Pull up a chair and play.
When I got to Bryce Canyon I quickly realized that this was a park best seen by foot and that it was the most stunning landscape I have ever witnessed. This one is going to be picture heavy folks but take your time. It will be worth it. The trails are amazing. They are cut right into the soft rock. The hoodoos that you see in these pictures are formed out of the ancient seabeds by several processes. First the seabed was pushed up by the Pacific plate running up under the North American plate and thrusting them thousands of feet into the air. The erosion occurs primarily by freeze thaw damage which forms fins and later arches which later collapse and leave the hoodoos or towers. The soft roundnesses are formed by rains which also wash away the debris from the freeze thaw damage. The area gets approximately 200 freeze thaw cycles per year and it is though that as the climate changes this number will be reduced significantly and the result will be that the hoodoos will be shorter and squattier as the rain erosion becomes more dominant.
After taking one hike into the canyon, I went and grabbed a camp site and decided to go looking for my buddies but only Zack made it this far so after we got set up, he and I took a sunset hike back into a different part of the canyon. The colors were magnificent.
These trails are way cool and the late day light made for some great shots. Earlier in the day these shots would have been blown out by bright sunlight. The switchbacks go on and on. down to the bottom of the canyon.
This little guy is only as wide as the trail. I would not want to be the guy that operates it next to the sheer drop offs.
Zack was pretty blown away by this and had he stayed on his bike he would have never known that this existed just a few hundred feet from the roadway.
Dawn broke cold and windy. This little guy was in our campsite. With a temperature of 30 degrees and a strong north wind, Zack decided delay his ride and join me for another hike in the canyons, out of the wind and with the warm sun on our face. As soon as we were below the canyon rim, I shed my coat and was comfortable in a thin long sleeved shirt. The hike was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed Zack's company. This is Bryce Canyon round two. The first shots are what can be seen from the many overlooks along the eighteen mile park road that heads south along the western rim of the canyon. Almost none of it can be seen from the roadway.
The rest of the pictures are what can be seen if you venture down into the canyons along the hiking trails.
The wind channeled through this slit in the rock and was easily sustained at 45 mph.
Zack and I said goodbye to the canyon and each other and continued our journeys. We said goodbye at 1pm and 20 minutes later I passed Nick and Daniel on the road. They had spent the morning getting to where Zack was the night before but missed out on the experiences we had in the Canyons. That is the sad fact about fully loaded touring. Often you miss the best parts as you ride by unaware and focused on the night's destination. It is a pretty good analogy on life in general. I wish my touring buddies all the best and hope to meet up with them again in the future. In the meantime it is on to Las Vegas by way of Zion National Park. There won't be time to linger this time through as I have people waiting for me but plan to return to do the famous Narrows hike at a later date.
