Bryce camping trip

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Friday I finished work and got back home around 2pm. Unfortunately, the others weren't back til nearly an hour later. Then people had to shower and we loaded up the car. Stopped for groceries and for Julia to get books from the library. Finally set out about 4:30, which was much later than I had hoped. However, the drive went very smoothly. Even with no music. We had lots of good conversation and saw some pretty stuff. I drove the second stint, mostly in the dark. We were on this dark windy road and suddenly, there were 2 deer. Smack in the middle of the road. Scared the crap out of me. Luckily no one was around on the road and I was able to stop before hitting them. For the rest of the journey I was ueber careful.. we saw tons more deer, but just on the sides of the road, thank goodness. It was still quite nerve-wracking. Arrived at Bryce around 10:30pm (we had forgotten that we would loose an hour due to new time zone). My friend Nina was already there and had gotten us a site and everything. She helped us set up our tent and everything. Took notice of the fact that there were tons of stars in the sky. It was absolutely gorgeous. I wanted to stay up and look at the sky but decided that I should get to sleep, as we would have the next night to star gaze. During the night, I got soooo cold. It had felt lovely when we first arrived. I loved feeling chilly. But while sleeping, it just got colder and colder. I was too lazy to put on more layers, which was silly. Anyway, turns out that it actually got down to freezing that night! How crazy is that?!

Up around 7:30 saturday morning. Nina was awesome and had brought hot chocolate and was boiling water on her camping stove so we got to have warm beverages which was a very welcome treat. Had some breakfast and headed out on our way. Walked down to Sunrise point. During that 5minute walk, we went from the forest, to the rim of the canyon and finally saw Bryce! It was awesome!! Saw incredible to see. We then began our first hike of the day... a 3mile hike called the "world's best 3mile hike" (we wonder who decided that lol). It was quite incredible. Gorgeous! The Hoodoos were insane. And the weather was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, unrealistically blue sky, temperature in the low 70s. It was so lovely. Unfortuntely there were a lot of people on that hike (cause of it being so popular), but other than that it was great. Once done, we decided we'd drive to some points. Walked to the car and then drove the length of the park. Realized clouds were beginning to appear, but hoped it meant nothing. Went to the point furthest south that could be driven too and ate lunch there. Enjoyed the incredible views. Went for a short little 1mile hike. Again, insane views. Also saw rain in the distance. Still hoped it wouldn't hit us. Stopped on the way back at a few overlooks, including one where we got to see what is called "natural bridge" even though it is an arch, not a bridge. Very cool. Stopped and got firewood at the store and then drove up the rest of the park and headed out to a very very short hike that was supposed to end at a waterfall. When we got to the start of the trail there were dark clouds everywhere. Still, it was only a .4mile hike out so we thought it would be ok. About 2minutes into the hike it started to rain and was progressively getting harder. There was thunder and lightning so we decided it was best to turn back to the car. Just got back to the car when the heavens opened up. Driving back to the camp site, we were leaving the clouds and rain behind so we were arrived at our tents, it wasn't raining there. However, it was heading that way so we couldnt chance doing any hikes. Got in the tents and it began to pour. I was bummed, but it did enable me to do quite a bit of reading, which is good because I am attempting to read the third book of a fantasy series and it is huge and I am leaving in a week so I'd have to have it finished by Friday. After about 2 hours of rain, it began to slow. When we opened the tent, there was HAIL on the ground! Turns out not only did it rain, but it also hailed! Craziness!! Took a bit longer before it seemed safe(ish) to emerge. Sky was still gray but Nina was hopeful that it was done and she had begun to cook dinner. The rest of us attempted to build a fire. (luckily we had been smart and kept the wood in the car, so it didnt get wet). Had some newspaper and cardboard that we used as kindling. It took quite a bit but eventually we got a really good fire going. Yay! Were quite proud of ourselves. Around about then dinner was ready. Had burritos with rice, beans, corn and tomatoes. And cheese. Quite yummy. Then stood around the fire and made smores and roasted marshmellows. Twas lovely. Enjoyed the fire for a while but then it was getting late and we wanted to do star gazing so we eventually had to pour water on the fire to get it out completely. Which was sad cause there were such nice embers glowing. However, I did really want to look at the stars so it was ok. We walked down to the entrance of the campsite and were able to see quite a few stars which was lovely. Also saw the milky way which is always super exciting to see. Everyone else went back to sleep but Julia and I wanted to be able to lie down and see even more stars so we walked down to the rim of the canyon. When we got there, there were hardly any stars in sight! It was very sad. Clouds had already moved in and covered the vast majority of them. So, although I did get to see some stars, I didn't get to see as many as I had hoped. Ah well. Back to the tent before 11. Wearing many more layers this time so sleep was quite nice. I was even a bit hot at times but I kept all the layers on.

Got up at 6:30am so that we could see the sunrise. Walked down to sunset point (sunrise point was a bit too far to walk and we figured it'd be about the same view, which it was). Again, there were clouds and so the sunrise wasn't as amazing as it may have been. Still, it was quite beautiful. Orange and pink rays. We couldn't see the sun because it was behind some of the mountains but that kinda made it even cooler. If we had stayed longer we may have seen the sun rise about the mountains and the clouds may have passed by then, for they were moving away quickly, but we didn't want to spend too long. Were there about a half hour, then walked back, had breakfast and warm beverages again, then packed up everything into our cars. Drove to Sunrise Point and from there began the fairyland loop trail (I love that name). It started at the top of the rim and we walked down (nearly 1000 ft in elevation) to Tower Bridge, a very cool rock formation that could be seen from the bottom of that particular part of the canyon. It was a wonderful hike. Spent a bit of time there, and then parted ways with Nina. She continued along the fairyland loop. The whole hike was 8miles and we were afraid we couldn't do it all and still have time to stop in zion, and so only Nina did that full hike. The rest of us just walked back up the way we came down. Which was a more challenging hike, as it was mostly all uphill (at times, quite steep). But it was nice. Felt like a good work out. And once again, the weather was absolutely perfect. Blue skies, nice temperature. Quite wonderful. By the time we all got back to the top, it was nearly 11:30am. Stopped in the visitors center to get directions to zion and then to get back home and then headed out. Before leaving completely, we went back to the waterfall hike. I am sooo incredibly glad we did. The waterfall was so great! It was quite a decent waterfall... and I'm pretty sure it was because of the rainstorm. It truly does seem that everything happens for a reason. 😊 I was thrilled... running water just makes me so happy! I took off my shoes and rolled up my pants and walked in the stream and in the pool around the waterfall. I wanted to go under the waterfall more than anything, but somehow managed to restrain myself. Had to keep repeating to myself that I didnt want to be sitting in the car in soaking wet clothes. Anyway, I did climb onto the rocks behind the falls and got to sit behind it, which was really really neat. Also, I did cave a little bit and walked close to the waterfall and put my head under, getting my hair wet. In the process I got my jeans and tshirt a little wet but not soaked like if I had gone totally under. I considered it a compromise. Twas quite lovely. Finally had to pull myself away from the water and walk back to the car. We left around 1pm. Drove to Zion! Had to pay an entrance fee which was unfortunate since we werent staying long, but oh well. It was quite incredible, from what I saw from the car. We stopped at a couple overlooks, but then just basically drove through the park, which did provide some nice views. I would've loved to hike in the park, but there simply wasn't time. We did stop at a cafe in the park and got smoothies which was nice. Then drove out of the park and the rest of the way back to Henderson (I did that driving). Was a nice, uneventful drive. With some pretty scenery. Got back around 6pm.

It was a really lovely weekend. I really really like Bryce a lot. It is so stunning and unbelievable. And I love love love the fact that there were trees. I totally wasn't expecting that, so it was a wonderful surprise.

Once back, I showered and unpacked and then Gloria and Julia and I ordered pizza from Papa Johns. Started out we were gonna get one large pizza half mushroom half olive. Then decided to order online, at which point we saw a special where if you got one large pizza with two toppings, you'd get a large cheese pizza for 25cents. Seemed to good to pass up and we figured we could have leftovers so we got extracheese on our first pizza and got the second free one. Then I realized that by ordering online for the first time, we also got a free medium cheese pizza! It was quite hilarious. We ended up with 3 pizzas, for 3 people. lol. We watched an episode of planet earth (amazing!!!!) while eating. Then started a second episode, but for whatever reason, I was falling asleep (even though it was only a little after 9pm!), and so I ended up giving up about halfway through. It was nice finally watching some of Planet Earth though. May possible watch some more tonight. Not sure. Will letcha know. ;-)

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Photos

View from Rainbow point
on clear day, can see 90miles. It was incredible.

Sun rise
a few minutes later

Waterfall
from above