Friday, September 19, 2008

Bryce Canyon: Utah's Grandest Castle

Bryce Canyon, Utah - Navajo Loop

I said I would wait for a rainy day to finish my Utah recap. Well, it isn't raining, but I did see a cloud in the sky to that is about the same thing here in the desert.

We finished up our Utah vacay with a trip up to Bryce Canyon for a couple of days. Very very interesting rock formations here. My sister recently spent some time in Cappadocia in Turkey and couldn't believe how similar it looked to there.

We did one of the main loop hikes into the park (Navajo to Queens Garden Loop) through the amazing rock fingers. It was a very cool five mile hike and unlike anything I have really done before. Winding through giant hudus of rock and hard packed sand hills, it felt and looked like you were exploring a giant sand castle.

We cooked up some some nice chipmonk for dinner over the campfire, ate some smores, and froze our asses off. Okay, I might be lying about eating that cute little guy. It got down to upper 20s so us tenters ending up getting a room at the ajoining hotel to my parents campground. We took an ice cold dip in a semi outdoor pool in the evening and some of us even managed to get up early enough to watch the sun rise over the hudus. Then it was back to Phoenix for those of us with jobs...boohoo.

3 comments:

garobbins said...

Amazing pics...did you say your parents were tougher than you though?
GR

Anonymous said...

Awesome pics.. overall your gang was a great sport.

Deanna Stoppler said...

You all have way too much fun! Can I come and play?