It was becoming clear that we were in some beautiful parts of the country. But as gorgeous as Zion National Park and the drive after had been, they still paled in comparison to the amazing scenery to be found at Bryce Canyon. Whereas almost everything that Bob and I had explored on our previous United States road trips had to do with American History and man-made ‘things’, this time we were enjoying the majesty of many God-made things with histories that dated back billions of years before America was even a twinkle in His eye. Even the Egyptian pyramids couldn’t have rivaled some of these sights.
Bob and I arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park at 9:45am on the morning of Sunday, March 27, 2011. Bob had been here before but was infinitely pleased with the beautiful addition of snow during this visit. Although the snow was on much of the ground and provided caps for the hoodoos, it really wasn’t very cold at all – but was mostly attributed to the high elevation (much higher than nearby Zion).
Entering the National Park
What’s this? You’ve never heard of hoodoos? Quite simply, they are pillars of rock that have been formed by erosion. Bryce Canyon – which isn’t really a canyon, but an amphitheatre created by the forces of time – is literally full of them, and creates an amazing natural palette for visitors to feast their eyes upon.
Bob and I started out in the Bryce Canyon National Park Visitor Center where we caught the film Bryce Canyon: Shadows of Time, which highlighted the scientific explanation for how the amphitheatre and hoodoos were formed, culminating in its settlement in 1874 and its designation as a National Park in 1923.
Traditions must be upheld in the Visitor Center museum
Bob feels the same way in the theater
Bob and I then spent the next 90 minutes driving through the Bryce Amphitheatre section of the park and stopping at the three major lookout points: Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, and Bryce Point. We opted to skip Inspiration Point. We attempted to see Paria View and Fairyland Point, but like much of the southern half of the park, these areas were closed due to the snowy weather.
The following are the photos that I took whist stopping at the three lookout areas. Admittedly, many of them look alike in photos and will seem redundant. But the tendency was to try and grab and capture as many of these spectacular views as possible, even though mere photos do not do justice to the majestic sights that can only be witnessed firsthand.
I climbed a little trail to get a bit higher at Sunrise Point
A bit lower at Sunrise Point
Bob and me at Sunrise Point
Moving on to Sunset Point, where even more hoodoos were visible
An amazing monolith which seems to be balancing a rock on top of it
A beautiful day on Sunset Point
A portion of the spectacular Bryce Amphitheatre
Bob and I fight our way through a group of Japanese tourists to get our picture on the fenced-in lookout platform
More amazingnesss at Sunset Point. We could have walked down a ways at this area.
Hanging out at Bryce Point – after watching a young tourist scale a wall of snow
Visitors from Japan check out the majesty of our country
Overlooking the amphitheatre from Bryce Point
Me and more incredible scenery at Bryce Point
We headed out of Bryce National Park at about 11:30am, heading west and slightly north toward the city of Escalante, Utah. Along the way, we found one interesting location known as Powell Point. You may have a hard time finding this on the map, but at least it is now there. This area was in fact the very last region of the United States to be considered ‘unchartered territory’. In 1872, John Wesley Powell began an expedition to explore and document it. After four years of exploration, he filled in the last blank spot on the U.S. map. In 1879, this spot was designated as Powell Point.
At Powell Point, overlooking the last unchartered region in the United States
We continued on to Escalante, a city which had a population of 818 as of the 2000 census. Bob and I were there to meet up with one of them.
The trip will continue…
Beautiful scenery. I’m sure your trip was amazing.
Mom
May 24th, 2011