SANDSTONE WARRIORS

19 May 2013: Day 5 of 43 – Bryce Canyon National Park UTAH.

Overnight in Tropic UTAH.

Today 248km, Total 1,244km.

 It is amazing how different canyons can be. Bryce Canyon was a completely different experience to Zion Canyon. Bryce was named after Ebenezer and Mary Bryce, a Mormon couple who first settled near Tropic (the place where we stayed) in 1876 in south Utah. Bryce features characteristic pillars of etched out sandstone called “Hoodoos”, an Indian word meaning “to cast a spell”. They were right. You cannot help but stare at them since each pillar looks like a person and instantly reminded Louise of the Terracotta Warriors of Xien China. Especially so, since many pillars stand in long symmetric lines and look like spectators or even chess pieces. The pillars feature layers of different coloured minerals, sporting whites, creams, pinks, oranges and reds. 

Geologists reckon that the pillars were formed by wind and rain erosion over 10 million years and the source of water being heavy rain coming of the Colorado Plateau which also formed the Grand Canyon. Bryce Canyon itself is small by comparison covering an oval area roughly 20 by 10 km but boasts over 50 miles (80km) of hiking trails (15 of them) that wind their way through the many thousands of pillars. The views from these trails are spectacular and in many parts spookier than Picnic at Hanging Rock. Bryce Canyon features a 5km “Rim Trail” that follows the top edge of the canyon in a half-oval shape and features 6 main viewing ledges or points. There are two main famous hiking trails called the “Navajo Loop” and the “Peek-a-Boo Loop” that snake their way through most pillars on the canyon floor. There is also a 19 mile (31km) road that follows the canyon rim at the top which sits at an elevation of 8,000ft (2,438m). 

We parked our Mustang at Sunrise Point (the first of the 6 view points) and then we all walked the Rim Trail to the second view point called Sunset Point. From here we descended down 168m to the Navajo Loop and walked half of it before Bubba and Thelma decided to retire. Louise and I went on to do the rest of the Navajo Loop and all of the much tougher Peek-a-Boo Loop – in total we walked 9.7km ascending and descending some 650m over 3 hours. The views from the canyon loop trails were fabulous. So many shapes, so many colours. We were also very lucky with the weather. On our 3hr drive over to Bryce from Zion we encountered rain and sleet because we ascended to a peak of 9,000ft (2,743m) and the temperature dropped to 33F (1C). 

That means we went from 40C in Hoover Dam to 1C here in just 3 days – that’s America for you!!! We were convinced we would be spending the day in our hotel room in front of the heater and instead we found ourselves walking around the shapely and colourful “Sandstone Warriors” of Bryce under plenty of sun and a cool but comfortable 15C. After we got back to our car at Sunrise Point I decided to run the 4km to the last lookout called Bryce Point whilst the remaining party drove around. At this stage the sun had disappeared and a howling wind brought the temperature down to 5C, so I set off with parker and shorts as a compromise. I stopped by each of the remaining view points and arrived at Bryce Point some 25min later since the last half was up-hill. 

The view from Bryce Point is the best since it gazes across the entire Canyon revealing its most famous feature – The Bryce Canyon Amphitheatre” which literally looks like a swarm of sandstone pillar spectators watching a footy match on the canyon floor. It was only then that I realised that Louise and I had walked through this amphitheatre on the Peek-a-Boo Loop without even realising it. It sprinkled briefly at Bryce Point and then the sun came out and painted a big rainbow across the whole canyon – what a sight – what a day. That night we really did celebrate since the only restaurant in our 100 person town of “Tropic” offered wine! Utah is a dry state and does not sell any wine or spirits – just 3% max beer. There was no wine in Hurricane (the town we stayed the night before) so we found ourselves putting way a local Cabernet followed by two bottled of Californian Petite Syrah. 

The food was magnificent and piled high and stood in stark contrast to our experience the night before. The walk back to our hotel was in a brisk 5C so we wondered exceedingly why they called it “Tropic”! Dinner was followed by a riotous special preview of our photos and video clips of our trip so far, back in Bubba-Gump’s room with the last bottle of Syrah and two giant cans of beer!!!