Cannonville, UT - Cottonwood Canyon Rd

We decided to stay closer to the RV park today and chose to drive to Cannonville and search for the Grosvenor Arch.  It is located a number of miles past Kodachrome State Park.  The paved highway ends at Kodachrome SP and it's dirt road after that.  There are a number of warning signs stating 4x4 wheel drive vehicles should be used on the road and how impassible it is when it's wet.  It was a very dry day so we continued on our merry way.

The scenery was spectacular with grand vistas, steep canyons and tall cliffs.  The drive started off on RT 12 until we got to Cannonville and then we headed south.

Doesn't look too bad.

Hmmm!

And then this is what we had ahead of us.

Slot canyon

 The Grosvenor Arch was a mile or two off the road and there was a geocache there.

Grosvenor Arch is actually two sandstone arches towering 150ft/45m above the ground located in the north western corner of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. The largest arch is nearly 100ft/30m in diameter. You can walk right up under the arches and look up into the sky. To get to the arch requires a short walk, on a concrete sidewalk, from the parking lot. There are pit toilet restrooms available.

Driving Directions
Take state route 12 south of Cannonville for approximately 9 miles. This is a paved road to the Kodachrome State Park turnoff. Continue on Cottonwood Canyon Road, a graded dirt road, for another 10 miles to the Grosvenor Arch parking lot. Cottonwood Canyon Road continues through the Grand Staircase Escalante NM.

Note: The arch was named after Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, president of the National Geographic Society - the first full time editor of National Geographic Magazine.

  

Gerry and Larry at the Arch

Mud hole on road

 After viewing the area, taking photos, etc., we continued along the dirt road for a while longer.  Debbie & Dale wanted to hike the slot canyon but we ran out of time and had to head back out of there.  By this time we were about 35 miles off a paved highway, with a lot of rough areas on the road.  It was beautiful back there, but nice to get back to civilization.

It was dinner time by then and we decided to go to a restaurant Debbie and Dale had tried earlier.  The Big Canyon  Pines restaurant was full, but we decided to wait for a table.  45 minutes later we were seated.  We commented about the number of foreign tourists there, but it is a holiday weekend.  We all enjoyed our food and conversation, but were all running out of steam, so headed straight back to the park from there.

That was our day, how was yours?