The drive from Zion to Bryce could
have only been 84 miles if we could have driven Suni through the crazy tunnel
we talked about, but as it is only 11’ tall and we are slightly over 13’ tall
we opted for the long way around which still wasn’t very long. We did travel on UT 14 over the mountains -
very mountainous and windy, but really beautiful. We
went from the red desert of Zion to the pine and aspen forests with the fall
colors starting to pop. We arrived at
Ruby’s Inn and RV Park in no time at all just outside the Bryce Canyon NP
entrance gate. Our campsite is a perfect
pull-thru right next to a large open area perfect for the dogs. Temperature change was crazy… it went from
the high 80’s in Zion to the low 40’s during the day.
The aspen's are turning yellow
We used our first day to hit the
visitor center and drive the scenic drive through the length of the park. I don’t think I have mentioned before, but we
have been collecting t-shirts all along our travels. They are perfect souvenirs since that is just
about all we wear anyway. The
visitor center had a shirt that shows the “Famous Five Extreme Hikes of the
Colorado Plateau” the first of which is Angel’s Landing in Zion! The second is the Navajo Loop in Bryce
Canyon. Since we had already completed
Angel’s Landing and we were continuing on to the other parks listed we decided
to get the shirt and go for it. The
drive was a beautiful 18 miles with viewpoints all along the way to see the hoodoo’s
the park is famous for. We also saw a
field of Utah Prairie Dogs which are larger and lighter in color and are only
found in this area of the country.
Billions of tons of ground rock moved out of Bryce Canyon and into the Colorado River, amphitheaters of "hoodoos" emerged from the limestone.
Paiutes, who lived here when white settlers came to southern Utah said the hoodoos were the ruins of a great city and the rock chimneys represented its evil inhabitants turned to stone by Coyote's.
In the foreground is a "fin" a tall, thin ridge that erodes into the pinnacles and spires called hoodoos.
Naturally acidic rainwater dissolves limestone, making the rounded edges of hoodoos
Here you can see the fins that have eroded into hoodoos.
Hoodoo Basin
Freezing and thawing of water does most of the sculpting of hoodoos
The lower pink layer formed when the sediment was in a marsh like environment where plant roots helped oxidize iron giving that red color we are used to seeing. The white layers formed when the marsh setting became salty and only algal like creatures survived, they enriched limestone with magnesium to create dolostone.
Here behind the fin in a monolith hoodoo with a dolostone cap. The dolstone cap is very resistant to weathering. The stronger rock layers make the bulging parts, while weaker ones recess.
The second step in hoodoo formation begins when frost-wedging cracks the fins, making holes called windows. When windows collapse they create the pinnacle called a hoodoo.
Here the white color is due to a process called "bleaching". The limestone lost its red color due to water and natural gas flowing through the rock and dissolving the iron.
The uplift of the Colorado Plateau began 15 million years ago. About 8 million ago the Bryce Canyon area broke off this uplift and was named Paunsaugunt Plateau.
Cute little guys. An endangered species and limited to the southwestern quarter of Utah
Our next day was set aside for the
big hike. The most popular hike in the
canyon is a combination of the Navajo Loop, Queens Garden and a portion of the
Rim Trail for a total of three miles.
The hike starts at the top of the canyon along the rim with fantastic
views of the canyon and beyond; then winds down into the Bryce Amphitheater up
close and personal with all of the formations; and finishes with a
thigh-bursting climb up an area known as Wall Street. I should say it was thigh-bursting for me – Peg's legs were fine, but she did struggle with the effects of the altitude. It was a
great hike!
You can tell by the hat and sweater it was cold.
The start of Wall Street a labyrinth of hoodoos which brings to mind what the first settler Ebenezer Bryce said about the canyon named in his honor..."a hell of a place to lose a cow"
Hoo Doo's up close and personal
The end is way up there
More switchbacks!
Feeling like we had done Bryce
Canyon justice we used our last day to take a bike ride through the Red Canyon
area of the Dixie National Forest. We
chose a fifteen mile loop that sounded like fun and was partially on a paved
bike trail and partially on a gravel mountain bike trail. Peg was raring to go as she has been riding
daily for over a month now… I on the other hand have been enjoying sloth-land so I
was a little apprehensive. The first 8
miles were entirely up-hill and we were on the easy part. I begged Peg to let us turn around and she
sadly agreed. We rode about an hour uphill and it took 15 minutes to get back to the truck. The ride back was
awesome! I love a good down-hill. Unfortunately I made us turn around just a
little too early…. What I didn’t know was we were just two hills away from the turn
into the mountain bike section through the woods. Darn it… that will teach me a lesson. It was still a nice ride through the canyon.
A monolith. Water running over surfaces removes the softer layers below hard cap rock to form monoliths.
Differential erosion. Water erodes rock mechanically and chemically. The erosional rate varies due to the rocks strength. Weak and fractured rocks erode faster forming the layers seen above.
Bike path thru the canyon!
What a view! I took this picture while on that awesome downhill ride on my bike. I was surprised it came out given my extreme speed! :)
We awoke the next morning to a
frozen water hose and ice on the ground!
I guess the snow is coming.
Coming soon… Moab, UT for Arches
and Canyonland NP’s and then onto Colorado. 
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