Bryce Canyon NP

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Tue, 13 September – Zion and Bryce NPs

Today I am an invalid. My thighs are stiff as a board. I know I only walked 10km yesterday but I reckon the 2km of continual twitching quadriceps added a virtual 8km of extra effort to my legs. At least, it feels that way. Dwayne, on the other hand, has pulled up a-ok. I guess those HIIT sessions with the millions of squats haven’t really worked for me!

It started raining heavily overnight and was still going when we woke, so we took our time checking out. We couldn’t even see the mountains when we started but by the time we got to Zion the rain had abated enough to walk around. We drove through the Zion-Mt Carmel tunnel and stopped on the other side to do an easy walk called Canyon Overlook. It’s only 1.6km return but it had many uneven steps and my quads were most unimpressed. I looked like I had partial paralysis. It was a pretty walk alongside a narrow canyon and it came out at an overlook for the valley below the tunnel. The mist hovered above the mountaintops and added a different dimension to the magical valley of Zion. We took one last look and said our goodbyes.

The drive immediately on the north side of the tunnel was very pretty and strangely different to Zion. It’s still the same park but the rock formations are so varied and don’t look like the main valley at all. They had more pancake type layers and whilst there were vertical faces in places, there was an increasing amount of gradual slopes that one could climb on. Shortly after we were back in the car, the rain started again. It was a great drive between Zion and Bryce, which are about 2hrs apart.

Zion sits at 1200m elevation above sea level but Bryce is at 2700m so we left Zion behind at a 25C temperature and arrived in shorts and t-shirts to a tropical 12C in Bryce. Brrr…

There was light rain at Bryce but we got our bearings and headed on the 32km scenic drive around the canyon rim. Thankfully, when we reached the furthest point as our starting place to work back, the rain had petered out to spits so we got out at 6 vantage points along the route to take pictures. One of the best stops was Natural Arch because of its large hole in the stone work. The highlight, however, was the main amphitheatre from Inspiration Point. This is a large, wide crescent-shaped canyon filled with thousands of vertical rock formations that have eroded over time and now stand upright in all different heights like sentinels around the canyon wall and floor. The colours on a single “hoodoo” can include yellow, orange, red, mauve, brown and white. They are made of limestone and the various colours are caused by different minerals that have leached into the stone. They are like faceless terracotta warriors. It’s quite unique and very cool.

And to make the scene even more picturesque, the sun broke through for 15 minutes and we were able to see them radiate their colours. They are a sight to behold.

Utah continues to amaze and I can’t believe more Australians don’t add this Southwestern area to their trip list.

Wed, 14 September – Bryce Canyon NP

Day 2 post Angel’s Landing and I am still an invalid. Cannot even bend my legs. The hiking sticks will have their work cut out for them on all the descents. The good news is that usually day 2 is the worst and then it gets better.

The forecast was for more rain in the morning so we decided to sleep in, do a short walk and then do the longer walk in the afternoon when it’s overcast.

We arrived at Mossy Cave trailhead at 10.30am and did a walk up a river to a small waterfall and mossy cave. It’s only 1.6km return but by the time we took photos it took us just over an hour to complete it. Walking at valley level amongst the hoodoos was very cool.

After lunch we started a trail combo called Queen’s Garden and Navajo trail. It’s a 4.6km loop where the first 1km on both ends are switchbacks between the rim and valley floor. We left Sunrise Point on a narrow trail, descending from the canyon rim down into the valley floor. We started at eye level but as the trail wound around the hoodoos, they grew taller and we grew smaller with each passing step. Some of the hoodoos are grouped and others are standing on their own. The colour palette was constantly changing and the variety was striking – white, lavender, mauve, peach, apricot, terracotta, burnt umber, tangelo, mango, burgundy, wine, yellow and all other shades of red/orange/yellow/brown. Some hoodoos are short and others are several hundred metres tall. There was a formation called Queen Victoria and it really looked like a statue of Queen Victoria in London.

There were 2 highlights on the trail. The 1^st was Wall Street and this is a narrow canyon prior to ascending to Sunset Point. The walls rise several hundred metres on either side with only a small set of man-made stairs between them to traverse from the valley floor to the lookout above. You realise how insignificant you are in places like that.

The 2^nd highlight was a famous sentinel called Thor’s Hammer because, of course, it looks like Thor’s Hammer has landed on top of a hoodoo. It is very photogenic and a lot of advertised photos from Bryce Canyon are of the hammer, so it’s nice to see with our own eyes, the common pictures that we see in travel magazines or the internet when researching.

That ended our day of 10km of hiking – and don’t my thighs know it! I’m so pleased that despite a forecast of rain for the 2 days we were here, we had overcast skies and cooler temps, which were perfect for hiking in. The only regret is we didn’t get to photograph any sunsets or sunrises due to all the foreboding clouds. Oh well, we are happy with the opportunity we were given.

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