7^th May – 12^th May Bryce Canyon Nat Pk

We woke to a car covered in snow ………….. definitely time to move on.

As we pulled into the camp site at Bryce National Park there was another snow storm! 

However it didn’t last long and the sun came out in the later afternoon so we went for a stroll and discovered our site was within 100yds of the rim overlooking the “Hoodoos”. 

 

The formations in Bryce are pinnacles called Hoodoos and you look down upon them from the top of the plateau, which is at a height of around 8000-9000ft.  The campground was full and despite the sleet and freezing night temperatures there were people camping in tents!

Fairyland Loop

On the Wednesday we hiked the Fairland Loop, around 8.5 miles, enjoying every twist and turn of the route which was easy to follow.  The variety of colours and shapes of the rocks are quite enchanting. Cream and pinks and peach through to rust red. 

You can imagine all sorts of faces and figurines in amongst the shapes.  

Thursday

The forecast for the week was not good and sure enough, Thursday it rained all day.  In the morning we went to the park store to get a wifi signal and struck up a conversation with a couple from Canada; Herb and Anne.  The next thing you know they join us in the RV and we sit and chat …… all afternoon …. and all evening. Alison cooked up an impromptu meal.

Rainbow and Yovimpa Point

It finally stopped raining on Friday so we drove the car to the other end of the park; about 18 miles.  We checked out the various view points along the way. 

Natural Bridge was an excellent example of how water can shape the rocks. 

From the top of the plateau we could hear thunder and we watched   We were lucky we only had a 3 minute shower over us.

the progress of the rain storm in the distant valley below.

We saw a small heard of Pronghorn Antelope; at least three of which were heavily pregnant.

 

Sunrise to Sunset Point

Saturday was a lovely sunny day and Paul went fishing at Tropic reservoir in a valley parallel to   Alison had a restful morning and in the afternoon had a walk along the canyon rim from Sunrise to Sunset Point.  This is a very popular park and there were a lot of people about of various nationalities.
Bryce Canyon.

 

Unfortunately the fish Paul caught were not big enough for eating so that evening Herb and Ann joined us for a meal at Ruby’s Inn just outside the Park. We would like to tell you all about this crazy Canadian and his car at the petrol station, but we told Herb we wouldn’t.

After the meal we all went back to the RV for a Whiskey and Cider tasting evening …….!

 

Peek-a-boo Loop

The weather had definitely changed for the better and Sunday was another lovely sunny day.  We set off to hike the Queens Garden trail, following the rim trail that Alison had done yesterday and then down the very steep switch-back path of the Navajo trail.  By the time we got to the bottom of that trail we had encountered so many tourists that we diverted from our Plan A and took a detour to do the Peek-a-boo loop.  It was pretty strenuous; constantly going up and down for 5.5 miles but we didn’t meet too many people there.  The formations were delightful and worth the effort.  We passed the horse and mule ride going the opposite way on the same trail. 


 

Part of the Peek-a-boo loop brought us to the Queens Garden Trail, it was now later in the day so there were a far less people around.  Alison’s step-counter registered 18,872 steps that day – no wonder we were tired by the end of it all!