Bryce Canyon National Park

Blustery Bryce Canyon National Park

After leaving delicious Zion National Park we headed to blustery Bryce Canyon National Park. The road took us past silos-turned-into-suites, the town of Browse, and "organic firewood" for sale. We also noticed the Spry Cemetery, where the residents are not. The self-proclaimed "World Class" Wildlife Museum was along this route, as was "Historic" Tropic Ditch. The one sign we could actually believe told us we were at a summit 7777 ft. above sea level. Snow flurries greeted us until we got to a lower elevation. Snow? That wasn't in the forecast!

We encountered frequent cow, elk, deer, and ATV crossing signs and a LOT of straight road with mountains out the windshield. We would reach the distant mountains, go through a pass, come out the other side and see... straight road with distant mountains. As Yogi Berra said, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Or just like Florida summertime weather where the only thing that changes is the date. 

We arrived and had to shoot the obligatory park sign photo. Our campground was perfectly situated near a shuttle stop where a bus took us into the park. Our first stop was Bryce Point. Very windy with chance of Dave losing his hat. We needed an anemometer!

Notice the elevation

View to the east from Bryce Point.

View to the west from Bryce Point.

The structures along the rim are called "windows." Between Browse and Windows, I felt right at home. The tall spire-looking features are called hoodoos, as in "hoo doo you love." The sky was so clear due to
only 5% relative humidity and almost no air pollution.

Bryce Point, late afternoon. I love the shadows below the rim.

 

Someone else loved Bryce Canyon. Who's a good dog?

 

The shuttle also stopped at other points along the rim. Inspiration Point, Sunset Point, and Sunrise Point did not disappoint with their crazy hoodoos and views of the amphitheater, which is the geologists' term for the shape of the area; it was a bowl with one side missing.

From Sunset Point looking south, back toward Inspiration Point.
As the sun dropped lower in the sky, the shadows crept down the rim.

A huge hoodoo. How's that for a how-do-you-do?

From Sunset Point looking north.
The highest point on the left side of the photo is Sunrise Point.

The highest plateau in North America, Aquarius Plateau,
can be seen in the far distance.
The green valley is the missing side of the bowl.

Dusk at BCNP. We were waiting for the stars to appear.

Bryce Canyon night sky.

Bryce is an International Dark Sky park. Complete constellations can be easily seen. It was very cold that night, and windy, but clear skies allowed tens of thousands of stars to be visible. 

The constellation Gemini is in this picture. I felt I could reach out and touch the stars.

Hiking the Navajo Loop Trail

The next day's forecast called for more clear skies and warm weather, although the local winds at the rim were brisk. We decided to hike the Navajo Loop Trail to the bottom of the amphitheater so we could get up close and personal with the hoodoos. The trail is normally hiked from the north starting point to the south ending at Sunset Point. However, on Kristi's advice, we hiked from south to north. A much better idea, as the incline at each end is not the same. "We chose wisely" by ending at the north end of the trail. There were other trail loops as part of this hike: Wall Street (closed due to rock fall) and Queen's Garden Trail (we passes on this one).

All smiles - before the hike to the bottom!

The Navajo Trail is visible here. Notice how small the person is
compared to the trail and hoodoos.

Windows rock formations.
We saw these on the Navajo Trail taking us to the bottom of the amphitheater.

Thor's Hammer, in the center, is the iconic rock feature in Bryce.

Another side of Thor's Hammer, this one taken from the Navajo Trail

Hoo Doo I love? This guy!

From the amphitheater floor looking back to the rim.
The trees at the top looked so far away.

About halfway down. We're still smiling!

At the end of the hike we could look back at the start of the trail.
What goes down must come up.

 

 Lunch after the hike

 We decided to go to the park's "canteen" to grab some lunch. We were pleasantly surprised that the prices were not the "Disney quality scalped prices" we are accustomed to at Florida theme parks. The cashier was a hoot, and showed up a paper with a bunch of paper clips glued on it in the shape of a capital E. He asked if we knew what it was. "An E clips," he stated. The 2024 eclipse had occurred just weeks before, so he got a lot of mileage out of his little craft project.

 Forecast: Snow, ice storm, 55 MPH winds, 26 degrees

Our next stop was Capitol Reef National Park. But on the way we saw more of those free-range cows along the side of the road. Since the grass is greener on the other side of the road, we really had to drive slowly in places to avoid the "from your grill to ours" adage.

Grass fed beef may be healthier for us,
but not necessarily for the cows crossing the road.

 

We also discovered yellow crossing signs we had not seen before.

This one's for you, Beth.

 Looking forward to Capitol Reef, which Kyle says is the Utah residents' favorite of the Big 5 Parks in their state. Now I'm curious about what it makes it so special.