 m long. The kids were walking along the rocks lining the side of the tunnel. The middle of the tunnel was dark resulting in a few slips. We went through it and back before the kids played around on the rocks. 


We jumped back into the car. We went to a spot where they were supposed to have a slot canyon but the path just started leading down into a valley, so we ignored it. Gen found another slot canyon nearby to try but the road was 3 miles long and only accessible by ATV or hiking. 

 Our next planned stop was the Sand Caves. We found out later that these were man made as well when someone tried to start a sand mine. Regardless, they looked really cool. We had to hike 15 m up a steep rock face and then along the face to the caves. The caves could easily be walked through and they had places where you could look out from the cliff side. The kids loved playing around in the sand and walking through the caves. Aisling found an eye painted on the ceiling and though it was great. 


We climbed back down and started back towards Kanab. The last stop of the day was the carnival. We arrived after sunset and the rides were in full swing. Each kid got to pick two games or rides. Aisling chose the dart throwing game (she won a popsicle stuffy) and the fun house. Charlotte chose the big slide and the fun house. John chose the game where you pick three ducks and written on the bottom of S, M or L which determined what prize you won and he wanted to go on the car driving in a circle ride. They had a great time. We spent some time in the weightlifting area/park near the reservoir edge before heading out to go to bed.

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