Bryce Canyon National Park - Day 69

View from the top
see all photos »

We left early from Zion and headed to Bryce Canyon.  We had decided that instead of hiking in Bryce we'd take a horseback ride down the canyon; it seemed the ride we picked went through most of the canyon and it would be a fun way to see everything.

We got there for our ride and moved out to the corral.  The first thing that happened is the man ahead of us tried to get on his horse, couldn't, got bucked, and announced he'd dislocated his hip.  Okay, a bit freaked.  So what really happened is while trying to get on the horse, his hip dislocated and, because of how he came down on the horse, the horse freaked and bucked him.  Yeah, didn't really make me feel any better either.  But in any event, we got on our horses (Dove had Lisa, Josh had Keystone) and made our way to the canyon.

Our friendly guide
see all photos »

So.  What were we thinking?  Have you ever ridden down to the bottom of a canyon before?  It's freakin scary!  When you make the turns to go down, you think you are going to walk right off the side.  Seriously!  And the horses seem to like walking RIGHT on the edge of each cliff, so much so that you can see the dirt under their feet falling down the mountain!  WTF!?!?  Dove spent a decent amount of time with her eyes closed, but fortunately we both made it out safely.

Josh and Keystone
see all photos »

I can't really say much about Bryce because its all visual.  It's gorgous there.  It's amazing how rocks 60 miles away from each other can look so different.  We were both glad we went riding instead of hiking because it allowed us to look around more instead of focusing on where our feet were being placed.  We also met a cool couple on the ride who we tried to have a drink with, but since we were in Utah, we couldn't.  Oy.

We also drove through Grand Staircase - Escalante, and ended up at Capitol Reef to camp, but more about that tomorrow!