Saturday, June 7, 2008

The Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park

Okay, I've found my favorite National Park so far. It's not just the park itself, but the drive to the park and area around the park. Just beautiful. I guess I've about worn that word out lately, maybe that's why it's "America the Beautiful".


Highways 89 and 12 from Kanab to Bryce Canyon are scenic drives - they aren't lying. Kanab has it's own canyon and it's very nice. Before you get to Bryce Canyon, you drive past the Corral Pink Sand Dunes and through Red Canyon.


Unlike Zion, you can drive from one end of the park to the other, or you can choose to ride the shuttle buses to about half of the view points. If you visit the park be sure to drive the 18 miles to Rainbow Point.


There are a number of trails that take you down amongst the hoodoos. They are well marked and not nearly as scary as the Grand Canyon trails. The brochure identifies the level of difficulty for each. I took an easy 1-1/2 mile hike down to the Queens Garden. It would have been easier without the leather coat, but I hadn't meant to go all the way to the bottom. Younger legs should come and explore all of the trails.


Our weak dollar is a boon to the foreign tourist. I have a hard time identifying US citizens in any of the parks. I met a busload of folks from Australia in Zion, a group of motorcycle riders from Argentina and I chatted up a couple of lasses from England. They like getting two dollars for one pound. They also said that they get about twice the food they would get at home for the same price and told me diesel is selling for about $10 per gallon there.


I saw two condors soaring in the park, riding the thermals. Huge birds, not pretty. Kind of like the turkey vultures in Arkansas.


Ebenezer Bryce said of the canyon, "It's a hell of a place to lose a cow". Come and lose yourself.

1 comment:

Redhoodoos said...

I googled blogs about Bryce Canyon and found yours. It's an awesome place! Great photos. Sounds like you're having fun!