Advertisement
Published: August 14th 2008
Edit Blog Post
BCNP
We are BOTH still on the trip. Here is the entrance to Bryce Canyon (named after an early Mormon settler, Ebenezer Bryce, whose neighbors used to call the canyon behind his cabin, Bryce's Canyon, clever weren't they?). Salut mes amis. (Hi my friends.) If you have ever wanted to visit France, a far cheaper alternative is Utah in August. We assume that since it is so cheap to travel to the US, and France has the month of August off, they are all vacationing in the US. Thus far, it has been a rarity to hear English spoken among visitors to the NPs. Nickey has enjoyed eavesdropping and translating the juicy parts for Cody's benefit.
First off, we arrived in Bryce Canyon midday. After our prior experiences with the weather and setting up camp, we decided right off the bat to find a place to set up. Again, as in the Great Sand Dunes, we miscalculated and realized too late that it was a Friday afternoon, and finding a place to sleep might be difficult. However, we got lucky, and found a very nice spot up on top of a hill at North Campground, actually inside the park. The first day, since it was so late, and looking like rain (of course), we decided to spend our first afternoon in the Visitor's Center, checking out the exhibits and watching the orientation video. What we learned was that
BCNP
The North Campground. They were very spacious sites, but not always the flattest ground. We moved the tent 5 times before settling on its final location seen here. Notice the awesome sunset. Bryce Canyon is a part of the Colorado Plateau and the amazing rock formations are due entirely to erosion by water, which is very, very rare (you could have fooled us). We eventually went back to the campsite to start a fire and get some dinner. There we got a nice view of an amazing sunset. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky with our fire, as along the way all the rain that we had been having soaked our wood, so all we did was start a nice big smokefest. Luckily, we were camped next to some generous Italians, who took pity on us and gave us the rest of their fresh, dry firewood.
Not so early the next morning (we were beat), we arose and went off in search of adventure. We drove down to Sunset Point to start our fun, as we had a nice 3 mile hike planned. Cody's first glimpse of the rocks was amazing. He was totally impressed. The Paiute Indians believe that the hoodoos, which is the name of the pillar-like rock formations derived from ancient Paiute Indian, were believed to be the statues of the Legend People, who were turned into stone by
BCNP
More of the sunset on night 1. Here is one good thing that comes from a day full of clouds and rain (great skies for the sunset). Coyote for their evil deeds. We began by taking the Navajo Loop down through the narrow canyon of hoodoos, which was the one thing Nickey remembered from her much earlier trip here. Instead of following the Navajo Loop back up to Sunset Point, we took the Queens Garden Trail around to Sunrise Point. All in all a very nice hike, especially at the almost 8000 feet above sea level that we were.
During the evenings, the NPS offered a few Ranger programs that we were glad to attend (dorky, we know). We first went to a program about the stars and constellations as the Native Americans saw them. We learned all about their interpretations of the Big Dipper, or the Plow if you are British. We also learned the story of how the stars got into the sky. The second program was on birds. We learned all about bird migration, problems with bird migration, all 200+ species of birds that live or pass through Bryce Canyon, and how to go about identifying them in the field. The presenter was a park ranger who had done wildlife photography as a major passtime/career with thousands of dollars of equipment, so he
BCNP
Cody's first view of Bryce Amphitheater's hoodoos. The hoodoos are caused by rain eroding the soft sandstone away. Where the softer sandstone is protected by harder rock, a hoodoo remains. had some amazing pictures. I think we saw a total of 3 birds. That night, after we got back to the campsite, we were sitting around the dying fire, when all of a sudden a deer came bounding through the middle of our camp. Quite a close call. She must have come within a dozen feet of us. We were afraid that we were going to get run over. The French people camping next to us (sacre bleu!) went crazy yelling and shining flashlights, trying to chase the deer down so they could see it.
At Sunset Point, after our hike, we ate lunch at the Bryce Canyon Lodge, which was built in 1925 by settlers in the canyon as a place for their friends to stay. Eventually, so many people heard about BC and wanted to visit, that they turned their tent into a full blown guest lodge. What we learned was that taco bars are very popular with tourists. It's also a riot hearing Europeans say the word "taco;" it often comes out sounding like "tao-koe."
Another thing we didn't know, and frankly worried Nickey a little, was that BC has the highest density of lightning
BCNP
The beginning of the Navajo Loop trail. It winds around the hoodoos before going through a tunnel and descending to the bottom of the canyon. strikes in the state of Utah. In fact, the ranger who gave the talk about stars had been struck by lightning a few years ago.
So after our favorite stop so far, we (sadly) left Sunday (08/10/08) morning for Zion Canyon NP, stopping along the way for breakfast, chai, and a blog.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.16s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0622s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb