Day 13: Bryce Canyon National Park
đBryce Canyon: The native people of this area are the Paiute Indians. It was believed that the strange red rock hoodoos that dominate Bryce Canyon were ‘Evil Legend People’ (To-when-an-ung-wa) who were turned to stone by the powerful Coyote spirit.
The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a Canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the paunsaugunt plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce Canyon National Park is much smaller, and sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m).
An early morning rise, up and at âem for a hike before the heat hit and crowds arrive. The temp this morning was a crisp 48 F degrees, so we dressed in layers. The air was thick this morning and the sun was already showing signs of being a hazy âfire sunâ.
No lines at the Bryce entrance this early in the morning, thankfully, and we headed to the Navajo Loop Trailhead. You can start this hike from either the Sunrise or Sunset overlooks, but we chose the Sunset parking lot. We heard a ranger say that the smoke in the air is from the California fires. Ugh!
This loop starts at an elevation of 8,000 feet, and you gradually make your way down into the canyon. We decided to take the many switchbacks and enter through Wall Street, which is off the Navajo Loop Trailhead, but we wanted to see it.
Side Note: When Ken and I came here 5 years ago, we wanted so badly to do this hike, Ken went down the trail, less than a 1/4 mile and was slipping so much, he decided to come back up. I didnât even attempt it. Fast forward 5 years and we were both ready to conquer this trail!
As we made our way down into Wall Street, my anxiety level started to go up because it gets a bit claustrophobic once you get down to the bottom; they call it Wall Street for a reason. We disappeared into the rock wall crevasse and headed out the other side and down into the valley where the trail leveled off.
We meandered along the well maintained trail, with easy signs for navigating our way around the loop. There are small off-shoots from the trail, such as Natural Bridges and The Queens Garden. We walked amongst the hoodoos, which tower above you. This is a truly amazing hiking experience.
Note: Bring proper hiking shoes though and plenty of water. We saw people slipping and sliding in flip flops and regular tennis shoes; having shoes with a good grip is highly recommended. You donât want to go sliding off the cliff. This is just my own personal opinion. And bring water!
This hike took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete. Make sure you plan extra time for photo taking, because there are so many amazing views along the way. We eventually made it back up to the top and then walked along the canyon rim back to the Sunset Parking Lot.
We Made It! We Did It! Woohoo!!
By this time it was a nice 78 F degrees (such relief from the previous temps weâve been experiencing).
We usually never eat breakfast before we head out on a morning hike, so we are usually pretty hungry afterwards. Finding decent places to eat around here had been a bit tough. There are many restaurants, but not many have very good reviews. Today we found a gem, the Bryce Canyon Pines Restaurant; known for homemade pies. The waits are crazy long everywhere (probably due to the holiday), so we asked if we could sit at the bar, and just have pie. This is when we met Chantelle. She lives in Las Vegas (but grew up in West Hollywood) and comes up to Bryce to help open and close down the restaurant for the season. Apparently they arenât supposed to serve people at the bar, but she let us sit there, and we bypassed the hour long wait. We ordered coffee and pie (banana blueberry for me and chocolate creme for Ken) and chatted with Chantelle for a awhile. Sheâs a hoot! She thanked us for being fun, and we thanked her for feeding us pie! The homemade pie here is incredible, so just come for the pie (no clue if the food is good, we didnât need any after eating pie).
Life is short, eat dessert first! Haha! Fat and happy, we headed back to Bryce Canyon National Park to hike off the pie!
Our next hike was the Bristlecone Loop. This loop starts at 9,070 feet in elevation, and you can feel it. The temps had warmed up to 82 F degrees, but still manageable. The beauty about being up this high is the breeze that blows through; it was heavenly!
We followed the fairly level hike around all of the Bristlecone trees, enjoyed the vistas and we may have even seen a rare California Condor. We arenât 100% sure, so I did some research when we got back to the hotel and based on the grainy photo I took, and the tail shape, and size, Iâm convinced it was a condor; letâs go with that. Once on the brink of extinction, the condor is starting to make a come back; however still only about 400 known wild California Condors are in existence.
We made one last stop along the scenic drive at the Natural Bridge for a photo. Exhausted, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed dinner and enjoyed an evening writing, watching TV and relaxing!!
âIn every walk with nature, one receives far more than he/she seeks.â -John Muir
Thank you again for following along!
Byrds On A Wire 