Day 17 - Dixie National Forest - Bryce Part 1

After back to back stargazing nights (on nearly the longest day of the year and on the very Western edge of a time zone), we all slept in.  It felt great, but we were concerned about what it meant for beating the crowds into Bryce.  As it turns out, we were right to be concerned, after over two weeks, the crowds of the National Parks had caught up to us.  We pulled into the first area we wanted to see (Sunset Point) and there wasn’t a spot available.  So, we leaned hard into the ranger recommendations for where to go that others wouldn’t go and started up the scenic road.  



It turned out that this recommendation was terrific and we were able to stop and get away from others for at least a bit at each stop along the way.  And, despite the crowds not coming, there still were some amazing views of the canyons.  The one thing we did find up the scenic drive was the WIND!  It was a consistent 20+ mph wind and it just seemed to rip up the valley and over the sides of the walls.  Not sure how a wind out of the south kept the place cool, but it also left all of us glad to have our sweatshirts!


After exploring the scenic drive, we headed back to camp for what felt like some much needed downtime.  We enjoyed a casual lunch and then just relaxed for a while to let the heat of the day pass a bit and let that wind settle down.  I’m not sure we succeeded on either front, but regardless we headed back into the park to ride the shuttle so we could see the sights we had missed this morning with the crowds present.


While we had planned to ride the shuttle the full way through the park, I pulled a fast one on my family and asked them to hike down into the amphitheater with me.  I thought that this was the memory from my childhood and I wanted to see if I could find the trees that seemed to grow out of nothing between the hoodoos.  As we went down the 29 switchbacks of “Wall Street” (we were so glad to be going down, not up - it’s STEEP), it was clear that this was the spot I remembered.  This hike seems to be unlike any other.  It’s down in the bottom of the canyon, but instead of solid walls, there’s hoodoos and windows all around.  It was so scenic, even if the hike back out of the amphitheater was a bit strenuous - especially after back to back stargazing nights.


For me, Bryce is unlike the other canyon parks.  It feels like it’s still a canyon in development and the hoodoos of the park really just make it seem like a foreign landscape.  It’s my favorite of the Utah parks, though I will admit there may be some nostalgia in there.  When my family visited when I was roughly Sebastian and Robinson’s age, Bryce was the one place I could remember - possibly because it was just so unique?  Whatever the reason, it felt great to be back in the park and have the opportunity to show the boys.












After we got back to the top, we got back on the shuttle, found Rover, and headed back to camp.  There we had another fairly relaxing evening with another fire before all falling asleep before the stars could come out.


Thank you Bryce Canyon for a great scenic day.


Total miles travelled - 3,828

# States (Provinces) - 10

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 2 - 2025 East Coast Adventure - Dolphins and a Water Park in a State Park

Image
 7/19 - Chesapeake, VA to Killens Pond, DE Well the anticipated storm as we went to bed arrived and dumped LOTS of rain on us.  AS such, we had a damp start to morning. Amy woke early and had gone out for coffee (I forgot to pack ground coffee - first discovered mistake) and gas us up. She encountered lots of closed stores that early, but persistence paid off.  We enjoyed bagels for breakfast and then boys explored park while Amy and I packed up trailer. We had a long drive day so we didn't linger.    After a minor detour, we found the route to the bridge tunnel highway. After a quick inspection "are your propane tanks closed?", we were onto the bridge/tunnel.  As our first surprise of the trip, before we reached the first tunnel section, we saw 30-40 dolphins in the water!  Unfortunately, only Sebastian and I got to see them before we drove past.  However, we all got to see many kayakers/boats enjoying their Saturday on Chesapeake Bay. We enjoyed...
Read more

Thoughts after a month back home

Image
It's been a month since I got home.  I wanted to put some notes of reflection on record, but I also wanted to have a chance to re-connect with the normal world before I did.  30 days feels like a good number of days to have the perspective to come to some conclusions on the trip and life in general.  So, here goes. Main notes from the trip     - The USA has a LOT to see in it.  As a family we only entered ten states and really only entered two of them (Idaho and Arizona) in passing on the highway.  We spent almost eight weeks in these eight states and saw snow capped mountains, farmlands, deserts, canyons, rivers, waterfalls, rain forests, sandy beaches, rocky coasts, and volcanoes.  There are many countries that can't offer half of this list.      - Despite having nine weeks to do all the exploring we did, it felt rushed.  We covered almost 7,500 miles in those nine weeks so there's a reason it felt rushed, but when I left, of...
Read more

Day 20 - 2025 East Coast Adventure - ANOTHER State Park Pool!

Image
8/6 - Chenango Valley State Park, NY to Little Buffalo State Park, PA We woke up to cool dry air this morning after an amazingly quiet night (especially considering camp has over 100 sites).  We all started our day with oatmeal.   Today was planned as a bit of a casual transition day - we didn't expect much of the day other than to get us to Little Buffalo State Park which would serve as our launching point for tomorrow's big day.  As such, we packed up and got on the road. Because we had yet to find a good maple donut, we continued our search and planned for a stop at Manni's in Binghamton.  Unfortunately, in all my driving, I had gotten lax with my attentiveness and failed to notice the combination of narrow roads and high curbs that Binghamton offers.  As such, I made my left hand turn a bit sharp and took out curb with the Pathfinder.  Before I could react and stop, I looked in mirror and watched as the trailer went airborne with its own bump off t...
Read more