We're camping at a KOA in a tiny village called Cannonville in our new backpacking tent. I can actually sit up in this tent! It's only 8:30, but pitch black, so we won't be wandering around much. The tent site is in a lovely location, though the bathrooms are far away. Not great for those of us over sixty.
Bryce was even more spectacular than Zion. A short hike through Red Canyon set the stage for the beauty of Bryce, but not the scale of its grandeur. The canyons, plateaus and mesas are so vast, they stretch as far as you can see. We drove to the top of the park at Rainbow Point which is at 9115 feet above sea level. There we had a Quest lunch and then hiked the Bristlecone trail. It started out mild, but led us to a breathtaking vista that had Steve clinging to the trees. The drop offs were so steep and jagged, we felt pulled over the edge. He said walking that ridge was harder than fighting a fire or being shot at. It made my knees week, but not like him. He couldn't watch when I approached the edge to take photos.
For the next few hours, we worked our way down the mountain road and stopped at a dozen overlooks, each with different perspectives and incredible formations.
The canyons are primarily limestone tinted rusty pink by iron deposits that have oxidized over time. Torrents of water have drained through the areas for millennia to create these magnificent formations they call hoodoos.
On the eastern side of the park the formations changed completely in color, height and structure. They were more like giant swirling mud puddles that had been heaved up and solidified. Junipers and pines appeared and gradually the earth leveled to a high plateau.
We made a dehydrated sweet and sour pork entree for dinner and added an apple cobbler for dessert. There's a Communal kitchen nearby for washing up or cooking, so that was helpful. It was fun and took us back to some of our earlier adventures.
We're trying to decide what to do tomorrow. Stay here and explore the Kodachrome State Park's unique cylindrical chimneys called sand pipes or pick up camp and move on to Escalante national monument. We don't really see the point in going back twenty miles to hike in Bryce when there's more hiking ahead.
The night will determine our course.
No comments:
Post a Comment