Bryce Canyon National Park

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After the last couple of days of hanging from ropes and hanging on to chains, we felt like we needed to take it slow and see what was around the next corner.

It led us to Bryce Canyon National Park. For those of you who are thinking of visiting any parks in the near future let me mention this. On entering Zion National Park the other day we paid a $25 7 day park pass fee. Then when we went into Bryce Canyon National Park gate we paid another $25 fee. The guy at Bryce asked us if we were planning on going to any other parks, and at the time we said no, after two more days and two more parks we understood why. Every time you enter a National Park you pay $25 - BUT if you buy a one year pass it cost $80 and you can go into all the national parks for a year as many times as you like. We did not know until we headed into Grand Canyon National Park after Bryce Canyon what a deal that was. The final guy allowed us to just pay the difference, so until the end of next June we are covered for all park entrances all over the US.

We also learned today that we are staying basically in the center of Zion, Bryce and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and these three parks are termed the Trio. Anthony planned this trip and I will say did an amazing job! I don't think there has been a single disappointment.

We are staying at a little motel called Golden Hills in Mt. Carmel, Utah. It is at the junction of Hwy 89 and has been an incredible location for all three major parks, PLUS about a half dozen other smaller parks that we could have visited given more time.

Zion was to our west, now today Bryce to our Northeast, tomorrow to the Southeast Grand Canyon.

So, here we are driving towards Bryce and we begin to see these amazing statuesque rock structures. Of course when you see something for the first time you load up the camera thinking you will not see it again, Bryce did not disappoint, as we kept saying at every turn - WOW!

The road into Bryce is good and there are several stops every few miles where you park and then walk over to the Canyon rim. You can see some of it from the car, but you really need to get out of the car and go to the lookout point to get the full effect.

The temp was cold, and thankfully we did not plan on really doing much hiking today so wore long pants. I had a shirt I grabbed before leaving the room as it is in the 50's when we went to breakfast. I don't think the temp got much above 62 the entire day. At the highest point we were over 9000 elevation. But NO, or hardly an humidity! I could get used to that in a heartbeat. The sky was the most incredible blue and not a cloud to be seen.

Bryce Canyon is so different from anything that we have ever seen. First the color, then the shapes of the rocks. They are called Hoodoos for their distinctive characteristics. For a hiker, this is heaven. Trails everywhere, even down into the canyon floor. The shortest one was a loop 1.3 miles. You start at the top, work your way down into the canyon and then back up again. At every turn in the path it just seemed to show another side of the wonder. The hoodoos from above looked huge, but when you are standing in the mist of them you really get the vastness of them.

Once the pictures again are all that really needs to be said. I hope that I picked some of the best of the best images for you to share with.

Enjoy and don't forget to scroll down to see all the pictures.

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Photos

Bryce - In the midst of Hoodoos
Notice there are people at the bottom!