*** Still won't let me rotate my pictures for some reason, sorry! ***
After having such a fabulous breakfast yesterday, we return to Oscar’s Café for another hearty meal. This time Sandy has a bean burrito and I try the fruit parfait. Yummy!
We leave the park through the Zion-Mt Carmel highway. There are a few switchbacks and a short unlit tunnel through the mountain, but nothing too scary. Here's a cute fake arch:
The famous checkerboard mesa, a great example of crossbedding (horizontal striations in the rock).
We make a short detour to get to our first stop for today, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.
Here’s me wearing Sandy’s bandana to protect my ears against the wind. The high today is only 50 degrees and when the wind blows across the sand it’s so cold it hurts.
There’s a nice 0.5mi self-guided walk through the dunes. I found these really cool little sand columns in a couple of places.
We make a quick stop at Red Canyon.
We go for a short walk along the photo trail. It’s pretty steep and it doesn’t take long before you can feel the altitude take its effect, but the view is worth it.
Cute little tunnels blasted through the rock.
Driving up to Bryce you can’t see the canyon at all. The little shack to the left of the picture is Bryce Airport haha.
On a side note, we’ve made a few observations about small town life while driving through the mountains these last couple of days:
1) They probably generate most of their income by ticketing unsuspecting tourists for speeding. Without fail there has been a police officer stationed along the main street just waiting to catch people who didn’t see the change in maximum speed, so if you're heading this way; you have been warned!
1) They probably generate most of their income by ticketing unsuspecting tourists for speeding. Without fail there has been a police officer stationed along the main street just waiting to catch people who didn’t see the change in maximum speed, so if you're heading this way; you have been warned!
2) Judging by the signs (“All your sporting needs – and chainsaws!” “Burgers, bikes, beds and tackle”) the lack of stores means fewer stores have to sell more products, so you can truly do some one stop shopping here. Watch out Walmart! :-P
Anyway, so when we get to Bryce we head for Ruby’s Inn ATV rental, only to find out they’ve already closed for today. Argh! Luckily one of the other employees overhears our conversation and says he’ll find someone to take us out.
When we walk over to get our helmets our guide says “They warned you girls about the mud, right?” Eh, mud? What mud? So apparently they had a lot of wet snow this year and the runoff has created a lot of little streams and pools of mud. After assuring the man we’ll be okay even if we come back coated in mud we get a quick explanation of how to operate our ATV and then off we go!
I had assumed we would first practice in the parking lot, but we immediately hit the trails and it’s not long before we’re slipping and sliding through the mud. What a rush! It’s so cool to feel the ATV fishtailing through the mud, then finding traction again and I also loved driving through the enormous murky puddles where you have no idea how deep they are until you’re right in the middle of it.
I had assumed we would first practice in the parking lot, but we immediately hit the trails and it’s not long before we’re slipping and sliding through the mud. What a rush! It’s so cool to feel the ATV fishtailing through the mud, then finding traction again and I also loved driving through the enormous murky puddles where you have no idea how deep they are until you’re right in the middle of it.
The halfway point of the ride is at Bryce’s North Rim. Erosion here is much less pronounced than in the park so you get a glimpse of what Bryce looked like millions of years ago.
Me on my ATV. Do I look like a proper biker chick?!
Finally we get to the National Park. There’s still a lot of snow on the mountains.
Of course I have to get in the snow a bit!
Another gem for my crazy caution sign collection; a prairie dog crossing!
I loved this beautiful blue bird.
The view from the walking trail at Bryce Point is my favorite.
We drive all the way to the end of the scenic drive where the elevation is more than 9000 feet above sea level! You can tell by these pictures just how much snow is still left here.
The view towards the other side of the mountain is breathtaking as well.
Natural bridge, which is really an arch and not a bridge.
We go for a short walk through the snow to Piracy Point. The trail is still covered in snow and we have the place all to ourselves.
We’d planned to watch the sunset in the park, but the mountain blocks the sun from getting to the hoodoos. Still an amazing view ...
Bulls enjoying the evening sun on our way out of Bryce Canyon City
We check into our hotel, which turns out to be an adorable log cabin, then drive a short distance down main street (honestly not sure if there even are any other streets here haha) to take a picture of the pretty clouds with horses grazing in the background.
For dinner we head to Clarke’s where we both have fantastic burgers. It’s a really cute place on the inside.
When we get back to the cabin we realize we’ve lost one of our credit cards so we spend an hour running in circles, turning everything inside out, calling the place we were earlier … only to find it in Sandy’s wallet. Phew!
Total miles for today: 172
Hotel: Bryce Canyon Inn
Restaurants: Oscar's Cafe (breakfast), Clarke's (dinner)
Hotel: Bryce Canyon Inn
Restaurants: Oscar's Cafe (breakfast), Clarke's (dinner)
A bit late today, didn't have time this morning. We went to Andries brother to take the glasshouse apart that he gave us. I saw a programme on television about Hampshire in England.It's a large region with cities and villages, but there are wild horses running free everywhere. People have to lock there gardens. They are in the villages, everywhere.
I think your trip today is amazing. The scenery is so beautiful and so strange. The Checkerboard Mesa looks like a giant elephant. And all that snow.
I love Bryce Point and the place where you looked at the sunset.
Do they always put your name on the ATV? There is Arctic Cat written on the hood.
Love and xxxx and hope to see more tomorrow
Joeve