Bryce Canyon

Day 2: St. George, Utah to Bryce Canyon National Park
Day 3: Bryce Canyon National Park

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Day 2 marked the start of the fun part of our trip. Our drive from St. George to Bryce Canyon took us through Virgin, UT and into Zion National Park, which was beautiful. After an hour or so of picture-taking in Zion we headed for Bryce, passing through Orderville on the way (those Mormons like order). Here's a shot from Zion.





We got to Bryce around 3pm and set up our tent and hammock at Sunset Campground, then headed out for a late afternoon hike on the Queen's Garden loop trail. The first time you see over the rim of the plateau and down into the "canyon" is breathtaking. This place is like nowhere else on earth, absolutely amazing. In the first two days we took 365 pictures, including these.







On day 3 we slept in a bit and had a leisurely breakfast at the campsite, then headed out around 11:30 to hike the 8-mile Fairyland loop trial, which starts at Fairyland point on the rim of the canyon, dives down into the canyon, loops along around a maze of hoodoos, then climbs back up the steep rim of the canyon to Sunset Point, where you hike the Rim trail back to Fairyland Point. The things we saw on this hike defy words...you'll have to look at the pictures. After our hike we stopped at a bunch of the drive-in vista points along the rim, then made dinner and headed back to the rim to catch sunset at Paria Point.





This morning (day 4) we got up early and watched sunrise from Bryce Point. It was pretty cloudy, so the color wasn't spectacular, but you can't complain. Now we're sitting in Ruby's Hotel just outside of the park, taking advantage of their free wireless and cell phone coverage. You have to talk to Mom on Mother's Day!