Tag: Bryce

Heading north, we passed a sign that said Mystic River Zipline – 10 miles. After a while, I asked Chris what he thought about having a go, and he said it was 7 miles further! We stopped and were rigged out with harnesses and taken up the trail to the first tower with a 800ft line … it was great, really whizzy, and you twist round and see all the lovely autumn colour on the trees covering the hillside! The second tower had a pair of lines so we could race … although I think it was a dead heat … great fun!

Our drive brought us to the last of our revisited destinations, Bryce Canyon National Park, named by early settlers to the area.

Last time we managed a peek into the park, but didn’t see the amphitheatre which is the main attraction. We arrived in time to walk the rim trail from Bryce Point round to Sunset Point, seeing the hoodoos from different angles and watching the colours change, and although it was cloudy there were sunny bits, and the sun dropped below the rim and finally set.

Next day we drove to Bryce Point for sunrise, to Chris’s horror getting up at 6.15! It was worth it to see the hoodoos in the amphitheatre light up as the sun rose, although by about 8.30 we were so chilly we went to the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge for breakfast.

Revitalised, and surprised by how much warmer it had got, we started the steep hike down the Queens Garden Trail from Sunrise Point, following the trail in between the hoodoos. The views were great, a photo round every corner.

We even caught sight of a mule train taking intrepid visitors round the hoodoos. We joined the Navajo Loop and were surprised how large the wooded area was at the bottom …

… then started our climb gently at first past Theo’s Hammer and then up some very steep switchbacks to return to the rim at Sunset Point, by which time we had got very warm!

It was such a great hike and we weren’t surprised that it is billed as the best 3-mile hike in all the National Parks!

Later we took the 18 mile scenic drive and stopped at the lookouts on the way and very luckily, Chris spotted this little chap looking for supper, a Utah prairie dog, showing his best side!

After dinner, Chris had a go at taking photos of stars … mainly so he could justify having bought a stargazers glow-in the-dark t-shirt … and some look pretty good … camera club beware!

Bryce has been a real treat, and despite a pretty basic motel and not much more inspiring food, the park is truly majestic and has stunned us with its beauty.

We could have headed north on the interstate, but chose to take back roads for a way, including another scenic byway, the Nebo Loop …

… stopping for Autumn colour, overlooks and the Bryce-like Devils Kitchen.

Now onward to Salt Lake City … but there is one more stop …

On leaving Springdale, we stopped off in Grafton, a ghost town, once a Mormon settlement which had been inhabited from 1859 until the last people left in 1945. There was a cemetery where people buried included two girls killed by a broken swing, men killed by Navajo raiders as well as a whole family who died of diphtheria. There was also a church and several houses which had been used as a film set in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

We then drove along another state highway that goes through Zion NP, so remained open, and saw some fabulous views. There was a Ranger at the gate and he suggested sending all the idiot congressmen to the UK, but we said we had enough idiots already! We weren’t meant to be stopping, but everyone was pulling over to take pictures, but it was hard to do justice to the scenery.

We continued along another scenic route with great vistas until we got to the Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest. This wasn’t on our initial itinerary, but we spent several hours hiking between the weirdly sculpted hoodoos, turrets, spires and pinnacles on the Bird’s Eye Trail and the Pink Layers Trail.

We continued on to Bryce and checked in to a cute cottage at the Bryce Pines Motel.

They told us that although the park is shut, the owners of Ruby’s Inn own land up to the rim of Bryce Canyon, and there was a little roadway ‘train’ that they were running, taking people to look. We let the train take the strain then hiked round the rim and got some shots of Bryce, although not of the amphitheatre of hoodoos that it is famous for.

Next we are off to another local find that we would have passed by – Kodachrome Basin State Park, named in the 1940’s for the revolutionary new colour film.