So we quickly changed our plans and decided to go to Bryce Canyon National Park instead. It had one drawback - it would require us camping, or spend $170-200 a night for a hotel-and there aren't many near Bryce - it's in a pretty remote location, but only just under 4 hours away from us. However, the campground there has great reviews, and has hot showers, real toilets and running water. We borrowed some air mattresses, dusted off the tent and went for it.
Bryce is much higher elevation than the other parks in Utah - it's around 8000-9000 foot elevation, so the high temp would only be around 85 - and 43 at night.
Bryce isn't really a 'canyon' as the name implies - it's a series of "amphitheaters" with extensive hoodoos and unlike many other geological features in Utah, the rock formations at Bryce were not formed by wind erosion. Instead, the formations here are formed by the constant freezing and thawing of moisture called frost weathering. Because of the higher elevation, Bryce gets a lot of snow and the moisture freezes and then thaws in the sun over and over and over which causes the rocks to take shape. But why here? It doesn't happen like that just a few miles away...very strange.
The Bryce Canyon area was settled my Mormon pioneers around 1850 and named after Ebenezer Bryce who had a homestead in the area. In 1923 it became a National Monument and then a National Park in 1928.
Fair warning about this post - it will have a lot of photos....BUT these photos are only like 5% of what it really looks like in person. The photos don't even come close to showing you how beautiful and wonderful Bryce is. It's different than Zions and Arches and the other parks nearby. After a few photo stops, Jacob and Hannah were getting tired of looking at all the rocks - they said it all looked the same.....but it really didn't. Each stop and each hike was different - it was amazing.
We had the unfortunate experience of visiting during the Brianhead fire - about an hour away. It was (and is still burning a week later) the biggest fire in the country at the time and the smoke would come and settle in the sky each afternoon. It made for some very strange and ominous looking clouds. The smoke didn't really change the views up close, but it did make the far away views on the horizon not good. And each afternoon, we could smell the smoke. But each morning was clear and beautiful.
Ok, enough talking....let's show some pics..... Oh, none of these pics have filters on them....some of them may seem like they are super red......yep..that's how it really looks.
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| A few miles before you enter the park are two arch tunnels |
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| Our first view of the "canyon" |
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| Our first hike was a short 1 mile loop through Bristlecone pine trees, which are the oldest living plants on earth. |
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| Suddenly, the pine forest opened up to this..... |
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| This is a very strange formation - the flat rock...we heard it was a landing site for UFO's long ago |
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| We were not expecting an arch at Natural Bridge - it was very cool |
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| Bryce Point was super cool...and the dark smoke added to it...it all seemed very surreal. The walkway goes right to the very edge of the cliff |
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| Not the moon.....the sun...blocked by smoke |
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| Jiffy Pop! Because of the fire, we couldn't have campfires..luckily we brought our camp stove |
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| The next morning, we headed to Sunrise Point which was beautiful. We started a 3 mile loop hike down into the canyon, and then back up. It is rated as one of the top 5 hikes in the world! What?? How can that be? Because of all the different elements of the hike....Start off on the rim of the canyon, descend down into all the rock formations, tunnels, then it turns in vegetation and pine trees, then meanders around and through more unique rock formations, and finally ends going between huge rocks and up extremely steep and windy switch backs. It was amazing and we loved every step of it! Around each corner was another amazing view. |
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| Of course Jacob had to go to the edge and scare his mom (and his dad a little) He loves doing this. |
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| We saw lots of small "arches" really called Windows and not really arches |
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| These pics can't do justice to how beautiful it was and to be hiking in these rocks - they are huge and breathtaking |
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| Can you see all the switchbacks? It was steep but so worth it! |
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| The parks best and most famous hike goes through Fairyland Canyon, but it's 8 miles long. We didn't do it. |
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| We then headed to Mossy Cave hike which was a short 1/2 mile round trip, past a rarity in Bryce -a running stream! |
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| The hike ends at a hanging rock that drips constantly with water-and during the summer, it's covered in moss. During the winter, huge icicles form and sometimes remain until late May! |
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| We then made our way to Red Canyon which has super red rocks and mini rock formations. A short 1 mile loop hike took us through this area. We were the only ones at this hike, as it's down a 2 mile dirt road that most people don't know about. Again, no filters were used on these pics! |
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| Jacob, get away from the edge! |
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| This tree had been burned and was all twisted |
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| You know us..not content with just the "normal" hikes and things to do....So we headed out into the wilderness, about half hour from Bryce, down a 6.2 mile dirt road, in the middle of nowhere, some parts of the road steep and scaring Shelley and Hannah (who closed her eyes she now tells me), and we finally reached our destination - Willis Creek Slot Canyon. Super easy 1 1/2 mile hike through a very non-technical slot canyon. That means nothing to have to maneuver around or under - you just walk..flat...easy..this one had a small stream running through. The slots were fairly short and not too narrow, but it was a good hike and we loved it. |
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| We even saw a small arch! |
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| Jacob was always trying to splash Hannah and get her wet. She didn't like him doing that. |
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