We decided to watch the sunrise at a place aptly named Sunrise Point in Bryce Canyon National Park. To pull this off, we arose by 5:10 AM and headed to a cold and breezy Bryce Canyon. We were there in plenty of time as the clouds in the eastern sky prolonged the event. When the sun finally rose above the clouds, we noticed that everyone on the overlook had their back to us. It was then we realized the radiant red glow eminating from the rock formations BEHIND us! When you experience a sun rise at Bryce, you not only get the conventional rising of the sun but you are treated to the mountains awakening to their natural red colors.
We had a deer encounter in the parking lot at Sunrise Point. The deer wanted to join her family and I was in the way!
Our next adventure involved a 320 foot, 1 mile, moderate descent into the canyon via the Queens Garden Trail from the 8000 foot elevation of Sunrise Point. The rock formations here resembled giant figures or chess pieces. We did numerous switchbacks on the hard packed dry dirt trail. At the bottom, we were able to look up at the centerpiece of the rocks to a likeness of a queen in full regalia. Thus the name of the trail. Since it was still only a little after 7:00 AM when we began our hike, we had the descent trail to ourselves which was a luxury in a park as popular as Bryce Canyon. Again, we shot several photos as the scenery constantly impelled us to try to capture the view.
After our hike, we visited the lodge and had breakfast. The lodge was historic and modestly quaint. We drove out to Rainbow Point at the far end of the park. There was more white in the rock at the southern end. We retraced our route with the addition of a couple overlooks. We experienced thunder snow as we pulled into the Ponderosa Canyon overlook. Afterwards, we continued to the Paria View overlook. All of these provided a different view of the mountains and foliage. In consideration of the weather and the fact that we had seen most of the park, we left Bryce Canyon and headed west on Utah Route 12. Again, we had that feeling that our hike had been an incredible experience and each new exploration seemed to rival or at least offer something new from those that preceded it…
We arrived in Zion National Park in a little over an hour. We entered the park by driving Route 9, which crosses the park from east to southwest. There are vast sections of the park that are only accessible by ATV or foot. We found Zion to be different once again. The improved public areas of Zion are dominated by two main canyons - each spectacular in their own right. The initial canyon involved a lot of vertical change and switchbacks, lots of people and limited space to pull off the road. Still, the views were impressive and it was hard to keep eyes on the road while driving.
The other canyon, (Zion Canyon) is only accessible by park shuttle - which we also did. This drive along the floor of Zion Canyon runs at the very bottom along the Virgin River. It was more relaxed as it wound through more trees and grasslands. Leaving the driving to the bus driver did not hurt either… The rain continued to fall and this influenced our decision to ride the shuttle as opposed to hiking. Photo taking was limited due to the weather. We spotted rock climbers half way up a sheer rock face that dwarfed Wall Street from Moab. Our bus driver was also a lot of fun. She reminded us of Melissa McCarthy.
Route 9 took us all the way to Hurricane. This would be our address while in the Zion area. We checked in, explored the town, had dinner, and returned to our room. Since we allotted more time for Zion, we will provide more detail on our exploration of this beautiful park in our post tomorrow. Until then, take care all!
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