September 12, 2007

September 12, 2007

Bryce Canyon is really the highly and uniquely eroded side of a finger peninsula. In the late morning we drove the fifteen miles to the southern tip of this edge. Along the way we spotted a couple groups of wild turkeys grazing in the meadows. At the tip we do the very short Bristle Cone Loop trail for exercise. On the way back north we stop at all the vistas. The whole edge is full of colorful rocks but nowhere near as impressive as the main Bryce Amphitheater section we hiked yesterday.

The highlight of the day was a stop at the last vista where rangers had two telescopes trained on the sun. In one we could see solar flares shooting out from the sun. The ranger corrected me, saying these were only solar prominences; they weren’t large enough to be flares. In the second telescope we eyed a dark sunspot. The telescope viewing was an advertisement for tonight’s stargazing ranger program.

Back at the RV early I had a chance to take apart the “house” door. “Class C” RV’s, especially older ones, are rattletraps. For the last couple weeks though we had a new, particularly annoying, noise on bumpy roads. I finally pinned it down to coming from inside the door somewhere. I was thankful when I found an unconnected steel reinforcing bar. After stuffing tissue around it, we now have a “quieter” ride.