We drove to Bryce from our Zion RV park. We went through the crazy low tunnel 5 or 6 times this trip. Sometimes you have to wait for a tall vehicle…they have to travel through the middle of both lanes. So that was interesting, in and of itself.
The first day we went to Bryce was great. It is such a spectacular park with the hoodoos everywhere! We were glad to see we did not have to take a shuttle so started driving up the road, going from viewpoint to viewpoint. It was weird when we got to the Bryce Canyon overlook and there was a tour bus… ok except for this one guy from New Jersey showing the views to his daughter back home. And talking and talking on the phone. You feel like you are in the middle of nowhere but there was enough reception for a video call. Arg…
We walked a little on the Sunrise Viewpoint trail but it quickly became evident that we were moving away from the hoodoos. Then Dave wanted to sneak down a closed path to get closer but … um..no. So we continued all the way to the top by car. Lil’ TG did great at the high altitudes. We saw some Peregrine Falcons but not much else by way of animals. Lots of Homo sapiens though. Ugh!
Then we decided (after noon) to take the trail to the bottom to see the Queen’s garden. Over 350’ down and very steep. And gravelly . And cliffs on one side. Did I mention steep and rocky? And quite hot? Not at all a great combination for me. We made it to the bottom but I was pretty close to a meltdown when Dave remembered we hadn’t stopped for lunch either. Food – peanut butter sandwiches and fruit snacks- yum. And the hangries mostly went away. I was not overly impressed with the rock formation but it was what it is. So then we head back up. And up. And more switchbacks to go up. And it has cliffs, narrow trail, rocks, gravel and all of my favorite things. NOT! But we did survive. And then worst of all…I forgot to pack the “after hike” Oreos!!! Luckily, there was a store there and they carried Oreos. Saved!
As we went back to Zion, we were noticing all these tiny towns. With LDS wards. A town of less than 200 still had a ward. Looks the same but just half sized. Some towns were quite cute. Others, not so much. We found this 1940s- 50s diner, called the Thunderbird, and decided to stop for dinner. It was good (fish and chips for me – surprise there) and we were so glad we stopped. On the way back to the campground in Zion NP, we found Bighorn sheep! About 25 and close to the road. Dave took so many pictures and I was happy to just watch them interact. I think we were there for at least an hour until it was too dark to take any more pictures. Another animal checked off the list!
Unfortunately, the next day we found that Dave lost probably close to thousand of the pictures off the memory card. He was so sad and angry. All of the Zion pictures he hadn’t uploaded for me to use and all the Bryce Canyon pictures. And the Bighorn! So we went to Kolob Canyon for that day (it is part of Zion) and then back to Bryce. I had to give my knees a break. We’d had 2 days over 7 miles hard hiking. And then back to Bryce to take some more pictures.
And I was happy that we went back- Prairie Dogs!! We watched those for a while and then went on the tour up the canyon again. And we went back down to see the Queen and I felt pretty good. So we added the Navajo loop and “Wall street” to the hike. That made it over 5 miles and 550 feet or so deep. But the Wall Street section was my favorite. Although again I thought we might die and there are cliffs and narrow trails, and a pretty narrow chasm you have to traverse! And so many switchbacks coming back up. This time I remembered the Oreos so that does help.
We decided to stop and the Thunderbird for dinner again, and again there were Bighorn when we got back into Zion. So Dave got more, probably better, pictures since it was earlier. And we stayed until dark again. This was a smaller group and we did see 2 rams “fighting” as one of the ewes seemed to be coming into estrus. Not big fancy slamming of horns though- just a little shoving and eyeballing each other. And then one ram walked away. So cool….
My knees did remind me a couple times the next day that the hike through Bryce was going to be the last for awhile. I even wore out my hiking boots! So we headed back to see the Stansbury Park crew for a couple of days. Driving through Utah is weird….so borrrrring followed by amazing, and then boring again. No one should be complaining about driving to So Cal down Highway 5. That at least changes. Utah is very monotonous.
Until next time…gratitude for what I have been given in my life. And remembering perspective….we are pretty minor in the bigger picture of life!!
