5/17/08 Bryce Canyon Revisited

We are back in Hoodoo country (the name of the spires seen above). We lucked out with a great geology talk from an unlikely source -- a ranger who was into to birding and his last job was as a graphics guy with an expertise in Photoshop. He gave a great talk on the development of all the great spots (Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Glen Canyon, Grand Canyon, Escalante, etc.)

We then went down the part of the Navajo loop trail that had been blocked last year by the collapse of one of the hoodoo's into the trail. As you may be able to see, this trail is straight down into the canyon!


When finally at the bottom, one is impressed with the enormity of these structures that seem to be slowly melting away.




It is amazing to get down to the floor and find large trees growing in between these towering hoodoo giants.



The trip down took about 15 minutes. The trip back up the trail took about 45 minutes. You can see how steep this was with the many switchbacks.



Alexa ponders the trip up while I catch my breath while pretending to be just interested in getting a good shot of the trail.


Tomorrow we head for the nearby Red Rock Canyon. If lucky, we will camp there. After that it is home --- through the road to Cedar Breaks (but Cedar Breaks is closed because of snow), then Cedar City, Las Vegas, and San Luis Obispo. We dread the trip across the desert as it will be 106 degrees, but fortunately we got the a/c repaired in Colorado Springs. We should be home by Thursday or Friday.