We had a couple of days to explore the Bryce Canyon National Park area. On our first day, the forecast indicated we would have a nice morning and a stormy afternoon. We spent the morning hiking in Red Canyon, which is part of Dixie National Forest west of the park, and the afternoon driving to all the view points in Bryce and jumping out long enough to take photos. The terrible weather did keep down the crowds.
We were pleasantly surprised by Red Canyon. The scenery here is as lovely as anything in Bryce NP. We hiked a loop trail connecting Golden Wall and Buckhorn Canyon. We also had the place almost to ourselves.
Red Canyon
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| The Golden Wall |
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| And the visitor center has a Smoky Bear |
Bryce National Park
Some views from the overlooks.
We spent our next day with beautiful weather hiking the Fairyland Loop in Bryce. We started very early and were able to get a parking space. By the time we returned the illegally parked cars were ticketed, and the constant stream of buses were disgorging mostly Chinese tourists. Fairyland is lovely, the nearly constant helicopter overflights and crowds, not so much.
So, what are the above photos by some sort of marker? Bryce has a program where if you do the hikes and take your photo by three of these hoodoo markers, they will give you a sticker (see above middle). I also did the Junior Ranger program, so I got extra stuff. Fairyland loop had two markers, our third was the previous day in the rain to Mossy Cave. Doesn't Bob look like he is enjoying the rain?
