Bryce Canyon

Was a little reluctant to leave Zion. A beautiful spot and just such beautiful views out of the back of my hotel room. Including this little bird on the morning of departure. But there were more National parks to explore, and the next one was even better. A two hour drive to Bryce Canyon, and scenic drive too.

 What can one say about Bryce Canyon? Well the most famous quote is "A heck of a place to lose a cow," which is wonderful because of its understatement. It was in my view the most amazing place we visited in the whole trip. Just nothing quite like it. Truly awe inspiring. And despite the name, it isn't a canyon at all. It is just the side of a plateau.

What makes it so spectacular is a particular geological feature called a hoodoo. They are towers of sandstone left after erosion.

This was another park were one could use the shuttle bus to take one to the various trailheads.  Thibault had as ever worked out an itinerary for us, going down the side of the plateau, linking a few trails into a lop, including the charmingly named "Peek-a-boo loop" so called because you don't know what you will see around the corner, except that you know it will be spectacular.

Obviously very hot and for a fat bloke like me fairly hard work - going down is easy, up is tougher, but Thibault has a pretty good measure of me. We came across a few rangers strategically placed on the trails checking people had enough water and weren't in distress. A tiring day but not exhausting. Would gladly do it all again.

A lot of photos follow. Proceed, as it gets better and better ....

 You have to admit the view is stunning even in a photograph. Nothing compared to seeing it in person though.

 All those little red towers you see below are the hoodoos, forming natural amphitheatres. And down we went among them. Down and down.

 As you can see below, the path down winds through many switchbacks. In high 30s and of course I was trying to keep up with the youngsters while still taking a couple of hundred photos.

Impressed yet?

 So the path goes through an arch and there is an even more breathtaking amphitheatre on the other side. Although some folk were happy just to see a bit of shade!

And you have to admit that when I say breathtaking I am not exaggerating. Hard not to take photos, even when being goaded by Thibault to get a move on...

 As trailed earlier, now on the Peek-a-boo loop

 

And through the next doorway...

 ...if anything an even more sensational view.

 Don't look down...Nah, you just have to do so. And finally we had climbed back to the rim. From there we followed a rim trail.

You can see why these are described as amphitheatres...

Inspiration Point is well named, although it is all inspiring really.

Truly, truly an amazing day of hiking. At the end of which we stayed in Kanab. This is a very remote part of Utah. Bryce is utterly amazing but sufficiently remote that it doesn't get anywhere near the number of visitors that Zion and the Grand Canyon do. But it is so worth the effort. Should be on everyone's bucket list.

we stayed at Parry Lodge - the frontage is rather more attractive then the rooms behind, but cannot complain. A good place to stay.

 And we ate at a restaurant called Sego. Thibault's reastauarnt list described it as "selling itself as farm to table tapas style fine dining. Reviews suggest overpriced." No, this was one of the best meals we had. Very nice tapas style, but not Spanish tapas, but fusion of Eastern and Western. We went mainly for the Eastern, apart from the charcuterie starter. I did for once really feel I had earned my calorie intake. Delicious.