Another Giant Hole : Utah Lotsa Parks part 6

Day 7 – Bryce “slap yo momma” Canyon.

This post is very picture heavy. Bryce Canyon, y’all. It taunts you into draining your camera battery.

In the morning we grabbed some breakfast-to-go from a local coffee shop and headed in to Bryce Canyon. As you can see from the picture taken at the sign, the drive into the park feels like driving through any Midwest pine forest. Nothing to see here, move along.

Yes, I’m wearing a skirt. Athleta makes skirts that have shorts attached. They’re stretchy and amazing!

And after choosing what hike we would take that day we parked the car and walked through the very nice, very normal pine forest to the rim of the canyon…

Oh. Right. Utah.

 

 

 

We started the hike down into the canyon along the Queens Garden and Navajo Loop trails. It seemed like every 5 feet we were stunned into stopping to take photos. I can’t stress just how gorgeous this place is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So mad my camera focused on the tree in the background, cuz’ this bird had some major ‘tude on that little face!

This is where we said, “Hey, we feel great! Let’s take add on he Peek-A-Boo loop to our hike!” Notice how the sign says horse/foot? Yeaaaah… horse crap on the trail plus 90+ degree heat plus very little wind equals stank sauna. Can I get a hell no?

 

I swear I saw this on Star Trek once.

 

 

Dumb rocks don’t know when they’re supposed to fall over             The 2 guys on the left were from France and Luxembourg. Both were on extended holidays for A YEAR. Jealous doesn’t come close to describing my feelings.   One of many switchback climbs in our hike. This place is just so stupidly beautiful.       The beginning of the looooong climb up the part of the trail called Wallstreet.   Looking back down the endless switchbacks on Wallstreet.   Utterly gorgeous. Dirty, dusty shoes & legs.

The park newspaper sassily states that the #1, 2 & 3 reason people are injured in Bryce is their poor choice of footwear. I agree. The paths are more crumbly I think in part to the make up of the rock, which is definitely more pebble-like and powdery. Not to be dissuaded, there were a few idiots in Wallstreet that had on flip flops and loafers. Have fun popping your blisters, suckers.

The park was named after a Mormon pioneer, Ebeneezer Bryce, who was known to have said, “It’s a hell of a place to lose a cow.” I like this Ebeneezer guy. He seems like the ornery old type who would sit quietly in the corner of a bar, sipping whiskey all night (so, not a strict a Mormon I guess), and never saying a word until the moment he couldn’t hold his tongue any longer and the most random and scathing stuff would tumble out. Ol’ Eb the patrons call him. But enough with my imagination…

https://www.youtube.com/v/fKaurdF7F48?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata

 Post hike delirium.

The lunch we wolfed down was so satisfying. They had a good looking buffet, but we weren’t having any of that. Bring the food *to* me, thankyouverymuch. Refuled, we hopped back in the car and down the 16mi scenic drive to Rainbow Point.

 

 

Natural Bridge, an 85-foot arch formation and one of several rock arches in the park. Its huge! Totally worth the stop.

 

 

 

Rainbow Point, elevation 9115 ft.

 

Moral of the story: don’t ever turn down an opportunity to visit this amazing place. Words like “magical” and “astounding” come to mind when I try to describe it. It’s easily one of my favorite places on earth and I can’t wait to go back someday.

We left Bryce and headed to our campsite outside of Zion. More on that later!