Bryce Canyon

PHOTOS  I HAVE HUNDEREDS MANY READY TO PUT ON THE BLOG OR INSERT SO TEXT IS NOT SO BORING IN BIG CHUNKS.  WI FI RECEPTION IS TERRIBLE AND PHOTOS ARE JUST NOT LOADING BEFORE CONNECTION BREAKS  (the most advanced country in the world I seriously doubt that, even the mobile phone has no signal in the outlying places in these areas, Salt Lake gity being one of them,,,outlying!!!)  ONE DAY I WILL MANAGE IT.  SORRY



Driving to Bryce was through long high altitude valleys all green and virtually farmed the whole 130 odd mile, lots of water hundreds of watering systems for the fields and just when you think you have come to the end of the farmed areas you go up over and down into another valley.

I could not help thinking back to the dried out valleys we saw where Los Angeles had diverted all waters to these areas where water was in abundance from the surrounding mountains.

Having not altogether sorted the first come first served campsites we stayed outside Bryce for two nights at Hatch Riverside Resort and had one day off doing washing etc and wasting hours with bad wi fi reception which if I am not careful can drive me wild, I could quite easily throw the laptop through the window instead we finally stood in the laundry at 9pm sorting a few computer thing out. A fairly basic site but in wide open prairie land with great long distant views. Evening meal in their" best eatery this side of somewhere" was appalling with the worst steak ever Judith left over half!!!!!!!!

Bryce, not a canyon but a series of amphitheatres seen from above. Pictures of it abound and it is really quite extraordinary. Altitudes of 7700ft for the campground and up to 8200ft for the rim walks meant one had to go carefully. Here again it was hotter than average in the mid 70sF but down to 28F at night quite a drop.

We walked the rim , well 3miles of it one day and a smaller section the next day and took an escorted trip to the far end on our second morning in the park. We had sussed the first come system and were now in the park for two nights.

The park grows on you and because of its weird formations changes shape and size virtually every footstep you take and certainly if you took a photo at a particular spot one hour apart they would look totally different due to the shadows caused by the earth moving round the sun.

Again like all the parks very little commercialism within the park though adjacent to Bryce is a hotchpotch of commercial activity all owned by one family who were way back the first people to realise the potential of the area for tourism.

We have found the Visitor centres poor. big and elegant places but little information and next to no leaflets. You have to queue to ask rangers questions if you want to know anything though fairly good information is within the monthly news sheet handed out at park entrance but you cannot read this until after you have passed the information centre. I suppose everyone should sit in the car park and read before going in it might save a lot of time.

Anyway Brice is good, can be seen easily though a few steep walks from car parks are necessary to get to the edge. Again shuttlebuses operate and are a great way of getting around. We stayed in the North Campground.

The weird shapes are called hoodoos.

Again a must to see on any trip and if necessary can be seen in one day though it would be a shame to rush. There are walks for the fit and healthy that go down among the hoodoo's that is fine it is getting back up the 600 to 1500 ft that is the trouble and at 8000ft we as they said knew our own limitations.