Trip Report
Thirty-six Obsidians and friends left Eugene at 7 a.m. to drive to Halsey where we picked up three more people and changed to a Hamman bus driven by Victor Clarke. Ray Cavagnaro was our Bronson tour escort. Helen Weiser and Mary-Douglass Stovall were Obsidian leaders.
We spent the night in Boise at the Royal Inn Motel and were off early the next morning to see the Thousand Springs and Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls. We spent two nights in Salt Lake City where on Sunday morning we heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast. In the afternoon we toured the city with Ray doing a splendid job as guide. That evening we drove high into the Wasatch Mountains to Snow Bird ski resort where we rode the 125 passenger tram to an elevation of over 11,000 feet and then had dinner before returning to Salt Lake City.
On Monday we were off to red rock country and Bryce Canyon for lunch and an afternoon tour led by a park employee. The next morning 15 people led by Irene Flynn hiked to the bottom of the canyon while others less energetic walked the rim trails. On our way to Zion everyone was thrilled by the fantastic formations of cross-bedded sandstone and the mile long Carmel tunnel. Here again in the park we had a tour after lunch by a park employee. From Zion we drove through colorful hills and across the Kaibab plateau to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and a tour and a lecture by a park Ranger. On the drive we saw flocks of wild turkeys and several deer. From the Kaibab plateau we dropped down to the Navajo Bridge which crosses the Colorado. Stopping here for a coffee break we found Indian women selling their jewelry which they had made. That afternoon we had a 70 mile cruise on Lake Powell behind Glen Canyon Dam into steep-sided Antelope canyon and Padre Bay. Ray had to leave us at this point and fly back to Eugene but Gail Norris flew in and took over.
The next day we drove through spectacular Monument Valley and out to the Goosenecks of the San Juan. a classic example of incised meanders. We had time to see the Court House and Window sections of the Arches National Park before overnighting in Moab. The next day it was castle-like formations along the beautiful Book Cliffs and near the spectacular San Rafael Reef we had a watermelon break and a juicy and happy time for all. Night found us in Ely at the Park-Vue Motel. The next day we were in range and basin country of Nevada and on to Austin for a short stop in that old mining town. In Carson City we stayed at the Ormsby House where after dinner a number of people lost their money and bursitis on the slot machines.
It was a beautiful drive the next day along the shore of Lake Tahoe and through Mt. Lassen National Park and out to Burney Falls before spending the night at the fine Tree Top Motel in Mt. Shasta. Homeward the next day we had a farewell lunch together in Grants Pass. We arrived in Eugene about 3:00 after a great trip together. We travelled 3,200 miles in Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and California. A trip report such as this cannot begin to tell all the interesting things we saw and did on this trip.
On this tour: Bertha and Rolfe Anderson, Muriel Aufderheide, Blanche Bailey, Clay and Louise Barnes, Margaret Block, Laura Collins, Ray Cavagnaro (Tour Escort), Gertrude Eaton, Irene Flynn, Kate Forrester, Opal Lee Forrester, Ina Foss, Juanita Gale, Vera Heidenreich, Jane Hilt, Virginia Horton, Joy Belle and Ted C. Jones, Alelia Linscott, Helen Mathieson, Dorothy Medill, Marilyn and Robert Morris, Frances Newsom, Daisy Niccolls, Helen Rathkey, Frank and Sue Riemer, Grace Smith, Myrtle Smith, Bette Stamm, Mary-Douglass Stovall, Edna Temple, Paula Vehrs, Winnie Wachtel, Thelma Watson and Helen Weiser.
