Advertisement
Published: November 15th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Oct 31, Nov 1, 2008
Millions of years of erosive forces of nature have sculpted some of the best rock art that nature could sculpt in the form of hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. There are hundreds of them in the Bryce amphitheater. They vary in height from a few feet to the height of a few story tall building. A shade of red and white are the main colors that these hoodoos wear. Some are completely red, a few are completely white and some have their top sedimentary layers white while the bottom is all red. Looking at these hoodoos close up, you cannot help but marvel at this incredible work that nature has put up.
Zion to Bryce is less than two hours drive. I reached there around noon.
Bryce Canyon park welcomes you with Red Canyon before its entrance. The landscape started becoming different from what I had been seeing thus far in the Arches, Lake Powell, Zion and Canyonlands. Hoodoos had already started making their presence felt even before the entrance to the park. The very first look at these magnificent creations of nature is sure to enchant you.
Bryce Point, Sunrise Point, Sunset
Point, Inspiration Point are the main lookouts into the Bryce amphitheater. I started with Sunrise Point and started walking down on the Queen's Garden trail walking down into the amphitheater. There are a few people in the park at this time of the year and even fewer on the trails. I completed the Queen's Garden with the Navajo Loop and came back up on the rim at Sunset Point. From the Sunset Point I walked back to the Sunrise Point walking on the rim. I then drove and hiked up to Inspiration Point and watched the amphitheater from there. I also took a look at Hoodoos from the Bryce Point. For the sunset, I came back to the Inspiration Point and tried capturing those hoodoos in my camera which was attached to my cheap tripod. That cheap tripod did not seem a match for the breeze that was blowing at that vantage point! The amphitheater looked...just ...inspirational.
The view points and the amphitheater are spread over a relatively small area when compared to the size of other national parks. Most visitors to the park restrict themselves to these view points and take a hike down to the amphitheater and
walk along the rim. That is what I also did so it was possible to 'finish' viewing the main area of the park in a few hours.
When it was dark, I drove to a small town of Tropic which was just outside the park towards the east. There, I stayed at Steppingstone Motel. It looked ordinary from outside but the room was fitting for a good B&B. Nice place to stay and inexpensive also.
Next day was my last full day of the trip. As usual I started early in the morning and reached the park just around dawn. Being a habitual late riser, these vacations are the only time I am out of the motel before dawn and get rare opportunity to watch the sky change color on the east horizon! The clear and dark nights of Utah also made for good star gazing not only at night but in the wee hours of the morning. Something you do not get to see in the northeastern US due to the city lights.
Being at 9000 feet above sea level, most of the park is freezing cold at night and early morning. I took some hoodoos
pics at Sunset Point. The below freezing temperature made it a little challenging to take pictures without any gloves. The hoodoos looked spectacular in the early morning sunlight.
There is a road that goes though the park for several miles to more lookouts but I was hard pressed for time. Before leaving, I did go to the Fairyland area of the park which is right near the entrance to the park and is easy to miss. This too was a beautiful area of the park. It seemed I could not get enough of these hoodoos in the short time I spent in the park. Anyways this trip was a whirlwind trip to Utah's national parks. In seven days, I had to visit Arches, Canyonlands, Lake Powell, Zion, Bryce, Scenic byway 12 and Capital Reef. It was time to say goodbye to Bryce and drive the scenic byway 12.
Bryce is undoubtedly a surreal and breathtakingly beautiful landscape.
More photos
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.023s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0325s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1mb