Travelin' Road Show: Jun 24-26th -The Bryce Canyon National Park

Monday June 24^th

Well it was a hot morning in Page, so we decided to just get on the road and let the truck AC do its job. It was 153 miles and what a drive to Bryce Canyon.

Finally and slowly we left the arid and dry desert behind. We passed through some amazing red sandstone rock formations and arrived at Ruby’s Inn and RV resort in Bryce Canyon City (not really a city... very small community just outside the gates to Bryce Canyon National Park.) The RV park (we are in Site 120) is quite pleasant with nice shade, and the temperature is finally down to bearable levels around 80 degrees during the day, but expected to be only 44 at night.. good for sleeping. Internet very weak (but at least there is access to emails etc) so unable to do too much research, but we have planned our day tomorrow in Bryce Canyon National Park.

We went for a walk to the Inn and Market Place and bought a detailed map of the area. Had a fish dinner and caught up on the blog.

Tuesday June 25^th 2013

Another amazing day. Bryce Canyon National Park is nothing short of breathtaking… we are definitely sounding pretty boring with all the ‘amazings’ and ‘beautifuls’ and ‘awesomes’, but really these places are outside of our realm to describe. We had heard from several sources that Bryce Canyon is in many ways more vivid than the Grand Canyon, but again… we were not prepared for what we saw. This crumbling plateau is filled with canyons, grottos, caves, strata, all set in vibrant deep reds, oranges, chalky whites and greens of pines and balsam fir. We drove right through the park to the end… took a short loop walk and oohed and aaahed our way back to the main visitors area by stopping at every lookout point on the way back. We were so taken with the place that we forgot to eat all day. So after a short ‘ranger’ walk and talk we headed back to camp and cooked up a small steak, quinoa and salad… not much conversation after our food was in front of us!!!!

After dinner went to a ranger presentation at the lodge and learned about how early man in this are studied the stars and determined when to plant crops and predict the seasons, and also giving lessons on how to live based on stories about the stars. Then back to the visitors centre where there were four telescopes setup to watch the night sky before the moon arose to spoil the sky vision. We saw Messier 57 nebulae, the gases from the star that is extinct. The light that we see is actually from 640 AD!!! We saw Saturn clear as day along with its moon Titus. We saw a bi-lateral star that orbits each other one yellow and one blue. We saw three, yes three, shooting stars or meteors. The night sky at Bryce is famous for its clarity We stargazed for almost 2 hours

Wednesday June 26

So up a little later than planned after another cold night but this time we were prepared with the extra blanket. Probably went down to 4 Celsius last night. Off to do some hiking and we went down the Queen Elizabeth trail and then carried on to the Navaho trail link. We came back up on the Navaho trail through the switchbacks they call Wall Street. Being down in the Hoodoo’s was the experience of a lifetime. So many colours of red and orange offset with the vivid greens of the pine trees. The pathway twisted and turned in and out of the sun. The walk was maybe 3.5 miles and was a vertical of 800 ft. Back up on the rim after two hours of reasonably strenuous activity we felt entitled to the ice creams that we devoured.

And so the Bryce canyon portion of our adventure comes to a close. Absolutely captivating, beautiful yet different from the Grand Canyon, but similar in that the same rock strata are exposed. However, the comparison is faulted (along with the limestone) Bryce is not a canyon, it is actually a prehistoric plateau subject to massive erosion from sea, ice, water and wind at its edge to develop vistas that are probably unequaled anywhere in the world.