Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

2009-05-07

We were up at our usual time of 7 am, got read broke camp, had breakfast and were on our way a little after 9 am. We had a four hour drive that morning to Bryce National Park which was on the southwest side of Utah. We took highway 191 to interstate 70 to highway 89. While Ian was busy driving, Lori worked on the journal. They both enjoyed the view during the drive as the red or arches soon gave way to white sandstone and as they entered highway 89, they were in a valley with green trees, grey rocks and a river surrounding them. Soon after turning onto highway 89, our stomachs got the better of us and we stopped at a rest stop to make our lunch. The faceuts at the rest stop had amazing pressure and we could not avoid soaking ourselves, but it felt good as the day was warming up again. We were soon back on the road again and turned onto highway 12 towards Bryce. We could start to see the red colour again as we approached the park. We were both glad that we had purchased the annual park pass when we saw that it was $25 per car to enter the park. This was the most expensive park to date and this was our break even point with the pass; not bad as it was our eight national park. We stopped at the visitors center, picked up some souvenirs, stamped our passports and planned our route. We found out from the park ranger there that the Grand Canyon’s North rim would not open until May 15th; a week after we were planning on going. We decided then that we would have to make the 200+ mile detour to see the South Rim of the Gran Canyon. We were both glad we had allowed for some extra days at the Grand Canyon, so we could keep on our schedule. The Grand Staircase, a series of steplike uplifted rocks stretching from the Grand Canyon, start  at this national park. The bottom layer of Bryce is the same as the top layer of Zion National Park and the bottom layer of Zion is the same as the top layer of the Grand Canyon.  The park is full of pinnacles and points, steeples and spirals, and odd formations called “hoodoos”, which is a pillar of rock, usually in a fanatasic shape, left by erosion. The canyon is actually an amphitheater eroded from the cliffs. Geologists think that 10 million years ago the massive blocks we know as the Table Cliffs and Paunsaugunt plateaus moved. Rock layers on the Table Cliffs now tower 2,000 feet above their corresponding layers on the Paunsaugunt. Ancient rivers carved the tops and exposed the edges of these blocks. The Paria Valley was created and it’s river tributaries still carve the plateau edges. Just as in Arched National Park, with time, fins emerge and then here they erode into pinnacles and hoodoos.  People have lived in the region for about 12,000 years, but only random fragments of worked stone reveal their presence. In 1870, Captain Clarence E. Dutton and John Wesley Powell explored the area and gave many places their names. Ebenezer Bryce developed small communities for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints in this area and northern Arizonia. In 1875, he came to Paria valley to live and harvest timber and his neighbours sonn came to call the canyon behind his home Bryce’s Canyon. Sonn after 1900, people were coming to see the colourful geologic sight and the first accommodations were built. In 1923, President Warren G. Harding proclaimed the area as Byrce Canyon National Park and in 1928 the area was established as a National park. We decided to go with our usual approach of tackling the park and drove to the furthest point, Rainbow Point, and work our way back. This ended up working out great as we saved the best viewpoints for last and built up to it. After 18 miles, we got out at rainbow point and had our first view of the canyon. The colours were pink, orange and yellow. While the view was impressive, at this point we both thought that Arches was much more dramatic. We did a short walk to Yovimpa, point of Pines, Point to see the southern most canyon. We started the drive back up the road stopping at the various view points including Black Birch, Ponerosa and Agua Canyons. The view at the Natural Birdge view point reminded us of a view from Great Ocean Road in Australia except there there bridge was made of grey rock, while this one was a white sandy colour and of course did not have the ocean behind it. We stopped at Farview and Piracy Points and Swamp Canyon before taking the turn off for Paria View and Bryce Point. Paria View was our last view back at the Canyon that we had seen at the previous view points. The park changed in our minds as we walked our onto Bryce Point. We walked out into what seemed like the middle of the canyon and were surrounded by all sorts of shapes and colours. The view was stunnig and we both spent awhile there soaking it in and taking countless photos. The wind seemed to rip through the canyon in this section, which proved troubling when we hiked around the rim walk. The path was narrow and we both tried to stay on the inside to avoid going into the canyon. We made use of nature and used a tree for a tripod so we could get a photo of us with the canyon behind us. We got back in the car and had a short drive to Inspiration Point. We walked uphill to the point and then enjoyed another glorious view. Bryce National Park was quickly winning a place in our minds as breathtaking. It was again another amazing view and we were glad we have saved these until last. After seeing these views, we wished we had more time in the park to walk around more of the rim. It was starting to get late and we had an hour drive to the Glendale KOA, so we decided to skip the last view points which we thought would be similar to Inspiration view point. When we arrived at the Glendale KOA at 6 pm, the office had already closed for the day and they left us a note letting us know where our campsite was. It was a little frustrating as we did not know where the nearest grocery store was or place to eat. Luckily, we had a friendly enighbour who answered our questions as we pitched the tent. While Glendale had appeared the same size of Moab on the map, he told us there was nothing there and the nearest place to eat was about 12 miles. As it was getting late, we decided to eat out and drove to the Thunderbird cafe just outside the turnoff to highway 9 to Zion. Lori had raspberry lemonade and a cheeseburger and Ian had a Coke and a hamburger. We also treated ourselves to some onion rings. It was nice to not be in a rush to make dinner before the sun went down and we enjoyed watching the hummingbirds fight for the feeded outside our booth window. When we got back to the campsite, it had gotten cold, so we filled up our water bottles and snuggled in our sleeping bags while finishing off “Grand Toritino”, which we both liked. We tried using the internet only to find that it was down and then  refilled our water bottles and went to sleep. It was a cold night and Lori woke Ian up in the middle of it as she thought that the water proof layer over the tent was coming undone. She went ouside to fix it only to find that her eyes were playing tricks on her; the lighting of the moon was lighting up two of the three sides, making it look transparent.

The park is full of pinnacles and points, steeples and spirals, and odd formations called “hoodoos”, which is a pillar of rock, usually in a fanatasic shape, left by erosion.

Additional photos - http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A374302C858&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW