Our first trip to Bryce many years ago was as typical tourists.......Find a campsite, spend 1 night and then spend half a day to try to see this great national park. This time we pitched a tent for 2 nights and got to experience things a little differently. One of the coolest things is to step outside of the tent in the middle of the night and take a look toward heaven. Oh my gosh. The stars and the constellations that you see in this high elevation, clean dry air and a real lack of light pollution. Sorry - not very good at photographing the stars so no pics!
The best part of the trip was the hike we took down the Navajo Loop trail through Wall Street. It is a walk down some awesome and beautiful switchbacks, only to end with walking back up some very steep switchbacks. Heck, my FitBit said I walked up 55 flights of stairs. And the air is really thin up here for this girl (and guy) that are from the Texas gulf coast.
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| The switchbacks going down, down, down. |
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| These are the switchbacks we climbed to get out of the bottom! |
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| Photo bombers with Ron. |
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| So cool to walk through these hoodoos! |
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| Erosion can be beautiful! |
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| The beginning of the trail back up. I was like, "No way!" |
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| Photo bombers everywhere....... |
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| Standing on the bottom. The view goes straight up. |
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| Pictures just aren't the same as standing there. |
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| At the bottom it looks like a regular forest. |
It was a very pretty stop at Two Bridges. And again going by/up Wall Street.
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| Two Bridges |
We did drive the scenic loop. They have several spots closed due to road construction.
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| Fairyland Canyon |
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| Black Birch Canyon |
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| Inspiration Point |
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| Natural Bridge, which is really misnamed as it is an arch. Bridges will have water going under them. |
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| Fairyland Canyon |
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| Navajo Rim Trail |
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| This tree reminds me of a caterpillar. |
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| Inspiration Point |
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| Fairyland Canyon |
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| Rainbow Point |
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| Black Birch Canyon |
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| Fairyland Canyon |
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| Fairyland Canyon |
We got back to our campsite and had a "citation" because our tent needed to be within 20' of the campfire. So so glad we ended up not being camp hosts here. "Barney Fife" was all dressed in his volunteer outfit when he stopped by to reprimand us. You see, at Capitol Reef, we only have to wear our volunteer shirt and name tag. No tucking in of shorts. Can wear the official shirt with our shorts or jeans. VERY laid back. Not to mention that our host campsite is out of this world, while here they have them crammed in together. Not our style. We wouldn't have lasted here. Oh well, off the soap box.
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| Can you believe he wanted hot dogs? Great idea for tent camping! |
Enjoy the pictures. Wish they really did the views justice!!! I also wanted to document what we did to celebrate the National Park Centennial at Capitol Reef. The night before the rangers put on a program at the Ampitheater. So funny but such a great message about being careful to not commercialize our parks. The day of, the park had birthday cake for everyone present, sang Happy Birthday. Loved it when a visitor from Germany got out his guitar, Ranger Rick got out his harmonica, and they started singing for everyone.
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| Our talented group of rangers! We appreciate them! |
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| Our German friend on guitar and Ranger Rick on the harmonica and singing. |
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| Happy 100th! |
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| Ron picking peaches from one of the orchards. |
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| This is what a half inch of rain creates around here. Lasted 30 minutes! |
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| Hard for us to understand these flash floods and their quick danger! |
Bryce is my favorite National Park site for its beauty! The hoodoos are awe inspiring. We were there when there was still a little bit of snow atop the formations. If you ever get a chance to get back there with snow, I highly recommend it. By the way, Yellowstone is my all around favorite National Park - so much natural diversity there... Love the pictures! Sounds like you picked the right park in which to host! Continue enjoying and more importantly - sharing your experiences!
ReplyDeleteBetty