Day 46 - Bryce Canyon, Utah

Tuesday, October 26^th, 2010

Map of Bryce Canyon

Last night I entered Bryce Canyon National Park at around 9pm. The sign at the gate said that there were campsites available at the north campground. When I got to the campsite entrance, I got out of the car and picked up a reservation envelope. It was cold and there was already snow on the entrance sign. Picking a campsite works by way of the honor system. You take an envelope and proceed to find an empty spot that you want for setting up camp. The you write down information on the envelope like your license plate #, which campsite you chose and how many nights you plan to stay. Put cash or a check in the envelope ($15/night) and return to the entrance to place the envelope in a locked box. Before placing the envelope in the box, tear off a stub and place it on the post in front of your campsite. I chose my campsite but since it was getting late and was quite cold already with a chance of snow, I slept in my car.

When I woke up, my windows were frozen on the inside from my respiration. The temperature dropped down to 26F so it was a little chilly, even in the car. Apparently, Bryce Canyon because of its location and high altitude has 200 days of below freezing temperatures. It’s actually one of the highest areas in the Colorado Plateau. I turned on the heat to defrost my front and rear windows and then proceeded to the visitor’s center to get a map of the park. I drove to Bryce Point at the end of the park and figured that I would work my way back. I hiked the Bryce Point trail which connects to a looped trail named Peekaboo and then exits via the same Bryce Point trail. The entire hike was an easy five miles on smooth trails. It started at the top with a spectacular view looking down on the amphitheater of fins, spires, ridges, pillars, balanced rocks and hoodoos. The Paiute Native Americans believed the hoodoos were actually people that were turned to stone by coyotes with magical powers. The trail meandered back and forth, just like any other trail working its way down the side of a steep mountain side. Once at the bottom and looking up, these formations took on a completely different perspective. I would compare it to taking a helicopter ride to view the NYC skyline and then walking the streets and looking up at the same tall buildings from the ground. The landscape here is different like no other. There are thousands of these strangely formed, almost unlikely and improbable structures jutting straight up from the ground like flagpoles. In reality, it’s just a natural process of erosion by wind and water that slowly breaks apart the rock, one pebble, stone or boulder at a time. This canyon is a delicate one and always in the process of changing. Even though I was only there a short time, it was not uncommon to see small pieces of rock dislodge themselves and roll downhill across the trail in front of me. Some trails were closed due to rock slides. Not only were the formations fascinating but the colors seemed to be amplified by the sun. There were various shades of reds and grays, alternating in their horizontal layers. The red colors come from the presence of Iron and other trace minerals. The grays appear from the limestone layers and from the absence of Iron. Iron being the heaviest of the elements, filters out of the rock more quickly than the others, taking with it its red color, of course over millions of years. There are also other elements like Manganese and Magnesium which contribute some hints of blues and greens. As I was walking out of the canyon, the sun hit the rocks in such a way that it turned some of them bright orange, almost as if they were somehow illuminated from the inside. There were more trails to hike and other observation platforms to see Bryce Canyon from, but even as spectacular as these formations were, it was my opinion that they are all just different variations of the same thing. I spent about six hours here and then decided to move on.

I pulled out some maps and planned on heading in the direction of Salt Lake City. Most of the drive was pretty uneventful. I passed through small town after even smaller town, all having the look of being stuck forty years in the past. I could see snow caps off in the distance. I was a bit tired and didn’t feel like driving the 260 miles all at once so I'm going to try to find a place to crash somewhere between Provo and Orem. The good thing is that many of the mountains are already almost completely covered in snow!

Tomorrow I’ll make it the rest of the way to Salt Lake City. I know of a place that serves great fish tacos! Someone from Barnes and Noble just said it was snowing outside so I went out for a look. Snow and fish tacos tomorrow, what could be better?