Wednesday, July 03, 2013

It's Bryce as Nice!

Kanab, UT to Bryce Canyon, UT

After a fun morning avoiding rattlesnakes in Kanab, it was time for the next leg of our adventure and to bag another National Park - a trip to Bryce Canyon!   We'd found a fairly short hike that we could easily do in a couple of hours and that would give us a good overview of some of the highlights of the park.  The link below gives you some more info about the park but the main feature are the Hoodoos - odd-shaped pillars of rock left standing by the forces of erosion.   The drive from Kanab was fairly short, taking us a couple of hours, so we arrived at the park a little after 3pm.  Again, we'd lucked out with the weather as it was overcast and so it wasn't roastingly hot.  As we actually started our descent into the main amphitheater, it started to spot with rain a bit and we could hear thunder rolling around, so that added to the fun and excitement!!  

The first sight of Bryce Canyon, from the top of the ridge looking down into the Amphitheater was absolutely stunning.  A real WOW moment.  Again, photos don't really do it justice, but I hope they at least give you a sense of what it was like.  Enjoy!

Link to Bryce Canyon NP: http://www.nps.gov/brca/index.htm

Our hike:  Navajo Trail
 Navajo Trail begins at Sunset Point and travels down into the main amphitheater. This is one of the more popular trails and extra caution is advised due to the fact that more rocks fall on this trail than any other trail in the park! A major rock slide occurred in 2006, and subsequent rockslides occurred in 2010 and 2011. This trail may also be combined with the Queens Garden Trail which will create a longer, but more varied, loop.
flat Topographical image of Navajo loop Trail.
Topographical image of Navajo Trail (marked in red).
NPS
Elevation Profile of the Navajo Trail
Total Distance:
1.3 miles
2.16 km
Climbing:
550 feet
167 m
Descending:
550 feet
167 m
Min/Max:
7479/8000 feet
2279/2438 m

Made it!  Checking off another National Park!

First glimpse from the top.  


Looking down into the amphitheater
It's a long, long way down to the bottom
Flash gits
Thor's Hammer

View from the top after having hiked back up
Swirly tree-roots




Peek-a-boo!
Bizarre tree growing out of another tree!




3 comments:

Unknown said...

well look at you 2 doing all the parks and stuff!!! Bryce park looks wonderful, with just enough greenage to take the desert away, but impressive rock formations. Mr Durman would have been priapic with excitement!! Thors hammer however reminds me of zombie chipmunk... see you have scarred me for life!! Wonderful blog and so pleased no reptilian interlopers this time!!! v jealous of you both by the way....!!! lots love and hugs xxxxxxxxx

Bun bun said...

yep - 2 down and 2 more to go on our Park-fest! glad you are enjoying them and sorry to hear you are zombie chipmunk scarred!! (he looked a happy zombie, if that helps?)

mumsiemumsie said...

reassuring to see live chipmonk darling ,might give lou something other than the zombie to think about!Once again wonderful pics ,thanks for doing this for us ,and in the nicest possible way ,rather you than me, its all to high,i get dizzy in high heels !!lots love to you both xxxxxxxxxxx