May 23-31, 2010 – Bryce Canyon National Park and Surrounding Area

Sunday morning we headed North towards Bryce Canyon National Park. We arrived at Red Canyon Campground around noon. After lunch we drove about 2 miles down the road to Red Canyon in the Dixie National Forest. Red Canyon looks like a miniature Bryce Canyon – it is beautiful. We hope to do some hiking in this canyon while we are in the area.




On Monday morning we woke up to this
 
 
 

 
 
 
Yep, you guessed it, that nasty 4 letter word that starts with SN and ends with OW.











We decided to brave the cold wet weather and tour Bryce Canyon National Park today. What a beautiful place even when the sun is not shining and it is snowing. We drove through the park and stopped at all the overlooks and hiked a few short trails. At the south end of the park we hiked the Bristlecone Loop Trail off Rainbow Point and ran into quite a lot of snow.






Tuesday morning was cold but the sun was shining. The weather forecast called for sunshine and in the 60’s so we decided to hike in the park. We hiked down into the canyon on a couple of connecting trails between Bryce Point and Sunrise Point. The trail descended 1555 feet to the canyon bottom and climbed back up.





We ran into another hiker along the trail – can you spot him in the rocks? Yup, this is a natural formation.


















These formations are called the Wall of Windows



Looking down from the top of the canyon was beautiful but hiking down among the fins and hoodoos was a whole different experience – it was great.







Later in the week we hiked the Mossy Cave Trail on the north end of the park which leads to a small waterfall and a cave with an underground spring.


                                                       



A lot of moss grows in the cave because it is so damp. There was also some ice in the cave.





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