Today we went to Bryce Canyon National Park, another spectacular place. The best way to get to Bryce is to travel through Zion National Park, through a tunnel. The tunnel is too small for our truck to pass through with the oncoming traffic so for a mere $15.00 they hold traffic on the opposite end and we get to drive right down the center line. The tunnel is over a mile long and man is it dark. I could not even see Victoria sitting right next to me.
After exiting the tunnel we enter a whole different world than that of the Zion canyon. Giant, ancient sand dunes that have been compressed and hardened over time to create Slickrock, more about that later. Shortly after leaving the tunnel we encountered a group of cars and people pulled off the road. As we approached we saw that there were Mountain Goats grazing on the greener along the Slickrock walls. We of course had to stop and check them out and Victoria snapped a few pictures.
As we drove the 120 mile trek to Bryce Canyon the Slickrock gave way to flatter land with shrubs and trees and the occasional mountain meadow. We keep climbing the whole ways. Zion is at about 3500’ and Bryce is at around 7-9000’ and as we drove the temperature dropped. It was in the 60’s when we left the RV and by the time we entered Bryce Canyon National Park it was in the low 30’s.
We made a stop at the visitor’s center to get the low down on the best way and best places to see in the park. We are a bit limited on time here because the tunnel that we have to again go through closed at 7:00 P.M. I talked with the ranger and was told we should drive to the top and then stop at all the overlooks on our way back down, so off we went, climbing about 3000’ in about 14 miles. As we went up in elevation the temperature went down. At the top of the mountain the temp. was about 35 degrees.
We bundled up and headed to the rim to see the views and once again Mother Nature did not disappoint. Beautiful, we could see for miles and miles and miles. The red rock formations are fantastic and the different shapes make one’s mind imagine that they may have been ancient aliens turned to stone or other unearthly creatures. Indian legend says that “they were bad people turned to stone by the trickster coyote”
We drove back down the mountain stopping at all the overlooks and snapping pictures as we went. We finally ended up at Sunset Point were several trailheads start. We decide on a 2 mile round trip hike down into the canyon that includes many of the better know formations. This turned out to be a very steep trail and shortly into it Victoria decided it was not for her. She headed back to the top and walked the Rim trail. I continued my decent down in to the canyon amongst the unearthly formations.
The hike was a piece of cake down and I walked and took pictures along the way. At the bottom I continued to the end of the trail where I asked some fellow hikers to take my picture. I then headed back up and man was it steep. I think Victoria made the right choice as my knees and legs began to ache more and more as I made my ascent. I shed my jacket shortly after the start up and made a couple of water stops along the way until I once again was at the top of the canyon. As I approached the truck I saw Victoria who had also just finished her hike, that was good timing.
We decided to head back home as we did not want to miss the tunnel and have to drive an additional hour. Just before entering Bryce Canyon there is another small park Red Rock Cliffs. Victoria said she wanted to get some pictures of the cliffs as the sun was bathing them with light. I pulled the big Dodge off the road in a couple spots and Victoria snapped away.
We travel back the same route as before marveling at the landscape until we entered the Slickrock area again. Victoria was very interested in the giant rock dunes so again I pulled the big truck off the road. We had a few minutes to kill until the tunnel closed so we spent some time walking on the rocks. After just a few minutes we were joined by other curious tourist we felt the need to walk on the strange shaped rocks.
We then hopped back into the truck and made the tunnel with time to spare. We traveled down the switchback road to the Zion canyon floor and took one more look at some of the wonders of nature that we saw on this leg of our journey. We both agreed this is a place we must return too.
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