Hoodoo? You Do?

Bryce Canyon's "Amphitheater" has a bunch of trails. We decided to do the Navajo/Queen's Garden Loop combination there today. It was definitely interesting hiking among the hoodoos. These are the rock column features that dominate this area. They are believed to be the Legend People (before the Paiute Native Americans) that acted bad. Sinawava (the trickster coyote god) turned them into stone (aka these hoodoos). Once in the canyon bottom, it was a trek through forested areas, looking up at the canyon walls. The end of the trail was a steep grade of switchbacks basically straight up the canyon side. Getting those calves and butt toned! 

We also checked out the Fairyland viewpoint before heading to the other side of the park to check out the Mossy Cave trail. This trail had both a cave with a roof covered in moss (it was a little less mossy and wet today since it is the end of summer) and a man-made waterfall that is part of a water system that serves water from the Tropic Resevoir to the town of Tropic (10 miles away).

Rosie Update: She had a little meltdown last night. We think her pain meds ran out around bedtime. Her paw is still healing and she is still relegated to a cone of shame.

Heading down into the canyon.

Holy hoodoos, these things are big!

Good Buddy going through one of the several "doorways."

So many hoodoos.

The famous "Wall Street." After this was the steep climb out of the canyon.

The little waterfall on the Mossy Cave trail.

More Explorations in the Bryce Canyon Area

We started out the day by heading to the end of the Bryce Canyon Scenic Drive to Rainbow Point. After checking out the vistas, we hiked the small 1 mile Bristlecone Trail. This trail took us through fir trees to an overlook where Bristlecone Pines were growing along the cliffside.  Then it was a reverse-course along the scenic drive with several stops at scenic overlooks to view the hoodoos, fans, and wall features of the canyons. At midday, we tackled a loop trail (Sheep's Creek and Swamp Canyon Trails). This was a nice, pretty shady trail down into the canyon. 

After all of that walking and touring, we definitely worked up an appetite. We ended up at the Pizza Place in Tropic, UT. The pizza was yummy and service was fantastic. They had plenty of patio seating and were doing a good job of keeping things clean and sanitary. Thumbs up!

The view from the end of Bristlecone Pine Trail.

Dimitri was enjoying the attention from all the tourists.

Starting the Swamp Canyon Trail. It was downhill from there.

A look up from the Under-the Rim section of the trail.

Rosie's paw after taking off the bandage.

On to Bryce Canyon...

Today was a shorter travel day (3 hours) and we arrived in Cannonville, UT. After settling in and grabbing some lunch, we hit the road to explore the highlights of Bryce Canyon National Park. It was a brief tour- visiting the Bryce Amphitheater area and the scenic overlooks. 

Folks, why is there a lighthouse in the middle of Utah?

The scenery started looking very different as we approached the Bryce Canyon area.

View from Sunset Point in Bryce.

Renee the chipmunk was a bit shy at first and then warmed up to us.

Inspiration Point

 

Bryce Canyon Overlook

The sunset on the opposite side of the canyon.