Hey Actifitters,
The next stop on our mostly hiking trip was Bryce Canyon National Park yesterday. One of the main differences for this park is the altitude, with an average around 8000 feet, or 2400m. That is why when we went very early (even with our hotel just minutes from the park entrance, we still had to get up quite early, not a fan!) to catch the sunrise, it was freezing! But even if I didn't like cold weather (you know I do!), the view would have been well worth it anyways. It's not intuitive but Sunrise Point might not the best for sunrise. According to many people, Sunset Point is better! And that's what we chose. This was our very first views in the park:
I think this park is not my favorite out of the ones I know in the same area, but the first impression when you get there is always 'wow'. So different!
The sun started to slowly appear.
Until it was all there, accentuating the natural colors of these hoodoos, the weird things you see in the canyon.
A few hours later, we came back to the very same spot to start our main hike for the day: the Figure 8 Combination, which is simply a combination of 3 shorter hikes (Queen's Garden, Navajo Loop, Peekaboo Loop)
You really get in the middle of the hoodoos with these under the rim hikes.
At some point, you start imagining things and see shapes in the hoodoos. This one is not obvious but I can see maybe a turtle head.
On this one, what do you think? Alligator head and a skull?
For this one, they help you, as it is called Queen Victoria.
And you get lot more oddities along the way. I have once again hundred of photos, and it was very tough selecting this sample.
I was very happy to find snow too.
It'd be very cool to hike there in winter. But I'm not complaining, so many great views!
We quickly stopped at the 2 bridges.
Then it was time to climb back up to the rim. Pretty steep in the end, with large switchbacks.
After a short shuttle ride, we started another hike from Bryce Point. This was a much shorter one, just about 2mile round trip. It was interesting to see a very distinct change in the colors: grey/white near the top, and red below.
And more snow, yay!!
Even for a shorter hike, it also packs a lot of hoodoos views.
And finally we rode the shuttle to Inspiration Point, another iconic location in that park. No need to hike for this one, it's visible from the rim.
And that was it for our time in Bryce Canyon, one main hike and plenty of shorter ones, with awesome views of the hoodoos, both from the rim and from under the rim. We had a long drive to reach our next destination, the Grand Canyon South Rim. So we decided to split it into two parts, with a break in Horseshoe Bend. For people in the US who have U-Verse TV, you know the place, it's probably often on your screen. Once you get there, it's a short walk to admire it. I wouldn't recommend a detour to check it out, but if it's on your way and you have maybe an hour to kill, it's perfect. We were a bit early for sunset and the sun light was still very bright making it very difficult to snap a good picture. These are some of the best ones.
Another awesome day spent in yet another US National Parks. They're all different but all fantastic! Like I mentioned, next one will be the Grand Canyon National Park.
As always, thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow.
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