Blogs from Bryce Canyon, Utah, United States, North America - page 13

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 ... read more

We left the craziness of Las Vegas behind and started our journey around the States. We headed first of all to Zion National Park. The prices of accommodation anywhere near the parks are really expensive and outside of the cities there are very few hostels, so we stayed in a small town, called Hurricane, about 20 miles down the road from Zion. We stayed around Zion for 3 days and enjoyed a few hikes around the spectacular canyon, with its multi coloured cliffs. The canyon was carved by the Virgin River, and the cliffs are made up of different sedimentary layers which are all coloured differently and as the river exposed the rocks it revealed a whole host of colours, reds, browns, yellows, orange, white... amazing. In Zion, they have a free shuttle bus which takes ... read more

After a long but beautiful drive (11 hours) through Colorado and Utah yesterday, we arrived at the world famous Ruby's Inn just a quarter mile outside Bryce Canyon. The campground is nice and the boys have been on their bikes exploring and looking for license plates from all the states. They are up to 35 states so far! This morning we took a shuttle up to the park. We made a three mile hike, first along the rim and then down into the canyon. It was absolutely breath-taking! Going back up the side of the canyon was a tough hike but the best part of the trail as it zig-zagged back and forth through a deep ravine in the rock formations. We can't describe how incredible this place is - hopefully our pictures will do it ... read more

I got up early this morning to take advantage of the cool morning temperatures. I headed off to do some of the many trails through the canyon. Which isn't actually a real canyon, it is the edge of a high plateau which is eroding away. According to the NPS it will be all gone in about 3 million years, so get in quick if you are thinking of coming. The trails that I did started from close to the campground. I linked all or part of three trails together, the Queens trail, peekaboo loop and the Navajo trail. So I set off with pleanty of water, my lunch, and firmly in the front of my mind the instructions that I had read on the camp notice board about what to do if a mountain lion decides ... read more

I thought that I would be smart today and take a shortcut from Page to Bryce canyon. But I missed the intended turnoff. Not to matter I thought, I would just take the next road on my map heading that way. All was well for a while on a nice sealed road, which eventually turned into a dirt road much to my displeasure. If I was in my old Nissan ute I would have thought great the fun begins, but in he increasingly fragile Jag with its arthritic suspention it just made me cringe. As I chose to ignor the sign that said the road was unmaintained as it was a long way to go back and the road was wide and smooth at this point, very good for a dirt road. However the unsealed portion ... read more