Bryce Canyon
Trip Start
Jul 12, 2006
1
41
230
Trip End
Jun 18, 2007
Hatch, Utah, United States
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
A big hoo doo
. The weather was quite cloudy by the time we departed Torrey but this didn't deter Lee from having the roof down. Even when it started raining on the West 12 road, he still refused to put the roof up convinced that if he speeded up we're be able to drive through it without getting wet. I did protest when the rain started coming down quite hard ang big droplets as well but no, we carried on with the top down. It was only when the windscreen wipers were being used that he relented and pulled over so we could put the roof up - tutting all the way that we could have driven through it.West 12 to Bryce is amazing. It's probably the best road we've driven down. It takes you through the Escalante National Mounment, literally through it, the road has a sheer drop either side, and you're surrounded by this weird landscape. Like big boulders going down in steps but they're not individual boulders, they're all one big landmass. They colours are amazing too considering it's just desert. Everywhere you look you can see different shades of yellow, terracotta reds, greens from the pines that live in the most funny places and the blue of the sky. It's like an artists paintset. We stopped loads on the way to take pictures of the scenery and of the Las Sal Mountains that were in the distance. So it took us quite a while to get to Bryce.
We did our obligatory stop at the visitors centre to get some information on camping and pick up a map etc..
A view from Inspiration Point
. and found out that the night temp was around the high 30's, which is quite cold. The camping gear we'd purchased wasn't really up to temps that cool, our fleece sleeping bags were designed for 40f+ so we decided not to camp. We haven't got a camping stove or anything so a cold dinner from our cooler and a cold night wouldn't have gone down too well I don't think! We met a couple in Yellowstone Park who had sold up and had spent their retirement traveling and were working in Yellowstone for 3 months camping. They told us that Bryce Canyon was worth visiting and I'm glad we'd decided to do it. The place is full of Hoodoo's, which are basically vertical structures carved out of the rock and sandstone. The Ampitheatre is a mass of these hoodoo's and fins (hoodoos before they split apart vertically). There's an 18 mile scenic drive that takes you south then as you drive back north you can stop at the view points, the hoodoos are made from bright orange limestone, it gets its colour from iron and maganese mixed with calcium carbonate and was caused by rivers and streams evaporating to leave behind the Claron Formation from which Bryce Canyon was formed (after a few earth movements and the such like). Anyway, weather erosion is the cause of the canyon and it's pretty impressive. You can walk right down into the canyon in some areas, which was a great idea on the way day and not such a good idea on the way up
Bryce Canyon Ampitheatre
. It was hard work in the heat I can tell you, but it was well worth it.We spent most of the day at the canyon, stopping for a picnic at Sunset Point, overlooking the ampitheatre of hoodoos. On returning to the car there was a very friendly little chipmunk scoffing the trail mix that I'd dropped on the floor by the passenger door. He ran off after he'd finished so I grabbed some more trail mix and tried to get him back, they're such cute little things. It was only a while later than we spotted the 'Don't feed the animals sign'. It's against the law with a fine of $100 - ooooh dear! No one told me.... besides, I don't think having a handful of peanuts and chirping to a chipmunk actually means I was trying to feed it. Honestly officer!
At one point, I'd forgotten that I had a rather trendy Cowboy hat and left it on a bench at one of the viewpoints. But luckily, a 2 mile detour later and I found my hat, sitting quietly by itself, admiring the view. A nice oriental guy came up to use later on to ask if we'd left our hat as he'd seen it on a bench, which I thought was rather nice.
We'd secured some accomodation in a little town called Hatch which was about 22 miles west of Bryce, so drove there just as the sun was setting. It's been a hectic few days and tomorrow Zion Canyon National Park is on the menu.
