Day 47 - God Bless Asda

Trip Start May 19, 2008
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49
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Trip End Nov 08, 2008


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Where I stayed
Ponderosa Grove Campground
(Kanab hotels)

Flag of United States  , Utah,
Friday, July 4, 2008

As we left the Navajo National Monument, so we left the lush valleys and headed once again into rocky desert as we headed north-west to Page. Page is a large town on the very edge of the Navajo Nation and so white faces were in abundance once again. We don't mean to sound racist, but we felt very uncomfortable in the NN, especially in the way that we were treated in the two fast food outlets.

Despite being Independence Day and a National Holiday for the Americans, most of the larger stores were open. So after stocking up with groceries in "Basha's" we found the best Wal-Mart yet just further down the road. A veritable "Asda", fresh fruit and veg and bread and meat........ Oh well, it's a reassuring sign that there may be more.

Leaving Page we passed the Glen Canyon Dam as we crossed Lake Powell, then headed west again through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument The Road To Page
The Road To Page
 . It appears that National Monument status is one step down from National Park status and as such there don't seem to be any entrance fees. Bill Clinton awarded Grand Staircase Escalante with its National Monument status in 1996 much to the disappointment of the state of Utah, who had plans for a coal mine in the area.

At the western end of the "monument" we passed through the "Vermilion Cliffs", beautiful pink-hued cliffs with fantastic striations. According to the leaflets and guides we have read there are even more stunning ones than what we saw.

We arrived in the town of Kanab mid-afternoon and found ourselves a wi-fi signal so that we could check our email and upload some blog. After a couple of hours in a car park we headed north-west, realising as we drove through the town that it was much more interesting and scenic at that end than where we had been parked up. Typical!

About 8 miles north of Kanab we turned off the main road towards the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Just on the edge of the State Park we found our campground, the Ponderosa Grove Campground, managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Again very basic, but spotlessly clean toilets, nice pitches with tables and grills and very, very quiet and peaceful 4th of July Celebrations
4th of July Celebrations
 . Only one other group camped up.

After chopping up his firewood with his new axe(!), Neil mad a fire in the grill and cooked our chicken breasts to perfection!

Distance travelled: 180 miles

Total distance travelled: 2821 miles

Days on road: 27

States visited: 6

National Parks visited: 4
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