Bryce Canyon, 2012

Pictures don't really do this place justice, but I thought I'd post a few here:

M and I went to Bryce Canyon National Park on a day trip yesterday.  We relaxed some and were taxed some at the same time -- kind of like golf.  On the one hand, we loved being outdoors seeing something we'd never seen before.  On the other, the drive was much longer than we anticipated, and we weren't as well planned as we should have been. We decided to go to Bryce after driving to Zion first, and though the trip was scenic, it also is very remote.  Bryce is also higher in elevation than Zion, so the temperature dropped from 105 Fahrenheit in Zion to about 85 in Bryce.  Zion opens up onto a large, tilted plateau -- they call it the Grand Staircase -- that descends from Bryce at the top to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  It is full of dramatic scenery.  At Bryce itself, we mostly saw fir trees that had been burned in a forest fire, along with the occasional pronghorn (deer?), birds, bugs and shrubs.  Then we got to the end of the road, Rainbow Point, and looked out on a vista that includes hoodoos and vertical spires, made of the familiar red rock of Utah -- sandstone, I believe, but maybe not -- in a semi-circle that has been eroded over time.  There are several of these "amphitheaters" in Bryce Canyon National Park.  The pictures above are from two different amphitheaters.  M and I enjoyed the trip there, but as we got further and further away from home, the need to get back home became more urgent.  We stayed only a few minutes at some spots -- just enough to get a few photos and view the canyons from above.  The drive home was even more remote -- we went through Panguitch to Dixie National Forest to Cedar City, then down I-15 home, so we were really tired by the time we got home.