Day 31 Thursday October 3, 2013

Today we returned to Red Canyon, visited Panguitch and Circleville and saw the cabin where Butch Cassidy was raised and got a trespass view of Bryce Canyon.

We returned to Red Canyon which we had passed on our way to Tropic on Tuesday and hiked the Arches Trail. We had not been expecting such an arduous hike and we both had a few moments of consternation on both the ascent and descent. It was worth it though and we got some great photos. We then decided to hile along one of the canyon floors, but we could see that bad weather was blowing into the area so had a quick change of plans.

We drove to nearby Panguitch and found a coffee shop for a quick caffeine fix after the hike, Jill said that really she should be drinking Woodford on ice! We decided to wander around the small town and went into a shop selling cowboy themed memorabilia and we discovered a western themed plate made by Vernon Kilns of California so we had to buy that! I needed a bank so while we were looking for it we saw this park and a statue of a man holding a quilt while standing on another. The statue commemorates the exploits of 7 early settlers in the winter of 1864 who while traveling to an adjacent community 40 miles away to get food had to abandon their oxen and wagon but were able to complete their journey by placing a quilt on the deep snow waking to the end of the quilt and then placing a second quilt and retrieving the first. The park also contains 7 benches that give a little history about each of the seven settlers.

We had been told by our landlord that Butch Cassidy was born in Beaver, UT and raised in Circleville, which turned out to be only 20 miles north of Panguitch, so off we went! We had passed through Sundance, WY where the Sundance Kid was from so it seemed only appropriate to visit Butch's hometown. Well we were very disappointed as there were absolutely no references to him anywhere, so we turned around and were headed back for an early supper at a hotel near Bryce Canyon when a cabin set in the fields caught my eye. I thought it would make a good photo and it did.

We drove on and stopped at Ruby's for dinner which is just outside of Bryce Canyon. After dinner I noticed a map on a bulletin board describing a place where we could drive to get an overview of Bryce Canyon without falling afoul of the Park Service. So off we went, by now the temperatures had dropped into the 30's the wind was howling and snow was in the air! But we did get to see into part of the canyon, not the spectacular part, but good enough for us.

When we got back to the B&B we were telling Dixie, our landlady, about our day and the disappointment in Circleville and she said did you see an abandoned cabin on your right on the way out of town? We said we did and had taken some photos, could this be the same cabin? We showed Dixie our photos and she said yes that's the one and that's where Butch Cassidy was raised! The town have removed all signs saying this was his home because of vandalism and the cost of maintaining the property is too high. What a piece of luck!!! The cabin housed the family of 13 children and was built 134 years ago.