BRYCE AND ZION CANYONS

While I was in Cedar City I took a day and drove over to Bryce Canyon.  I left early because it was an hour and a half drive.  Again beautiful scenery and very good highways. Before Bryce there is the Red Canyon a prelude to Bryce. You have to go through two tunnels, very short and when you come out the other side the scenery was WHOW.

One thing I should have done is gone to Zion first it was beautiful but Bryce has it all over Zion in my eyes.  Others say no they liked Zion best, but to each his own

 I arrived and first stop was the visitors centre.  They always have a short film on the history of the parks any where you go in the U.S.  They give you a very documented map with the history and how to start your tour. Did you know that they call it an ampitheatre of pink and orange hoodoos, cliffs and pinnacles.  I spent all day there and didn't see it all.  A fact, Bryce is fortunate that it averages one death a year. Heart attacks ( high altitude), the elevation is 9,115 ft. and supplies only 70% of the oxygen you need,  falling off cliffs, lightening and vehicle accidents.  I understand the falling off cliffs people go off the beaten path to get the perfect picture, dumb.  I saw a guy drop his walking stick and went down to retrieve it - dumb.   I started at the far end of the park at the Rainbow Point and stopped at all but two of the thirteen viewpoints and worked my way back. I was there early in the season and was able to drive my car, the shuttles were not running yet.

It is a 36 mile round trip with lots of parking at the different points. I take a lot of pictures as you know and carry two batteries.  Well I didn't know what pictures to take, every where I looked was so beautiful with the pinks, reds and beizes that I was just mesmerized  It was hard to believe that these Hoodoos could stand like they do and not fall over. There was still snow in a lot of the rocks and it was cool, great for hiking.  I would have loved to have been there at night, they say the stars are all you can see in the sky.

So just what are Hoodoos and how did they come to this magical place.  About 10 million years ago forces in the Earth created and moved massive blocks called Table Cliffs and Paunsaugunt plateaus.  These rock layers towered over 2,000 ft above the layers on the Paunaugunt.  Ancient rivers carved the tops and exposed the edges of these blocks taking some layers and sculpting formations in others. The Paria Valley (I stayed in this area for almost two weeks) was created and widened between these plateaus.  The Paria river still carves these plateau edges.  It carries dirt and gravel, rushing waters gully the edges and steep slopes of the Plateau where the National Park is. Over a long period of time tall and thin ridges called fins emerged, the fins then eroded into pinnacles and spires called hoodoos that weakened and fell, adding their bright colours to the hills below.

People have lived in the Colorado Plateau region for about 12,000 years. The Paiutes (indians) have lived in this region and the eastern states and came to southern Utah. They called the hoodoos "Legend People" whom Coyote had turned to stone.  John Power and Clarence Dutton explored this area in 1870s.  The Paiutes were displaced by the  emissaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and they developed a lot of small communities in Utah. Ebenezer Bryce did a lot of work in southwestern Utah and northern Arizona.  In 1875 he came to the Paria Valley to live and harvest timber.  Neighbors called the canyon behind his home Bryce's Canyon.  In the 1900's people started coming to see this beautiful area.

Every year more than 1.7 million people visit the park from all over the world.  The park is open all year and you can hike, sight see and and of course take lots of photos. In the winter snow shoeing.

These hoodoos all start off as steep slopes and this increases the waters speed and energy.  The faults and joints caused by the compression controls the erosion patterns.  Freezing and thawing loosen the surfaces of the slopes. The runoff with debris rubs the softer rock and creates gullies.  Harder rock remains as fins.  When the gullies widen into the canyons fins become exposed to more erosion at their vertical cracks. As freezing water expands in the cracks in winter it peels off layers and carves out vertical hoodoos.

The above picture as you can see has a rock wedged between the rocks, amazing how it got there. The best show of the hoodoos was at the Bryce Point overview. Amazing, amazing, the faces in the rocks were the most interesting so I started taking all kinds of them.

These rocks look like two little kids kissing.  Thought it was so cute.

I have so many pictures that I don't know what to show you.  I think the next blog will be just some pictures. I went back to Bryce a couple of days later to do the last two lookouts and decided that I would hike a 3 mile down in the canyon trail. I was kind of worried because I won't go alone to do anything that is isolated.  I walked down a couple hundred feet to get some pictures, but every bend they were more beautiful so went back and got my walking sticks and walked all the way down thinking I have to go back up sometime.Well there were a lot of people on the trail so stopped and talk to them while catching my breath.  It took me three hours, but boy was I proud of myself. I am amazed that I can do these things now and not suffer for weeks.

Can you see the arch on the right side picture?

This blog is really late and sorry for that hope to get better.   The new picture at the start with the motorhome and the car was taken at Paria Station.  I was dry camping on a gravel lot in the middle of nowhere with fantastic views.  Will show you the views when I do a blog on Paria Station and the Wave.  What a life.