September 11, 2007

September 11, 2007

Bryce National Park is high up on the Colorado Plateau. At almost 8000 feet altitude it is considerably cooler than Zion. Last night it was so cold we had to turn the furnace on. And it ran a lot.

This morning we are going to do a hike amongst the hoodoos. We drop down into the canyon along the Wall Street trail. Passing between the massive pillared walls feels like we are descending into a cave. Up close the statue-like hoodoos are now giants.

At the bottom we traverse over and hike the Peekaboo Loop. This 3-mile circle takes us up and down and around gorgeous views of the canyon interior. It is so much better than just looking down from above. The rocks look almost fake, like they were from a Disneyland ride. From Peekaboo we hike back up to the top along the easier and slightly less scenic Queens Garden trail. Altogether we think we hiked more than six miles. My legs are dying but the scenery was well worth the pain.