"It's a helluva place to lose a cow." So are the immortal words of Ebeneezer Bryce, a Mormon farmer/pioneer for whom Bryce Canyon is named. Last night's snow made for a nice contrast to the red walls of the canyon (technically speaking, it's actually an amphitheater, though the geological distinction escapes me). The roads to the park were a bit snowy and icy, and part of the main park road was closed, but not the interesting part. I'll go ahead and declare that this is the most incredible scenery I've ever seen. Sticking up everywhere are these red rocky towers called hoodoos that are just bizarre and gorgeous. We stopped at a couple overlook points and took a hike down to the amphitheater floor and back up to the rim.
Our trip to Bryce, despite its brilliance, took less time than expected, so we headed onto Zion National Park a couple of hours away. It looks a lot like Yosemite Valley, except the rocks are red. It's the most-visited national park in Utah, though I have to think that's because of location or something like that. While anywhere else in the US it would be the most spectacular thing going, of the Utah parks, I preferred Bryce, Arches and the Canyonlands. We took a couple hikes before settling in for the evening, carefully heeding the hotel owner's warning to eat before 8 since everything would close.
At this point, it is worth noting that in the past five days, Brad and I have visited 8 national parks and hiked 12 trails (including a couple excruciating ones). I'd be pretty happy not to move my lower body ever again. For such a short time, we've done an extensive survey of Colorado and Utah to add onto our earlier forays to these states. (Note about Utah hikers: they are ridiculously friendly and are almost all wearing Camelback water backpacks with straws sticking out of them, so they look really dorky). We have a bit of nature sensory overload, which we are hoping to counteract with neon sensory overload, starting tomorrow in Las Vegas.
-M
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