Day 6: Bryce Canyon

Monday was a wash... I was so exhausted from the lead-up to the trip and the first couple days that I slept in, had lunch with Chris and Laramee, two guys I met here, at a place called Chuck-a-Rama Buffet.  I pretty much came back to the hotel, blogged and slept for several hours.  I needed it.

Tuesday, hot off the guilt from not doing anything the day before, I got a very early start for Bryce Canyon.  With the temperature to be around 110 degrees here in the hotel area, I was looking forward to getting to a higher plain, where it was only to be around 83 degrees.  I got about half-way there, and due to a rock slide, I had to turn around and go way out of my way to get there.  It turned out to be a blessing, because I got to ride through Red Canyon, which was my first glimpse of the type of hoodoo's at Bryce Canyon, but on a smaller scale.  Hoodoo's, which look like a sandcastle that a child would make in Myrtle Beach by dripping wet sand, are the results of erosion.

I arrived at Bryce and took the shuttle all the way to Bryce Point.  Just like with everything else I've seen out here, you just can't imagine the scale of things.  I've seen pictures of the hoodoo's of Bryce, but I was dumbfounded standing there.  And with everything else, no matter what direction you looked, there was something more incredible than the next at every turn.  Looking down into the valley from up above is incredible, but it's not until you go down into them looking up that you get a true sense of just what you're experiencing.  I started at an observation deck and took the Peek-a-Boo trail down in the valley.  It was warm... about 85 degrees, but not too hot and there was a mysterious breeze blowing, with a storm approaching in the distance.  I felt like I was on Mars.  You just can't imagine such a thing as this.  I continued on the Navajo trail and headed towards "Wall Street", an almost vertical climb up through a group of hoodoos, up to the top of another observation deck.  What's realy awesome is that, while looking up, you can see all the places on the rim of the canyon that you were looking down shortly before.  All-in-all, I think I hiked a good 6 miles.

The road that had a landslide was reopened, so I headed back to towards my hotel area, stopping at a few places along the way.  The other thing about this whole area of Utah is that things change so quickly.  You can reach a summit, and on the other side, the temperature and vegetation can be so different.  Entering into an area much like a higher plain, the temperature started to drop and the vegetation changed to pine trees and by the time I reached Cedar Breaks Monument, it was around 65 degrees and almost cold.  I drove the three mile drive up Brian's Head Point, 11,307 feet high, with a view of 3 states (Arizona, Nevada and Utah).  What's even more incredible is that, from the top, with a 360 degree view, you can see Bryce, Zion, Red Canyon and Cedar Breaks Monument off in the distance.

I leave this morning for Vegas for one night.  I'll meet up with my friends that live there and head out Thursday morning for home.  This trip was amazing... more than I ever expected and a level of beauty that's hard to process.  I look forward to heading back out this way to see the other parks.