Utah - Arizona - Idaho - Wyoming - Montana - June 2020

Chris had flight testing at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah starting on 2 June 2020.  It was originally scheduled to last for two weeks, but that was extended to three weeks.  He went to Capitol Reef for the first weekend, and spent the second weekend with his sister Karen and her husband Doug in southern Utah and northern Arizona.  After flight testing was complete, he took a week off in Montana with Karen and Doug, and Chris and Karen's cousin Jim and Jim's wife Patti.  Chris ended up spending 2 - 26 June 2020 in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Skull Valley Panorama, looking north, 4 June 2020

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

During the first weekend, 6-7 June 2020, Chris drove to Capitol Reef National Park.  On Saturday, 6 June 2020, he drove from Dugway to Capitol Reef via a route he had never used before, coming onto UT-24 from the north on UT-72 from I-70 across the mountains north-west of Capitol Reef.  This also gave him a view looking down on the west end of Cathedral Valley.  He visited the main park area near Fruita, including the Goosenecks overlook of Sulphur Creek, Sunset Point, and drove the Cathedral Valley loop, where he camped Saturday night on BLM land.

	Cathedral Valley Loop Route
San Rafael Swell, Q200 Aerial Video, 6 June 2020	Cathedral Valley Loop, Driving Video, 6-7 June 2020
Cathedral Valley - West, Q200 Aerial Video, 6 June 2020	Google Earth Tour of Cathedral Valley Loop

Lower South Desert Overlook Panorama, Cathedral Valley Loop, 6 June 2020

                         
Capitol Reef, Cathedral Valley, Glass Mountain, 6 June 2020

On Sunday, 7 June 2020, he finished the last few miles of the Cathedral Valley loop and then drove to and hiked the Sheets Gulch and Hickman Bridge trails.  He also drove part of the main viewing road south of Fruita and stopped at Panorama Point on the way back west out of the park.

               
Sheets Gulch, Hickman Bridge, Panorama Point, 7 June 2020

Cathedral Valley Loop Panorama, looking south-west at Capitol Reef, 7 June 2020

On 8 June 2020 after work, Chris drove just off-post and flew his FPV RC aircraft on a hill east of Dugway.  On 9 June 2020 after work, Chris drove to White Rocks, a set of rock formations on BLM land in Skull Valley, off-post from Dugway.  He flew is FPV RC aircraft there as well.

     
Skull Valley, White Rocks, Utah, 8 & 9 June 2020

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah & Arizona

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Zion National Park, Utah

During the second weekend, 13-15 June 2020, Chris drove to southern Utah and camped with Karen and Doug at White House campground, Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument.  They had all camped there in 2018, so they were familiar with the area.  There was a large forest fire on the Kaibab Plateau near Jacob Lake, with winds blowing from the south-west, so there was a lot of smoke and haze in the air at White House and Page.

On Saturday, 13 June 2020, they drove the Cottonwood Canyon Road from south to north, and hiked through the Cottonwood Narrows slot canyon. They stopped at Grosvenor Arch and Kodachrome Basin State Park, and finished the day with sunset at Bryce Canyon National Park, then returned through Kanab to White House campground. 

Cottonwood Narrows, Hiking Video, 13 June 2020

Cottonwood Canyon Road @ Cottonwood Narrows, Q200 Aerial Video, 13 June 2020

White House Campground Panorama, 13 June 2020

White House Campground

Paria River Box

Cottonwood Canyon Road

         
Cottonwood Canyon Road, 13 June 2020

               
Cottonwood Narrows, 13 June 2020

     
Grosvenor Arch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, 13 June 2020

           
Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah, 13 June 2020

         
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, 13 June 2020

Bryce Canyon, Sunset Point Panorama, 13 June 2020

On Sunday, 14 June 2020, they drove to Page, Arizona and visited the Glen Canyon Dam, part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which sits in Utah and Arizona. They continued south to Lee's Ferry, Arizona, which is partially in Grand Canyon National Park. On the way to Lee's Ferry they stopped at Navajo Bridge and were lucky enough to have California condors flying overhead and under the bridge.  On the way back from Lee's Ferry, they drove out along a very rough 4WD road to the cliffs on the east side of the Colorado River above Lee's Ferry overlooking Paria Beach, and later drove along the shoreline at Lake Powell for some sunset photos.

     
Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, 14 June 2020

Panorama looking northwest, from south of Page, Vermillion Cliffs, 14 June 2020

Panorama looking west, from Arizona-89, Marble Canyon below, Vermillion Cliffs, 14 June 2020

Panorama looking northeast, from south of Page, Salt River Power Plant, Navajo Mountain, 14 June 2020

   
Navajo Bridge, Arizona-89A crossing of the Colorado River, 14 June 2020

             
California Condors at Navajo Bridge, 14 June 2020

Lee's Ferry, west side of Colorado River, 14 June 2020

Lee's Ferry, east side of Colorado River, 14 June 2020

 
Wahweap Marina, Lake Powell, 14 June 2020

Lake Powell Sunset Panorama, 14 June 2020

     
White House Campground Sunset, 14 June 2020

On Monday, 15 June 2020, they drove in two cars to Zion National Park, where they visited several spots in the park and had a picnic lunch.  Chris returned north to Dugway, and Karen and Doug returned east to White House campground.  Chris worked for another week at Dugway, then met up with them again on Friday evening, 19 June, at a campground on the Snake River, just south of Jackson, Wyoming.

White House Campground, Q180 & Q200 Aerial Video, 15 June 2020 (two flights)

                 
Zion National Park, Utah, 15 June 2020

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming - Montana - Idaho

From 20-25 June 2020, Chris, Karen, and Doug all stayed with Jim and Patti at their home in West Yellowstone, Montana. 

Chris, Patti, Jim, Karen (and Skylar)

Late afternoon at Buckskin Mountain, SR-30, Idaho, 19 June 2020

   
Sunset at Blackfoot Reservoir, Idaho, 19 June 2020

On Saturday, 20 June 2020, on the way to West Yellowstone, they drove separately though and visited Grand Teton National Park. Chris stopped in Jackson on the way north and got a bison burger at Local, a restaurant we have eaten at before in 2012 and 2017.  Our sons all had the bison burger in 2012 and Chris and Tami both had the bison burger in 2017, and we all really liked the food at Local.

       
Snake River, Jackson Square, Bison Burger at Local, Wyoming, 20 June 2020

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 20 June 2020 

After visiting Jackson and Grand Teton National Park, Chris headed north for Yellowstone National Park. He stopped at Lewis Falls to take his Lewis River photo, the same picture he has taken whenever he visits Yellowstone, starting in 1985.  Here they are by year:

1985, June (Nikon FE2 scan)	<scan photo> 1987, July (Nikon FE2 scan)	2009, August (Nikon D80)
2012, August (Nikon D80)	2017, June (Nikon D7100)	2020, June (Nikon D7100)

     
Lewis River & Falls, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 20 June 2020

On Sunday, 21 June 2020, Chris drove into Yellowstone National Park and visited Norris Geyser Basin, Lake, Fishing Bridge, and Canyon.

Madison River, Gibbon Falls, Norris Geyser Basin, Hayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 21 June 2020

         
Lake, Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 21 June 2020

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Gibbon River, Yellowstone National Park, 21 June 2020

On Monday, 22 June 2020, Chris dog-sat Karen's dog Skylar, after Karen and Doug drove north to Bozeman, Montana to visit the hospital for some emergency medical needs during the afternoon of 21 June 2020.  Chris and Skylar visited Earthquake Lake in the morning.  Later in the day, Chris drove into Yellowstone again, this time visiting Mammoth Hot Springs, Gardiner, Tower, and the Lamar Valley.

 
Hebgen Lake, Montana, NanoTalon Aerial Video, 22 June 2020

       
Earthquake Lake, Montana, 22 June 2020

             
Mammoth Hot Springs, Roosevelt Arch - Gardiner, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming & Montana, 22 June 2020

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 22 June 2020

Chris saw two black bears on Monday, one of them up close.  Chris was near Tower, on the east side of the Yellowstone River, returning from the Lamar Valley. As he was taking photos at an overlook of the bridge across the river, someone walked by and said "Hey, there is a bear just on the other side of the river."  Chris thanked him and drove across the bridge, got out, and looked for a bear below the bridge, but did not see anything.  A different man and his wife drove up, and the man said "I just saw a big black shape or shadow under the bridge.  It might be a bear, but if it is, it is a big one."  They all looked around and did not see any bears, including the man's wife who walked out onto the bridge.  Chris stepped off the pavement for about 30 feet along a trail to look under the bridge, and still did not see any bear.   There was a large section of bushes about 20 feet in front of Chris, so he stopped at that point and returned to the pavement.  He walked out along the bridge a little further than the woman had walked, and sure enough, there was a large black bear just on the other side of those bushes where Chris had stopped.

           
Yellowstone River Bridge @ Tower, Black bear at the bridge, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 22 June 2020

   
Undine Falls, Madison River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 22 June 2020

On Tuesday, 23 June 2020, Chris and Karen went to the West Yellowstone Airport to pick up Karen's son Jason, who was going to help Karen and Doug drive home. Jason had graduated USAFA a few years after Chris, and had recently been promoted to full colonel, O-6. Congratulations to Jason!  They then all drove to Bozeman to pick up Doug, who was released from the hospital.

Jim and Patti live in a neighborhood in West Yellowstone, Montana that is protected as a buffalo sanctuary. People who live there are not allowed to put up fences apart from a small plot for pets, and there is strictly no harassing of the buffalo.  It is an historical calving area for the local buffalo heard, and that heard as grown so accustomed to the people living there that they will walk within a few feet of the homes, with people sitting on their decks. There are a few photos below of some of these 2000 pound animals, with some newborn calves, relaxing and grazing within that neighborhood.

     
Buffalo in Jim and Patti's neighborhood, West Yellowstone, Montana, 23 June 2020

On Wednesday, 24 June 2020, while Karen and Doug rested, Chris and Jason drove into Yellowstone, where they visited the Lower Geyser Basin, Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin, West Thumb Geyser Basin, Fishing Bridge, and Canyon.

                                           
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 24 June 2020 

On Thursday, 25 June 2020, Karen, Doug, and Jason began the drive to Jason's home in Omaha, where Karen and Doug would rest for a few more days before continuing home to Tennessee.  Chris also left on Thursday and drove back to Salt Lake City, and then flew home on Friday, 26 June. On the way from West Yellowstone to Salt Lake City, Chris visited Mesa Falls, Idaho along the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.

         
Mesa Falls, Idaho, 25 June 2020