July 3, 1994: Bryce Canyon National Park/Cedar Breaks National Monument
	July 1, 1994: Wupatki NM and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
	Return to the Index for Our Western Trip

We got an early start from Kanab this morning, July 2, and drove north on US 89 to Utah 12, and then to the entrance of Bryce Canyon. On the way, along US 89, we stopped at a private cave. Fred wanted to see what it was like. It was a short cave, without any formations, but Fred said he had been curious about it since the first time his family drove by it years ago. Inside, there were lots of things collected by the man who discovered and had owned the cave, most notably a collection of fluorescent rocks and minerals. Then we continued on up US 89, passing the turnoff to Zion National Park, and we arrived at Bryce Canyon late in the morning.

We found, to our relief, many good campsites open that early in the day, so we picked one out and put up the tent. Then we hopped back in the car and went off for a day of hiking.

Before getting started, Fred wanted some lunch, so we stopped at a picnic area and spread one out. Pretty soon, we were joined by one of the local fauna. Other people were feeding the deer, but we knew that was not a good idea, so it just watched for a while and then wandered off to other picnickers.

Bryce Canyon National Park, here in southwestern Utah, has, as its major feature, Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet.

Bryce Canyon National Park is considered one of the National Park System's "crown jewels", and that's one reason why we wanted to spend more than just a day here. The park is actually quite large, north to south, but we will do most of our hiking in an area known as The Amphitheatre. In case you are interested, though, there is a full park map in the scrollable window below:

There were a number of excellent hiking trails here, and we had investigated some of them before leaving Dallas. We decided to make the Fairyland Loop Trail our first hiking experience at Bryce Canyon.

The Fairyland Loop Trail

The Fairyland Loop Trail began at Fairyland Point, at the northern portion of the park, and took us through spectacular hoodoos and scenery along the rim and into the canyon. This hike also included a short spur trail to Tower Bridge. This hike is considered strenuous due to its length and meandering trails with multiple elevation changes. The Fairyland Loop Trail also included a portion of the Rim Trail from Sunset Point back to Fairyland Point.

If we had been camping in the North Campground, we could have walked from our campsite over to the Rim Trail and then followed the loop clockwise. But since we were at the Sunset Campground, it was more convenient to drive north to the park boundary and then east to Fairyland Point. (Actually, it is a little-known fact that the turnoff to Fairyland Point is actually before the park entrance, so for the budget conscious, hiking this loop (and, due to the interconnection of all the trails, many of the other trails as well) doesn't require paying the entry fee.

The Fairyland Loop hike is not as crowded as other trails in Bryce Canyon National Park, which adds to its appeal. The route is 8 miles long and takes the average hiker about 4 hours to complete. If I recall, we took about that much time as we were stopping frequently to photograph and admire the scenery. Also, we took the short side trail to Tower Bridge, which added a bit to our time.

The trail is extremely well maintained and signed. This trail loses 950 feet of elevation as it drops to its low point and than climbs 950 feet as it returns to the rim. Bryce Canyon is very hot in mid-summer, but we are just a bit early for the highest temperatures. Still and all, it was very warm, and I think that probably September and October would be the ideal time for this and other hikes down in the Amphitheatre. Much later than that, and the hiker might encounter snow!

We parked the car and gathered up our cameras, checked our shoelaces, put some water in the pack and got ready for our first hike.

At the overlook at the top of the trail, we paused to check the trail diagram, and Fred used the opportunity to use his panoramic camera to take a picture of me checking that diagram:

That panoramic camera does a very good job, but it would be nice if a single camera could take both normal and panoramic pictures. (As it turned out, we'd have to wait about fifteen years before a camera with that capability became commercially available and reasonably priced.)

We took our first picture from just a few feet down the trail from the trailhead here on the Fairyland Loop. The picture at right looks towards the Paria Valley.

We had actually thought a lot about which hikes to do and in which order to do them. We wanted to do as much as we could, and since we were starting out early in the day, we decided to try the longest of the hikes- and that's the Fairyland Loop trail. Although the Loop is over eight miles long, we had all day to do it, and the weather was wonderful.

Actually, though, as I often do, I dress for a hike before starting out, often forgetting that as soon as exertion begins, what was comfortable at the beginning might be uncomfortable later on. On this hike, we'd gone about 200 feet before I realized that I was going to be very overdressed in jeans and all, so I asked Fred to wait on the trail while I ran back up to the car to to change into some shorts and a lighter shirt (although I ended up taking the shirt off, too). Then I went back to where Fred was waiting.

This view was taken from the point where I'd left Fred waiting. I will say at the outset that many of the pictures you will see today and tomorrow may seem repetitive; after all, one hoodoo looks much like another. But this scenery was simply so spectacular that I don't consider even one picture to have been wasted. Problem was, though, that it often seemed that only minutes after I took one picture another even better one came along. I wish film and developing were free; I wouldn't have taken just tens of pictures but hundreds!

NOTE:
That last remark, taken from the notes I wrote up for our pictures after we had gotten back to Dallas, turned out to be prophetic. I didn't realize it at the time, but digital photography was well on its way to the mass market; the first digital cameras would appear in another five years. When they did, and the cost of film and developing went essentially to zero, we began taking a hundred pictures for every one we'd taken before. I looked it up in 2014: in 1994, approximately 60 billion photos were taken worldwide. In 2014, that total was three trillion!

Taken from a little further along the trail, this is Fred with the Paria Valley in the background. In this shot you can see the two major plateaus of the area. Geologists say that 10 million years ago forces within the Earth created and then moved the massive clocks we know as the Aquarius and Paunsaugunt plateaus. Rock layers on the Aquarius (in the distance) now tower 2,000 feet above the same layers on the Paunsaugunt (where we are). Ancient rivers carved the tops and exposed edges of these blocks, removing some layers and sculpting intricate formations in others. The Paria Valley was created and later widened between the plateaus.

The National Park lies within the Colorado Plateau geographic province of North America and straddles the southeastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau west of the Paunsaugunt Fault (Paunsaugunt is Paiute for "home of the beaver"). Park visitors arrive from the plateau part of the park and look over the plateau's edge toward a valley containing the fault and the Paria River just beyond it (Paria is Paiute for "muddy water"). The edge of the Kaiparowits Plateau bounds the opposite side of the valley.

Bryce Canyon National park is about a thousand feet higher than Zion National Park, and so it is a bit cooler here. Bryce also gets more rain- a total of 15 to 18 inches per year. Yearly temperatures vary; the record low was -29°F in December, 1972, and 98°F in July, 2002. Today, near as I can estimate, it is in the high 80s or perhaps 90.

At right is Fred, coming down the trail on the Fairyland Loop. There wasn't much reason to take this picture other than the fact that I wanted to capture a really nice-looking man on his way down a trail.

Here I am on the Fairyland Loop trail at Bryce Canyon, with some hoodoos in the background. A hoodoo is a pillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion. As a verb, the word "hoodoo" means "to cast a spell." At Bryce Canyon National Park, erosion forms a remarkable array of these fantastic shapes, examples of which you see here.

Bryce Canyon was not formed from erosion initiated from a central stream, meaning it technically is not a canyon. Instead headward erosion has excavated large amphitheater-shaped features in the Cenozoic-aged rocks of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. This erosion exposed these delicate and colorful pinnacles that are up to 200 feet high. A series of amphitheaters extends more than 20 miles north-to-south within the park. The largest is Bryce Amphitheater, which is 12 miles long, 3 miles wide and 800 feet deep. That's where we are now. A nearby example of amphitheaters with hoodoos in the same formation but at a higher elevation, is in Cedar Breaks National Monument, which is 25 miles west on the Markagunt Plateau, and which we plan on visiting tomorrow afternoon.

At left are some hoodoos in the making. At Bryce Canyon, water erodes rock mechanically and chemically. Scouring, abrading and gullying occur when fast-moving water scrapes its silt, gravel, and rock debris against firmer bedrock. This is what first exposes the rock from which the hoodoos are formed. Then water enters minute rock pores and dissolves the cements holding the rock together, leaving the loose grains to wash away. Softer Cretaceous rocks were loosened and carried away from the upthrown block by the Paria River; the resulting valley is carved out of rocks that lie deep beneath the Paunsaugunt Plateau, whose edge becomes exposed to erosion.

At left is Fred, near the floor of Bryce Canyon, looking east to the Paria River valley. The Fairyland loop trail descends about a thousand feet not quite to the floor of the canyon. But when you get down to this level, the trail just meanders up and down small hills giving you great views of the hoodoos above, the rim of the canyon itself, and the Paria River valley. Here you can see all the elements of the Bryce Canyon area.

The denizens of the park and the rangers as well like to say that, surrounded by the beauty of southern Utah, these hoodoos cast their spell on all who visit. The Paria River and its many tributaries continue to carve the plateau edges. Rushing waters carrying dirt and gravel gully the edges and steep slopes of the Paunsaugunt Plateau on which Bryce Canyon National Park lies. With time, tall thin ridges called "fins" emerge. Fins further erode into pinnacles and spires- the "hoodoos." These in turn weaken and fall, adding their bright colors to the hills below.

Little is known about early human habitation in the Bryce Canyon area. Archaeological surveys of Bryce Canyon National Park and the Paunsaugunt Plateau show that people have been in the area for at least 10,000 years. Basketmaker Anasazi artifacts several thousand years old have been found south of the park, and other artifacts from the Pueblo-period Anasazi and the Fremont culture (up to the mid-12th century) have also been found.

At right are Fairyland Point and Boat Mesa seen from the bottom of Fairyland Loop trail. Although we are at the bottom of the trail, we have just started on the hike, since the trail winds for miles along the upper valley floor before it rises again to the canyon rim near the Bryce Canyon Lodge. These hoodoos look so regular and ordered, like soldiers standing guard. It is hard for me to imagine how the random action of erosion could have carved such regular formations. Boat Mesa is almost eight thousand feet high.

At left is another picture I took of Fred along the Fairyland Loop trail, with typical canyon scenery in the background. While we know that people have been in the Colorado Plateau region for about 12,000 years, only random fragments of worked stone tell of their presence near Bryce Canyon. Artifacts from both the Anasazi and Fremont cultures have been found near the park to the south. The people of each culture left bits of a puzzle to be pieced together by present and future archeologists.

The Paiute Indians moved into the valleys and plateaus in the area around Bryce Canyon at about the same time that the other cultures left. These Native Americans hunted and gathered for most of their food, but also supplemented their diet with some cultivated products.

The Paiute in the area developed a mythology surrounding the hoodoos (pinnacles) in Bryce Canyon. They believed that hoodoos were the Legend People whom the trickster Coyote had turned to stone. At least one older Paiute said his culture called the hoodoos Anka-ku-was-a-wits, which is Paiute for "red painted faces".

The Upper Valley of the Paria River Below Bryce Canyon The Paiutes were living throughout the area when Captain Clarence E. Dutton explored here with John Wesley Powell in the 1870s. Many of today's place names come from this time. Dutton used "Pink Cliffs" for the Claron Formation, and other names- "Paunsaugunt" (place or home of the beavers), "Paria" (muddy water), "Panguitch" (water or fish) (Panguitch is a town near Bryce Canyon on US 89), and "Yovimpa" (point of pines)- were derived from the Paiute language.

Boat Mesa from the Fairyland Loop trail We are a bit higher than we were when I took that earlier picture of Boat Mesa, and you can see now that it is really an outcropping of the canyon rim, rather than a mountain on the Paunsaugunt plateau. You can also see more of the amazingly regular hoodoo formations.

The Paiutes were displaced by emissaries of the LDS Church who developed the many small communities throughout Utah. Ebenezer Bryce aided in the settlement of southwestern Utah and northern Arizona. In 1875, he came to the Paria Valley to live and harvest timber from the plateau. Neighbors called the canyon behind his home "Bryce's Canyon." Today it remains the name not only of one canyon but also of a national park.

At left is Fred- ahead of me on the trail. You can see here some of the smaller hoodoo formations on the canyon floor and this is typical of the nature of the trail as it winds its way through the various formations along the valley floor. We passed people every so often, but it never got crowded. We felt ourselves lucky, but then we were to find later that most visitors consider this trail too long and tiring, so they all take the shorter ones.

At right you see Fred with some of these remarkable hoodoo formations. The beginnings of Bryce Canyon go back to the Cretaceous Period, which began some 144 million years ago and lasted until about 63 million years ago. The rock formations you see exposed at Bryce Canyon began to develop during this time.

For 60 million years, a great seaway extended northwestward into this area, depositing sediments of varying thickness and composition as it repeatedly invaded, retreated, then re-invaded the region. Retreating to the southeast, it left sediments thousands of fee thick. Their remnants form the oldest, lowest, gray-brown rocks at Bryce Canyon. In the Tertiary Period, between 63 and 40 million years ago, rivers and streams flowing from surrounding highlands deposited iron-rich, limy sediments into an ancient freshwater lake system. The sediments became the reddish-pink rocks that represent the Claron Formation from which the hoodoos are carved and for which the Pink Cliffs are named.

Shortly after 1900, visitors were coming to see the colorful geologic sights, and the first accommodations were built along the Paunsaugunt Plateau rim above Bryce's Canyon. By 1920, efforts were started to set aside these scenic wonders. In 1923, President Warren G. Harding proclaimed part of the area as Bryce Canyon National Monument under the Powell (not Dixie) National Forest. In 1924, legislation was passed to establish the area as Utah National Park, but the provisions of this legislation were not met until 1928. Legislation was passed that year to change the name of the new park to Bryce Canyon National Park.

In the picture at the far right, I am looking up at one of these amazing hoodoo formations. You can see that there are some plants on the top of this one, even though it stands alone out on the canyon floor. You can just imagine the chance occurrences that had to happen for this lone hoodoo to come into existence here in the Claron Formation.

And here I am with more of the red formations on the canyon floor. Once these rocks were formed, horizontal compression related to the formation of the Rocky Mountains deformed them. Then volcanic materials from the north and west covered parts of the region; black rocks at the mouth of nearby Red Canyon and on the Sevier Plateau to the north still protect softer underlying layers. About 10 million years ago, the earth pulled apart, moving and tilting great blocks along north-south trending fault lines. Layers, once connected, were displaced vertically by several thousand feet, forming the High Plateaus of Utah.

Elsewhere in the park, older Cretaceous layers rested side by side with younger Tertiary layers across fault lines. Streams began to remove sediments deposited by their ancestors. Working on the weakened edges of the upthrown blocks, water gradually removed the uppermost Tertiary layers and exposed Cretaceous rocks once again. Now these drab marine sediments lay on the surface of the land side by side with the brightly colored deposits of freshwater lakes and streams- the Claron Formation.

A bit further on along the trail, we stopped so Fred could set up the tripod and take another of his panoramic pictures. Here it is:

If you wish, refer back to the trail diagram above. We have come all the way across the north part of the trail and have now been angling to the southwest. We have now come to one of the highlights of this particular trail- the Tower Bridge formation.

The Tower Bridge Formation

We had been hiking along, admiring the landscape until we came over a rise in the trail. There, below us in a small valley, was the formation known as Tower Bridge, one of the most famous formations in the park (so named for its resemblance to the bridge that once spanned the Thames in London, but which was moved to Lake Havasu City. The photograph at left shows the formation clearly; it is not lost in the spires of the hoodoos but instead stands out against the red hills around it.

How, and when, were these fanciful formations created? They were created as the result of an uplift some sixteen million years ago, when the Colorado Plateau was uplifted and then segmented into different sections, each separated from its neighbors by faults and each having its own uplift rate. This uplift created vertical joints, which over time were preferentially eroded. The easily eroded Pink Cliffs of the Claron Formation responded by forming freestanding pinnacles. But differences in rock density and erosion patterns allowed the formation of other structures as well- including arches, natural bridges, walls, and windows. The vertical formations are composed of soft sedimentary rock topped by a piece of harder, less easily eroded stone that protects the column from the elements.

The Tower Bridge formation is composed of almost all of these types of formations. At the left end is a pinnacle, of course, and you can see that the caprock has not been eroded and so the top of the pinnacle is still connected to the curtain wall structure. A window, however, has opened up, as wind and the elements have worn away some of the softer sedimentary rock. At the right end of the wall are two taller pinnacles, and these are connected by a natural bridge (with another window, of course). We condtinued along the Fairyland Loop to get closer to this amazing structure.

Tower Bridge

At right, we have taken the spur trail to get close to the base of Tower Bridge, and you can focus in on the two spires and the natural bridge that connects them. I am kind of lost in the foreground in the shade of the pine trees, but as you can see I have shed my shirt for a while until I get a bit cooler.

At left, you can see the Tower Bridge formation viewed from another angle- one that lets you see the entire structure. Fred wanted to get a clearer view of the little natural bridge that is left between the two pinnacles.

In this view, you can see more clearly how these formations come to be, as the caprock that protects the underlying layers from erosion is clearly visible along the length of the bridge. The hoodoos at the end may be made of slightly different rock, but probably the edge of an upthrust fault came along here at some point, with the rocks to the left of the tree being much lower that the rocks that used to be to the right, most of which, since the layer they were a part of was not protected or was more easily eroded, have disappeared, except for the two hoodoos that are left.

We have come about two thirds of the way along the part of the trail that winds about the canyon floor; from the trail diagram above you can see that we are a little less than halfway through our 8-mile trek. It has been a little under two hours thus far, and both of us are getting thirsty and hungry (although we did bring water). We returned to the main trail from the spur and continued on to the southwest.

Formations Along the Fairyland Loop Trail (and Me) Note the wide range of spectacular formations that exist throughout Bryce Canyon; it is almost more than the mind can take in. There is not just one lovely formation, or even a hundred, but thousands. Look at the way that rock in the distance is balanced on top of the hoodoo; we saw many just like it. The weather is really great, but warm enough that I have had to lose the shirt for a while.

Fred on the Fairyland Loop Trail in Bryce Canyon Here are more of these amazing formations in the background behind Fred, who is resting along the trail. You can see more of the canyon floor and the Paria River valley in the distance. Again, this picture brings together all the elements that make Bryce Canyon National Park such a wonder.

We continued hiking for another hour or so when the trail began to rise to get back to the rim of the canyon. There were some switchbacks, and we were puffing by the time we got to the top and the end of the sixth mile. When we came up on the rim, we were near the Lodge and, more importantly, the park's General Store. There, we stopped and had a welcome soda and some frozen yogurt, and then just sat on the verandah and just watched the people for a while.

At left is a view of the Fairyland Loop trail area from the rim of Bryce Canyon, looking north towards the Pink Cliffs. I took this picture from the rim of the canyon, a bit away from the many people that were near the lodge (which is the jumping off point for a number of very short trails), and it shows one part of the Fairyland trail on the canyon floor. From here, we headed off along the Rim Trail back north to the Fairyland Loop parking area.

We took a number of great pictures of the Amphitheatre, and if you will click on the little thumbnails below, the full-size picture will pop up in a new window:

		Fred and some of the scenery along the rim trail between the lodge and the Fairyland parking area at Bryce Canyon. This view looks pretty much due east, past some of the formations in the Fairyland trail area and out to the Paria River valley. This is very typical of the scenery at Bryce Canyon; they say "typical" but I say "spectacular"!
		Me along the rim trail at Bryce Canyon. If you look at the right of the picture, which would be pretty much straight east from here, you can see the formations known as the Pink Cliffs.
		Me on the Rim Trail with hoodoos. It looks like I could just walk over to the formations, but the edge of the rim is just beyond me, and if I were to move ten feet back I would disappear (never to be heard from again, presumably). At this point on the Rim we are actually lower than the tops of the hoodoos. It is mid-afternoon, now, and you can tell from the shadows that we are looking east.

Hiking the Fairyland Loop down in the Amphitheatre was just amazing, but so were all the views to which we were treated on our way back to the parking area, and if you've been clicking on the thumbnails and looking at the pictures, I am sure you will agree.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see more of the simply stunning views from the Rim Trail as we walked north:

As the rim trail winds around heading north, the view changes so that you are looking somewhat south out into the Paria River valley. Down there is the small town of Tropic, Utah. Throughout the Amphitheatre, we saw what looked to be dry stream beds, like the one you can see here. There was no water in any of them now, but I suppose that on the days that it rains here, there would be. Actually, we haven't seen any flowing water since we crossed the Colorado River yesterday. This is a good picture for you to see some of the sedimentary layers in the rock. Fred took this picture while I was out on the short trail to the hoodoo formations.

This picture shows more of the hoodoo formations along the rim of Bryce Canyon. When I got out to the end of the short trail, I could look back at the actual rim of the canyon, and see it up close. Of course, you can see the rim when you get down to the floor of the canyon on the Fairyland trail, but this view gives a much better idea of what the main rim of the canyon looks like. The canyon is so steep, that very quickly after noon the entire cliff face is in shadow, as it is here.

This view looks east from the rim trail, past the Paria River valley to the Pink Cliffs. The Pink Cliffs are at the edge of the Aquarius plateau, which is higher than the one we are on by about two thousand feet. If you look closely here, you can pick out bits of the Fairyland trail that we started out on four or five hours ago.

These are some hoodoo formations that are now beginning to weather away. From further along the Rim Trail, you can see some of what were once tall hoodoo formations beginning their slow decomposition. The caprock that protects the tall formations has been lost in places, and now the softer layers are exposed to the elements. I suppose it will be a long time, but eventually those formations below the gray caprock that you can see here will weather away and, if nothing disturbs the caprock, there will be some free-standing formations here then. I know I won't be around to see it, but then neither will anyone else I know. In the background, again, is the huge Paria River valley.

We have less than a mile to go before we are back at the parking area. Before we finish the Fairyland Loop trail, though, there are a few more pictures to show you.

The first is a picture that Fred took of me a bit earlier up here on the Rim Trail when I went out a short ways to see some hoodoos. At one point, we came upon a short path that led out to the base of those hoodoo formations, but there was this sign saying that you shouldn't go out there. After Fred took this picture, I went out that short path to the end, where I could get up close with the formations and also get some good views of the canyon floor; those you have already seen. It wasn't dangerous, and I didn't harm the formations, but you did have to be careful about where you stepped. You can see in all of these pictures what a wonderful day it was at Bryce Canyon.

To see the last two pictures we took here on the Fairyland Trail, just click on the thumbnail images below:

Looking back south along the rim trail portion of the Fairyland Loop, here are some of the wonderful hoodoo formations that we have been walking through. About two miles away, way back down the rim where you can see the trees, is the lodge and the general store. We have walked along the rim from there, through and past some of the formations you see here, to the point where we are almost back to the parking area. As the day grows later, the hues of the formations change from a bright red or bright pink to more muted tones. We expect to do some early morning hiking tomorrow, so I should get some good contrasting pictures then. But you can see the difference as the day has proceeded from when we started out this morning on the Fairyland Loop trail.

Here's a picture of Fred and the northern part of Bryce Canyon National Park taken from the Fairyland Loop trail parking area. This was our last picture from this particular hike. After eight miles and over four hours, we definitely felt a sense of accomplishment.

It is kind of odd, but the entrance to the Fairyland Loop trail parking area is actually outside the park entrance, so people can actually come hike for nothing. But that would be just locals, I'd think, for tourists would want to drive to the overlooks, see the Lodge and perhaps camp. We still had a good deal of daylight, it only being about four or five o'clock, so we decided to drive down to the other view points and

When we got back to the top of the Fairyland Loop trail, Fred got out his tripod and set it up with his panoramic camera to take this picture of the two of us:

We left here, stopped by the lodge to make reservations for dinner and then headed on down to Paria View.

The Scenic Drive South Through Bryce Canyon National Park

When we left the parking area for the Fairyland Loop trail and re-entered the Park, we decided to drive down to the southernmost of four major viewpoints here in the northern part of the National Park. There is a longer road that goes further south, but we were given to understand that the panoramas seen from Paria View, Bryce Point, Inspiration Point and Sunset Point were by far the best in the Park.

At right is the portion of the Bryce Canyon National Park Map that covers the drive that we took this afternoon. I haven't yet mentioned, but our campsite is in the Sunset Campground, in a loop back towards the rear- very quiet.

Since it wasn't yet sunset, we bypassed Sunset Point to go down to the furthest overlook on the northern part of the Park drive- Paria View. Little did we know that some of the best sunset pictures are taken from the first stop we made.

Photographers seeking sunset pictures are often disappointed by the fact that most of the cliffs and hoodoos of Bryce Canyon do not face the setting sun. Paria View is one exception. Here one prominent and photogenic castle-like hoodoo rises high above the canyon floor to absorb the last rays of the setting sun. Paria is a Paiute word meaning "water with elk" or "water with mud". The translation varies depending on context and season.

Without that tidbit of information, we thought it best to go to the farthest point and work our way back. That way, if we couldn't see everything at the various points, the ones left would be closer to the campground and we might do them tomorrow.

At Paria View

It took us about twenty minutes to get down to Paria View; the roads near the amphitheater area are congested and it is also wise to take it slow so as not to miss anything.

The views from here were indeed tremendous, as the picture Fred took of me illustrates. Paria View looks out across hoodoos in an amphitheater carved by Yellow Creek. The Paria River valley and Aquarius Plateau form the backdrop. To the south, the White Cliffs, carved out of Navajo Sandstone, are visible.

As you look down and to the southeast you are gazing into the Paria River watershed. This region is famous for its slot canyons. These slot canyons were carved by rapid rates of runoff during spring thaws in the Ice Age. Even in today's drier climate some erosion continues to occur during flash floods. As a result, hikers are urged to stay out of the Paria Canyons during thunderstorms. This river's watershed is so immense that even a moderate rain can create catastrophic flooding downstream. The bottom of a slot canyon is the last place you want to be when a 30-foot wall of water comes roaring downstream at 50 mph.

Paria View is a good place to watch for Peregrine Falcons. Perhaps they prefer the comparative quietness this overlook offers. In the meadows back down the road from Paria View, Mule Deer and occasionally, Elk can be seen. Keeping to the forest during the day, these animals make their subtle appearance during the twilight hours. In late spring you might also spy the Pronghorn Antelope in these forest meadows. Pronghorn leave the sagebrush prairies north of the park to give birth to their young in the seclusion of the forest.

At Bryce Point

Bryce Point was only half a mile northeast of Paria View, so it took us only a couple of minutes to get there. From Bryce Point, one of the most scenic vistas of the full amphitheater and all its wonders can be appreciated. Bryce Point is famous for its extraordinary sunrises. From here you can watch the tops of hoodoos set alight as if by fire from the first rays of the rising sun. Like fire, the orange light quickly spreads driving shadows from all but the deepest recesses of the amphitheater.

In this first photography taken at Bryce Point, you can see part of Bryce Amphitheater. Bryce Point is a great observation spot as you can look in most directions. Here, we are looking north along the rim of Bryce Canyon, in an indentation known as Bryce Amphitheater. In this portion of the canyon are innumerable hoodoo formations, seen here, that look like a crowd of people standing around.

From some information displays we learned a bit about the canyon's namesake, Ebenezer Bryce, who settled in the valley just below the canyon in 1870. Bryce was a shipbuilder who journeyed west with Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers to assist in the construction of buildings essential to community life throughout the new land.

Bryce lived here for only five years, but in that time, the canyon became known as Bryce's canyon to the people who knew him. Ebenezer Bryce was a pragmatic man, constructing roads to facilitate lumber transport and surveying the route for a 10-mile irrigation ditch from the top of the plateau to the valley that would later lead to larger, more permanent settlements.

If Bryce had romantic ideas concerning the land on which he struggled to survive, they are lost in history. All he is known to have said concerning this striking scene behind his home is, "It's a hell of a place to lose a cow."

Here at Bryce Point, Fred got out his panoramic camera and took another nice shot of the Amphitheatre:

Geologic features visible from Bryce Point illustrate pieces of the natural history of the area. Visitors stand on the conglomerate at Boat Mesa that caps the Claron Formation along the rim from Bryce Point to Inspiration Point, a remainder from a time when nearby areas were being uplifted by volcanic activity and eroded by streams. These streams flowed through the area we now know as Bryce Canyon and deposited this gray to brown conglomerate. The grottos, also visible from Bryce Point, are the result of erosion of softer pockets of the upper White Member of the Claron Formation. Many of these formations can be seen in the beautiful views from Bryce Point:

Hoodoo Formations at Bryce Point

(Picture at left) These formations, golden in the afternoon sun, wear away, imperceptibly, year after year. So this view is different, each and every year, although you'd need a time machine to notice. One reason for taking this picture was the tree in the center of this group of formations. There are trees along the rim, of course, but down in the canyons they are scarce, mostly because the continual erosion doesn't allow them to get a foothold for very long before the ground erodes away and they topple over.   (Picture at right) Here is a better picture of that lone tree that is growing amidst the hoodoo formations. I was amazed that it was the only tree around, and I wondered what combination of conditions would allow it to grow in that location. As you can see, there are lots more trees in the background, but this is the only one that is up in the formations themselves.

Formations Viewed from Bryce Point

Bryce Point is a popular hangout for Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, and Uinta Chipmunks; we saw a couple of the former. Here, as at many overlooks in the park, these rodents have become dangerously bold, and people make the mistake of feeding them. Signs cautioned against this, for, when fed, they lose the ability to survive on their own, and become susceptible to diseases- some of which can be passed on to humans.

Hoodoos and the Paria River Valley

(Picture at left) Looking out across the valley, there are a number of interesting formations here. They probably all have names, but I don't know what they area. In the upper left is a formation that reminds me of an adult (possibly a teacher) with a group of children grouped behind, as if they are looking out at the natural wonders here just as I am. Across the canyon are some more hoodoos that look like they could be part of the same tableau. Beyond is the river valley and some of the White Cliffs.   (Picture at right) Here on this point of land we see the contrast in colors between the rock formations and the green of the surrounding hills and valleys. In the distance are more of the White Cliffs. Erosion is going on on both of the main plateaus, although the results at Bryce Canyon are much more spectacular than on the other side of the valley.

The Paria River Valley and Tropic

At Inspiration Point

Next, we drove to Inspiration Point; the viewpoint here consists of three levels that provide varied spectacular perspectives of the main amphitheater.

This is the best place in the Park from which to view the "Silent City" (near Sunset Point) with its many rows of seemingly frozen hoodoos set against the backdrop of Boat Mesa. The views are indeed inspiring as we considered the intricacies of the hoodoos and their formation through the erosion of the Claron Formation. Sunrise Point and Sunset Point, where we will be hiking tomorrow, are in the center of this picture.

It would seem to be impossible to count all the individual formations that you can see from here, but, surprisingly, some of them have individual names. Someone took the time to look at them all carefully and, where some group of hoodoos resembled and animal or structure, it was given a name. Much like constellations, I guess, or clouds.

The Claron Formation consists of two members, the lower Pink Member, a "dirty" limestone that contains sand, silt, and iron that lends the rock its reddish color, and the upper White Member, a purer freshwater limestone. This upper White Member of the Claron Formation is visible below Inspiration Point, although few hoodoos form in this softer rock.

There were a couple of benches here at the overlook and, even though it was getting late in the day, we couldn't resist sitting down and just taking in the incredible views. I had the thought that sitting here looking at the Silent City was more inspirational than being in the world's most beautiful cathedral.

At the far right is a picture of a call formation called "The Cathedral" as seen from here at Inspiration Point. It was partially looking at this formation that prompted me to relate the view from here to the view in a large cathedral.

At the immediate right is the view northeast from Inspiration Point at Bryce Canyon. A paved trail led from the parking area up a short distance and then down to the overlook that you can see at the right of this picture. Before descending to that overlook, I wanted to take this picture of the area known as the "Silent City" so that you could get some perspective. Note the people at the overlook at right.

Inspiration Point is an overlook that is very aptly named; there is one in Yosemite that I have been to, and one in Yellowstone that perhaps we will get to one year, and perhaps others. We should make a collection of pictures someday.

At Sunset Point

We had a bit of light left after Inspiration Point, so we made Sunset point our last stop of the day. This overlook offers vists of some of the most famous and breathtaking of Bryce Canyon's hoodoos.

It was indeed sunset, and sure enough, there were some wonderful views of the formations highlighted by the setting sun- such as the view at left. I am told that this time of day is one the few times that visitors can spot some of the holes in the formations, like the one at the right. This is because it is at this time of day that the formations beyond the hole are in shadow; otherwise, all you would see is more reddish formations, and everything would blend in together. We are looking southeast, here, across the lower Paria River valley.

Directly below the point and to the south, the Silent City rises from the canyon floor, a maze of hoodoos and fins packed in tight formation. Just below the overlook on the northern edge, Thor's Hammer stands alone. Striking in form due to its isolation from other hoodoos, Thor's Hammer is a favorite among visitors, and we plan on getting much closer to it tomorrow.

Nowhere are the colors of Bryce Canyon's rock better displayed than from Sunset Point. Called the Claron Formation, this unique rock is primarily composed of limestone deposited approximately 50 million years ago in a large freshwater lake, known to geologists as Lake Claron. Iron oxide minerals supply the vibrant red, oranges, and yellows of the lower half of the cliffs which geologists call the Pink Member.

As its geologic names suggest, here too patches of pink and purple caused by manganese oxides add to the rainbow of color. The change from orange to white marks the beginning of the Upper Member. This section of limestone is purer; its lack of color is caused by the absence of mineral impurities.

The picture at the far right was actually the last shot of the day, and it looks north from Sunset Point at the rim of Bryce Canyon. Sunrise Point is just around to the right of this picture; we will be doing some hikes from their tomorrow.

Finally, at the immediate right, is this beautiful view looking northeast from Sunset Point at Bryce Canyon. Here we are looking out across the Paria River valley, past the town of Tropic at the right in the picture, and all the way to the Pink Cliffs.

Simply amazing.

Here at Sunset point, Fred did another of his panoramic pictures:

We went back to the campsite for a little while, and then went over to the lodge for dinner. The campgrounds here don't have showers, but the lodge had a large restroom where it was possible to get pretty much refreshed. Dinner in the dining room was very good. I had barbecued chicken and Fred had some pork tenderloin. Both dinners were superb, and not just because they were a change from sandwiches.

After dinner, we went to the evening ranger presentation, which talked about the role that fire plays in the maintenance of Bryce Canyon National Park, and others as well. We learned a lot about natural and artificial burns, and how they keep the park in good condition. There was some quite pretty music playing as background for the slides, and Fred asked the ranger what it was. She said it was the Yellowstone Suite by the new age group Fresh Aire, and Fred noted that so he could find the CD of it sometime. By the time we got back to the campsite, we were pretty much exhausted, and got a great night's sleep as a result.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	July 3, 1994: Bryce Canyon National Park/Cedar Breaks National Monument
	July 1, 1994: Wupatki NM and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
	Return to the Index for Our Western Trip