Glorious Utah, Highway 12 a great road trip
We had some lunch after we had finished our walk and then set out on the next stage of the trip. We were taking Highway 12 out of Bryce and then north through the edge of Escalante National Monument, final destination Capitol Reef. This road was carved by the Mormons who made their settlements along it's route. They kept animals, and grew crops, forging a living from the hard stony soil along the way. Map courtesy of the Scenic Byway 12 Foundation The soil changed colour from red to white and became thin. We were at the edge of the Kaiparowits Plateau which extends nearly to the border with Arizona and the Colorado River. By Henrieville we stopped to look at an impressive mesa set in former fields that had been so hopelessly overgrazed by thousands of sheep, that they were left barren. The Taylor Grazing Act was signed by Franklin D Roosevelt in 1934, during the Great Depression, to license and restrict the amount of grazing in order to stop land erosion. In fact only...