Bryce Canyon National Park

5/21/2012 Bryce Canyon - Sunset Campground - The burning sun is low in the sky now, and we sit shaded by the awning, and looking out at the manzanita and Ponderosa Pine forest which surrounds us.  At 8,300 feet, the air is clear, and the breeze is cool, but we are clearly still below tree line.  We have spent the afternoon hiking the Bryce Canyon Rim trail, from north towards south - the preferred direction since it is generally downhill.  The park runs a free shuttle bus which allowed us to leave our car happily waiting for us at the campsite while we took advantage of this shuttled hike.  Our reward, an ice cream treat once we reached the camp store, at Sunrise point. Don't count on much here besides cold beverages, the usual park trinkets, and a good selection of ice cream bars.  From the Rim you can see south all the way to Escalante - Grand Staircase National Park, and the Kap Ridge, set aside by the Clinton Administration, to the chagrin of local ranchers and miners.  There is still debate about the issue at the local watering holes.   The vista over the Bryce amphitheater with it's thousands of fanciful HooDoos standing at attention  - giving witness to the astonishing splendor of this lightening savaged high Colorado Plateau, so aged now by erosion is truly astonishing.  There is some speculation, that with global warming, and a reduction in the freeze/thaw cycles leading to increased precipitation as rain, these hoodoos will begin to be more rapidly eroded as the capstone layers dissolve more quickly than in any recent geological period.  But, for now, we imagine dwarfs and elfs, and apostles, and cathedrals, and all manner of other creatures, all standing side by side with the mighty red layered  columns.

From 2012 Spring trip

From 2012 Spring trip

From 2012 Spring trip

From 2012 Spring trip

From 2012 Spring trip

From 2012 Spring trip

From 2012 Spring trip