Bryce Canyon Pics

Beautiful lake bathed in the morning light



Bryce Canyon




Queens Garden Trail









Bryce Point



Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

The morning of the 14^th I got up early and started my short drive to Bryce Canyon.  Along the way I saw the most exquisite lake I have ever seen.  The crystal clear blue waters with the early morning sun bathing everything in its light was nearly breathtaking.  It was a wonderful way to start my day and a nice little treasure that I hadn’t expected to see.  I made it to Bryce Canyon pretty quickly after that and was excited to start my day of hiking.  It was a great day for hiking, with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine.  I parked at Sunrise Point and started on my way on the Queens Garden Trail.  About a minute into my hike it felt like I was transported into a different world.  There are hoodoos, which are pillars of rock left by erosion, everywhere you look, ranging in color from white, to coral to orange.  The winding path took you farther down into the canyon and through stone archways and all you could do was look up in amazement of what nature can do on its own.  The Queen’s Trail ran into the Navajo loop trail so I decided to hop on that and see what I could discover on that leg of my hike.  It turned out to be a wise decision on my part.   Near the end of the Navajo loop you came to a place where there was a warning that told you the area you were about to enter had the most incidents of falling rock in the whole park, but I figured I would just take my chances along with everyone else and check it out…..so glad I did.  You walked up some stairs and through kind of an archway/cave and once you were through, it felt once again like you were transported into another world.   You had to zigzag your way up to the top, and even though it was pretty hard and wore me out, it was my favorite part of my hiking I did all day.  The amazing views all around and the ambiance of it felt like you were taking a trek into and up to some ancient civilization or lost city that no one knew about.  It was an interesting feeling taking that hike up to the top.  I came out at Sunset Point and then took the Rim Trail back to Sunrise Point to rest for a little bit and eat some lunch.   From there I decided to take the rim trail all the way to Bryce Point and back which was a bit of a hike and took a lot out of me since it ended up being pretty warm that day.  My legs were begging me to stop and my camera battery was running low so I decided to get in my car and charge my battery while I drove for awhile.  I went to the farthest point you could drive to, which was Rainbow Point, and then stopped at every point on the way back and took pictures from each Point and elevation change.  My last stop there was at Bryce Point, which was probably my favorite stop.  It looks like there are cities and castles carved into the side of the canyons in white and coral marble.  You can almost imagine a small kingdom laid out in front of you.  You have this panoramic view of hoodoos and mountains and forest that seems like it goes on forever, and that flows together so naturally.  Bryce Canyon definitely ranks up very high on my list of places that I loved on my trip.  Can’t wait to go back and do some more hiking!

Northern Arizona/Zion National Park Pics

Northern Arizona scenery





Rock Houses



Zion National Park

Tunnel I drove through



You can see the window in the tunnel above



Northern Arizona and Zion National Park

The morning of Wednesday, July 13^th, I got up and was on my way headed to Utah.  I took interstate 17 all the way up to Flagstaff and then got onto highway 89 and then 89A all the way up to Utah.  I know when most people think of Arizona all they can picture is ugly deserts, but the further north you go the more beautiful things get.  It is a completely different landscape up north and just when you think you’ve seen the most amazing sight, another one comes along and proves you wrong.  The browns, reds, purples, and oranges all blend together to make an amazing tapestry of color that is the landscape all around you.  Mix that in with the blue sky above and it is definitely a sight to be seen in person.  Along my trek on 89A I came across many roadside stands selling all sorts of things.  I had been wanting a handmade vase ever since I saw the ones my aunt had at her house but had yet to find one I really liked.  I ended up stopping at a random place where some women were selling vases and jewelry and found the vase for me.  It wasn’t very big, but had bold colors of red,yellow, blue and orange on it and I knew instantly that I was going to buy it.  It also happened that the place I stopped had a bunch of old rock houses as far as the eye could see.  They were pretty cool to look at, but at the same time kinda creepy.  I was just waiting for some prehistoric caveman to jump out……or maybe just the Flinstones =)  Nonetheless it was interesting to see these houses that were carefully made out of rock that people used to live in.  I can’t imagine the amount of time it took just to make a small one.  From there I went the rest of the way up to Zion National Park.  I got there late afternoon/early evening so I didn’t get to actually go into the park.  I thought about camping and going the next day, but I wanted to get on my way so I just settled for driving around it and getting as many pictures as I could.  The rocks here were a lot different than anything else I saw on my trip.  I had been used to a lot of red rock and this was mostly white with bits of coral color mixed in. With the different mixture of color and texture it made it look like a lot of the rock had designs cut into them, which added another layer to the surroundings.  I got to drive through a very cool, yet kind of scary tunnel on my way around Zion.  It was pretty dark inside, but there were little windows carved into the rock every once in awhile that let some light in.  It was pretty cool to look up and see the rock windows once you were down below.  I definitely want to go back some time and go in the park.  The only bad thing, is that you can’t drive in the park itself, you have to park and ride a bus inside which seems like kind of a hassle.  From there I drove to up to Cedar City where I got some great pictures of a full moon shining brightly above the mountains, and camped out.  What a great way to end the day =)