September 23 - Bryce Canyon National Park

I woke up early, had a delicious, too big breakfast, and headed to Bryce Canyon National Park. As I headed out of town I could see that there was snow on the mountain tops and a few small areas where it had stuck to the ground in areas that had not yet seen the sun.

I drove through Red Canyon which I would like to revisit. I am always drawn to the red canyons, especially if blended like the brick red and grayish green areas found in northern New Mexico.

Bryce Canyon is known for being the largest collection of Hoodoos (odd-shaped pillars of rock left standing from the forces of erosion) in the world. Pictures do not do it justice.

One of the first areas I came to, I decided to take a hike and as I often do, or should I say don't, I didn't bother to look at the guide map for the park so I had no idea how long this trail was. Four hours later, I returned to my car. It was an awesome hike, I was totally prepared with water, food, etc. but I'm not going to lie. It kicked my ass. Living about 5' above sea level does not help when you are hiking about 8500' sea level. Still, it was totally worth it.

So I drove around the rest of the park and saw some awesome things like the Natural Bridge, but that was the end of the hiking for the day.



On to Zion.