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September 25 - Drive to Bryce Canyon
We left around 8 for Bryce Canyon. It was a shorter distance to go through Zion but we would have to drive our RV through the tunnel and the many switchbacks. We made a quick stop for provisions at Cedar City and then drove on some very scenic roads with huge elevation changes and switchbacks. Through the Dixie National Forest, we saw some of the leaves changing colour. About 10 miles outside of Bryce we came upon Red Canyon. The hoodoos started here in the reddest rock we have seen.
We got to Ruby's Campground, very reminiscent of Wall, South Dakota. We checked in, drove to our site only to find out that it was too small. We went back to the Office and were informed that the power was out throughout all of southwest Utah!! Luckily they were able to give us another site and we set up home for the next 3 days.
There is only one canyon in Bryce and all hikes involve hiking quickly down into the canyon on switchbacks, exploring at the bottom of the canyon before hiking back up on several more switchbacks.
We wandered over to the shuttle area with all our gear for the Navajo hike. The start of the hike was extremely crowded with many people yelling to see if there was an echo. When we got to the bottom of the canyon, it was much more civilized. There were lots of trees and thousands of hoodoos - some white, some red and some striped red and white.
After dinner we headed back to the park to try to catch the sunset. After a quick visit to the Visitors Centre, we drove to the darkest part of the park to see the most stars we have ever seen!! The Milky Way was just a cloud of light. It was beautiful….would have been more fun if it wasn't so cold.
September 26 - Park Tour
We got up for the 9 am guided tour of the park. Our first stop was Rainbow Point, 15 miles from the Visitors Center. Our guide explained how we could see most of the "steps" of the Escalante Grand Staircase. We could see over 60 miles away, as far as the Grand Canyon. We next stopped at the Natural Bridge. Our guide showed great pleasure in pointing out all the different characters and animals that showed up in the hoodoos.
After lunch we headed out for a bike ride leading into the Red Canyon. The Thunder Mountain trail was very steep, big drop offs and quite narrow. We realized we were over our heads about 1 km into the ride. At the Visitors Center, we found T shirts that read "I conquered Thunder Mountain"…..whoops. There was a hike out of the Red Canyon Visitors Center. Although only 1 mi long, it had a fair bit of vertical as well.
September 27 - Peek-a-boo hike
Frost on the truck windows this morning….we decided on a later start to our day. The round trip hike of Navajo/Peek-a-boo and Wall Street was 10.6 km with 102 flights climbed!!! The Peek-a-boo hike was a loop on the canyon floor that had many ups and downs as well as small tunnels. Wall St was a very challenging hike out of the canyon with countless switchbacks and lots of elevation.
Our late lunch/early diner was at Bryce Canyon Pines which featured homemade pies…they certainly earned their reputation.
Bryce Canyon is a dark sky location. We went back to the Sunset Point around 8 pm and got to see the amazing sky again…over 26,000 stars.
September 28 - Kodachrome State Park
We drove 20 mi east to Kodachrome State Park. Kodachrome is well known for its many beautiful coloured rock layers and its monolithic spires, called sedimentary pipes. We hiked the Angel's Palace trail which was fairly short, with a number of fins jutting out from the main trail. After lunch we cycled the Panorama Trail which was around 6 mi. It was a multi-use cycling, hiking and horseback riding trail. We went to several neat spots, the Hat Shop, the Secret Passage and the Cool Cave. It was a fairly challenging ride for us….Kevin only fell off the bike twice.
Back to the Pines for pie.
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