13-14 August: After Bryce, we spent a couple of days exploring some of the scenery that Dixie National Forest has to offer. In Red Canyon, the NF visitor center is not only located in a very scenic spot, but the outdoor kiosks and indoor exhibits are first rate. When we noticed that the bike trail through the canyon is paved, we decided on a shorter hike for the day, so we would have enough time also for a bike ride in this scenic canyon among red rock formations and ponderosa pine trees. After biking, we hiked the Pink Ledges interpretive trail, which loops up past a pair of prominent hoodoos overlooking the visitor center.
We stayed that night in the Duck Creek NF campground, in a quiet setting of spruce trees, aspens, and grassy meadows. Our drive the next morning climbed over a forested ridge, passing through an area of jagged black lava flows, then descended through a winding canyon to Cedar City. It was a challenge finding the trail we had chosen for this day’s hike, the Noah’s Ark Trail, because of recent flash flood damage in the creek valley and ongoing reconstruction work behind a locked gate. With another couple we met nearby, who joined us for the hike, we were able to bushwhack through the damaged area and find the trail. It was worth the effort. The trail climbed up the end of a ridge to a fine overlook toward Vermillion Castle, a rugged red sandstone mountain on the opposite side of the Bowery Creek valley. Along the trail we noticed some bristlecone pine trees as well as a thick layer of conglomerate containing large rounded stones. A gravestone near the trailhead informed us that Adalinda, who had settled there with her husband William Uriah Thornton in 1887 to build the first home and shingle mill on the creek, was the $5 winner of a contest when she named the area Vermillion Castle.
