Text 3>: Bryce Canyon National Park

XC_text_3.doc
Fri 21 Sep 2007
Near Bryce Canyon National Park

For two weeks now, nearly every day has been better than the day before.

Grand Canyon was grand.Zion was Zowie!
Bryce is HOLY SHIT !!!

Can’t imagine what Yellowstone will be.

We took our time coming over here from Zion,figuring on checking in early,
casing the joint,and doing some hiking tomorrow.

The drive over was, again, stunningly scenic andvery low traffic.
Top down cruising, nice roads,majestic scenic vistas.

We arrived with a prediction of rain for tomorrow,so we decided to get into it some today.
The shuttle bus system here is not as well developedas at Zion,
but the visitor load seems to be a lot less.

We used the shuttle to return to the car after a rim trail hike.
Still had a few hours of light, and it looked like thethreatened thunderstorms would hold off,
so we embarkedon a hike down into the vertical scenery.
AND WE MEAN VERTICAL!

This was the most awesome trail we have EVER been on.
I was somewhat spooked and hesitant to proceed,
but Rosemary forged ahead and down we went…
Down, down, down, down, more down.
Down 550 feet in about 0.5 miles.
Tight little switchbacks diving down throughnarrow slots in the rocks.
Breathstopping dropoffs.
Awesome scenery… and we were *inside* it !

Connected to a much easier trail to come back up;
320 feet in 1.8 miles. Still scary in spots, but nothing like the trail down.

This scenery changes dramatically with every step you take.

Staying tonight in Tropic, a small town about 7 milesoutside the park.
Got what seems to be nearly the last motel room in town,
gave up on the line at what seems to be the only full-service restaurant,
and instead waited about a half hour for subs-to-go at the pizza restaurant;
they were so busy they were just getting silly.
Going back to Bryce tomorrow,rain or shine (90% chance of rain).


There is nothing else on earth like this place.

Sat 9/22/07
Woke up to intermittent sprinkles.

Only place to eat in town was jammed,
so we made do with coffee from the motel office,and Granola bars.

Drove back to the Park and all the way to the south end, Rainbow Point.
Quite cold and windy but no real rain (yet).
We did a nice 1-mile loop hike, saw even more spectacular sights.
Then on the way back North we stopped at almost everylookout point.
We ate a big lunch at Ruby’s Inn just outsidethe National Park.
This place has been in operation, under the same family ownership, since 1916.
They were the very first tourist accommodation in the Bryce canyon area.
After lunch it was raining quite hard and steady,
but we still stopped at the Fairyland scenic point…
again a dramatically different view, this time a closer and lower look at (we think) an area we had seen from aboveand commented on its “fairy castle” appearance.

We have not met many people from New England.
A waitress at the Lodge at the North Rim
of the Grand Canyon was from Middleboro MA.
When she was twelve her parents brought her to the
Canyon for vacation and she liked it so she came back.
Today we met a couple from Sherborn, MA and a motorcyclist from South Berwick, ME.
It does seems that there are quite a few international visitors too.
I met a women in the Laundromat from Germany who was on a holiday
with her husband and son. They flew to Las Vegas and were touring the same parks we are. They have been here three weeks.

We are now in Torrey Utah, at the end of UT Route 12.
Rosemary drove most of this stretch (Dan was sleepyfrom being too full of food),
so she got to experience some real mountain driving with hairpin turns,10% grades,
and thou-shalt-not-miss curves,with rain and fog; fortunately, not at night.
At one point there were drops off both sides of road without any guard rails! What a thrill!

We did get a fortuitous break in the rain at one reallyimpressive outlook stop
within the Grand Staircase-EscalanteNational Monument.

We’re now roughly 200 miles south of Salt Lake City.

=======