Woke early to a beautiful morning at Bryce Canyon, elevation nearly 8,000 feet...very cool but glorious sunshine. Today we will hike the canyon with our friends Sue and Fletcher...the Navajo Loop and the Peek-a-Boo loop. We hiked this route a few years ago when we were in the area, and thought it would be a good way to get our hiking legs back under us. We're also getting into the routine of living in the RoadTrek, and remembering that everything takes longer when you are living in 90 square feet. So our first real morning of camping took us a bit of time to get ready, but by 9:30 we were ready to head over to the rim of the Canyon at Sunset Point. This is the spectacular view that greeted us:
May is a good time to visit Bryce Canyon, the snows have gone and the temperatures are still not too hot. Therefore, there are a lot of visitors at this time, and as we make our way down into the canyon we hear tourists speaking French and German. It seems that Bryce is a very popular tourist attraction for European travelers. Fletcher tells us that they (Europeans) are fond of pointing out that they have many beautiful mountains and scenery but we don't have any "big holes".
At Bryce, you begin by descending from the rim down into the canyon below, and some folks forget that "what goes down must come up"...it can be a long hot climb up to the rim in the late aftenoon. We had a lovely time hiking down the Navajo Loop and heading over to Peek-a-Boo. The geology here at Bryce is amazing, layers of colored rock...reds of so many different hue, white, pink, even an occasional yellow. The rock has experienced hundreds of thousands of years water, wind and freezing, and the different hardness of the layers creates what are called Hoodoos -- tall spires of rock with stripes of colors and horizontal rings. Here are a few shots of the beautiful scenery here at Bryce Canyon.
Peek-a-Boo is a lovely hike...it has something for everyone along a trail that winds through the canyon, and around every corner is a narrow bend with hoodoos clustered together, or a natural arch or window that frames a stunning scene beyond, or a vast panorama of the canyon and it's grandeur. Needless to say, there are countless great spots to take pictures and that is exactly what we did:
At midday, we found a lovely spot for lunch with rather unique seating:
The weather was sunny with occasional clouds which created a variety of natural lighting and made for some great picture taking. Here is a nice shot with the sun shining on parts of the canyon:
On our way up and out of the canyon we came across some rangers repainting a trail sign. Now, it seems pretty straightforward..painting white paint into the grooved outline of letters on a small sign...Please note, it takes 3 rangers for this task...
After we reached the rim, we decided to walk over to Bryce Canyon Lodge to take a peek. It is a typical National Park lodge, though less impressive than the Yellowstone lodge, but they have some great cabins that look like they would be fun to stay in:
You gotta love this...a sign at the information desk at the lodge...
We think that Bryce Canyon is a beautiful and truly special place with its palette of amazing colors and hoodoo formations. We highly recommend a visit if you can...
Tonight marks the beginning of Astronomy Week at Bryce Canyon. The park service puts out 50 telescopes for guests to use for star- and planet-gazing. They do this when there is a new moon and the sky will be at its darkest...and tonight is supposed to be clear! We begin the evening with a presentation by one of the "Dark Rangers"...rangers with a specialty in astronomy. Should be interesting!
Miles hiked: 8.5. Travel time: 4.5 hours. Bugs killed: 0 (actual)
At Bryce, you begin by descending from the rim down into the canyon below, and some folks forget that "what goes down must come up"...it can be a long hot climb up to the rim in the late aftenoon. We had a lovely time hiking down the Navajo Loop and heading over to Peek-a-Boo. The geology here at Bryce is amazing, layers of colored rock...reds of so many different hue, white, pink, even an occasional yellow. The rock has experienced hundreds of thousands of years water, wind and freezing, and the different hardness of the layers creates what are called Hoodoos -- tall spires of rock with stripes of colors and horizontal rings. Here are a few shots of the beautiful scenery here at Bryce Canyon.
Peek-a-Boo is a lovely hike...it has something for everyone along a trail that winds through the canyon, and around every corner is a narrow bend with hoodoos clustered together, or a natural arch or window that frames a stunning scene beyond, or a vast panorama of the canyon and it's grandeur. Needless to say, there are countless great spots to take pictures and that is exactly what we did:
We think that Bryce Canyon is a beautiful and truly special place with its palette of amazing colors and hoodoo formations. We highly recommend a visit if you can...
Tonight marks the beginning of Astronomy Week at Bryce Canyon. The park service puts out 50 telescopes for guests to use for star- and planet-gazing. They do this when there is a new moon and the sky will be at its darkest...and tonight is supposed to be clear! We begin the evening with a presentation by one of the "Dark Rangers"...rangers with a specialty in astronomy. Should be interesting!
Miles hiked: 8.5. Travel time: 4.5 hours. Bugs killed: 0 (actual)
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