Bryce Canyon

We’re up and out early – as usual. Today is a relatively short drive, only about 3 hours. So the sooner we’re out, the earlier we’ll be at Bryce. We head back out through the park, it’s way too early on a Saturday for traffic, so no problems in the tunnel. We take our time on our way out, stopping at all the overlooks to take some pix. It’s a stunning drive, twisting and turning around the huge outcroppings of rocks. Once we’re out of the park, it’s a straight shot down to Route 89, then about another hour to the park.

Bryce is also a very small park, but where Zion requires the shuttle, Bryce only “suggests” it. We hit the visitor’s center, get all the appropriate papers, flyers and of course our stamp, then take a chance and head out the scenic drive. There are 2 parts to the scenic drive – the drive around Bryce Amphitheater, where the shuttle runs, and then a longer stretch of road that goes South to the end of the park and Rainbow Point. We want to hike down the to bottom of the Amphitheater, so we drive out to Sunset Point and luckily get a parking space.

We’ve been amazed and impressed with all the sights we’ve seen so far, but Bryce Canyon blew us away. It is so amazingly different – all the red rock – this is the home of the Hoodoos. Hoodoos are huge pinnacles and odd-shaped rocks that have been carved out by erosion. Technically, Bryce isn’t a canyon because canyons are carved out by flowing water, like a stream or river. Bryce has been formed by acidic rainwater and freezing and thawing of the water during the seasons. Regardless – it is an astonishing sight to see these Hoodoos, all lined up, all in different shapes and sizes. It was truly just, well, incredible!

Our first panoramic view comes at Sunset Point where we reveled in the rock formations. Then we headed down the Navajo loop trail to get to the bottom of the canyon. We’ve read a lot about the park, and everything says to go down Navajo and up Queens Garden – and boy are we glad we did our research. It’s hot – and Navajo is steep. Going down it was hard enough – we’re glad we didn’t have to go back up! We hiked down the path, past Thor’s Hammer, and down to the two bridges (the Wall Street trail where the canyon walls are so close it reminds people of the skyscrapers on Wall Street, was closed due to falling rocks), then finally to the floor of the canyon at Queen’s Garden.

It’s hotter at the bottom (always in the Canyons – you can gain 10 to 20 degrees from the top to the bottom), but the trail is flatter and winds through some great flora and fauna. We pass by a little area where people have built tons of small cairns, then we wind our way around the base of some Hoodoos and start our ascent up to Sunrise point. It’s easier going this way, but it’s still no cake walk, that’s for sure! The great thing is that while we’re stopping to rest and catch our breath, we can look out over the amphitheater and enjoy the incredible views.

So, up we go, finally reaching the top and the rim trail back to Sunset Point in about 1 ½ hours. We picnic at the benches by our car, then stow our cooler and head off on the rim trail to Inspiration Point. It’s about 1 mile to the point – and it’s almost all uphill. But again, the views are worth it, and of course, coming back down was easy as pie! Stunning –that’s all we can say about the whole experience – stunning!

Check out the pictures here – they don’t do it justice – but at least you can get the feel.

After Inspiration Point, we hit the car and drive the rest of the way out the Scenic drive. It’s beautiful and at Rainbow there are some great panoramic shots. The main attraction through is certainly the Amphitheater – which is so worth the effort!

Back on the road out of the park, we’re at the hotel in Bryce Canyon city way early. It’s a Ruby Best Western (The Ruby’s own EVERYTHING outside the canyon there – hotels, gas, grocery, restaurant – what a smart enterprise they have there!), the new one, and it looks gorgeous. Since we can’t get in our room just yet, we go ahead and start our laundry. Change into bathing suits in the bathroom and throw everything in. It will be so nice to have clean clothes! They have internet in the lobby, so we check in on email (still no phone service though) and catch up on what’s happened the past week. We ask about our room, and they say it’s still not ready. Finally, after we watch a bunch of people check in and get rooms, we ask again about possibly getting another room, since there are obviously some available, and the girls say “Oh, we thought you wanted that particular room.” No, not really, any room will do!

That little snafu handled, we arrange ourselves in the room and finish the laundry. It’s still early, so we rest and read a little bit. We’re going to the Bryce Canyon Pines Motel restaurant. It’s right up the road, and it gets good reviews on TripAdvisor. There isn’t a lot to choose from out here in the middle of nowhere. There are the Ruby restaurants, the Bryce Canyon Pines and then another home-style restaurant further down the highway. The place looks like a dump – in the dirt lot behind Subway – but inside, it’s adorable. All light pine, log cabin looking, cowboy décor. The food is basic, but really good. Service was slow – but there were only 2 servers and a huge group of 12 was there, which slowed down the kitchen. A good mix of Mexican and American with huge burgers and steaks. The only issue was that there was no alcohol. They have a huge bar in the next room, but apparently the restaurant was under new ownership, and at the time we were there, they didn’t have their liquor license. Oh well, check was a lot lighter than if we had beer/wine!

We had specifically gone to dinner early so we could go back in the park to see sunset. And even though the service was slow, we were still really early. We wasted some time at the hotel, then headed out to the Paria view point, which is the only point that faces the right direction for sunset. Unfortunately, we wasted a little too much time at the hotel, and the light had pretty much already gone by the time we got there. But, hey, it was a nice drive through the park in the evening at least!

So – another great day – another early night and early morning – coz we’re on to Moab!