Sept. 22 – Hanging out in the “Tropics”

I packed up and headed up to Panguitch Lake, which was a beautiful high country lake with some houses around it and people already out fishing.

As I rode past the lake I ran into Andreas and Heidi, a couple from Bern, Switzerland are on a bicycle tour of the Western States. They are Warmshowers hosts in Bern and I have a standing invitation to visit them there!

From there I had a short ride into the town of Panguitch, where I had a nice breakfast at the Goat Cafe and got provisioned up for the coming days. I also dealt with my Garmin problem by sending mine back and getting a new one delivered to my sister Jill who will meet up with me in Pueblo, CO. Hopefully I will be able to load my maps onto the new one! I have definitely been electronically challenged on this trip so far (just ask my daughter Suzi, who has fielded numerous calls about how to access all the features of this blog!!) So being fed and provisioned, I headed on down the road towards Bryce Canyon. As I entered the park there was a nice bike path that took me the last 10 miles or so up to the park entrance – it was nice to have the peace and quiet without a constant stream of RV’s going by!

Unfortunately I didn’t actually see Bryce Canyon…..it was another 5 miles or so off of my route to get there – and I am on a mission. Will have to go back another time as I hear it is spectacular. I continued on to the little town of Tropic, where I snagged a nice campsite, a hot shower with a clean towel, and live country music at the Bryce Pioneer Village! (OK, it was one guy with a guitar). (They also have a Pool and a hot tub that I didn’t try) The restaurant was decent though and I had a salmon salad and a couple of IPA’s – both which I desperately needed after freeze dried dinners.

In the morning they had fresh, hot coffee and they filled up all my water bottles with ice and water. If you come through this part of Utah, I recommend Tropic as a place to rest your bones!