Hiking the Hoodoos

We had the morning to spend as we liked in Bryce Canyon. Our first stop was a little grocery store for breakfast and lunch provisions. They had a bakery with actually had good pastries and bread. We got some chocolate croissants and milk for breakfast and they custom made sandwiches on their mini baguettes. Add Pringles and Oreos and we had lunch.

We got to Sunrise Point for morning shots of the amphitheater and considered the trail down into the hoodoos. We all wanted to go but Scott was leery of the hike because of his recent heart attack (just six weeks ago). We decided to give it a go knowing that we would have to take it very slow on the way back out. We drove to Sunset Point where the steep Wall Street section of switchbacks leads into the hoodoos. It beckons people to delve into the dark shadows.

The hike down was tremendous! We all enjoyed the switchbacks; which weren't tough at all to negotiate. It felt like real exploring as we plunged into the shadows between the tall hoodoos. After the most narrow section of hoodoos you suddenly arrive in the sunshine on the other side. What a wonderful contrast. We couldn't stop taking pictures. I'm sure that by the end of the walk we had dozens of pictures of hoodoos and other red and white rock formations. Once we got to the intersection of the trails at the bottom we decided to go on the longer walk to Sunrise Point instead of taking the quicker round trip back up to Sunset Point. It was level walking at the bottom and not a problem for any of us. It took us through pines at the far edge of the amphitheater.

We followed the trail past "Queen Victoria" and then around and through the hoodoos and up to Sunrise Point. Yes, it was a slog but we took lots of stops and finally made it to the top. What I noticed was that other people were taking as many stops as we were and we finished with the same few people with whom we started the incline. I guess our extra slow is most people's regular speed.

At the top we found a picnic table and brought out our custom sandwiches and Pringles. We relaxed in the shade, ate our lunch, and recuperated from our hike. The rest of the time in the park was spent driving to the end of the road and stopping at all of the lookouts. It is neat to see how far the hoodoos extend down the edge of the mesa. We took even more hoodoo photos, most of which will never be printed because we have so many to choose from. Oh well...I guess

that it a nice problem to have.

We left Bryce Canyon proper and started towards Capitol Reef. There was one last little hike to do; Mossy Cave. It was a cave with a weeping wall and lots of moss. There was a side trail to a waterfall which was nice and cool. The interpretive panel said that the water flowed from a canal that was made in the 1800s by local pioneers who diverted water from a river through an intermittent waterway (where we were) and to the town on Tropic. Very smart.

The drive to Torrey, the town near Capitol Reef, was just over 2 hours by Google maps. It took us around 4 hours. The road went through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and was windy, twisty, and beautiful. We took even more pictures of red, white, and yellow rocks. It really is amazing how many different shapes and textures of rock there are out here. We saw the curved sand dune shapes, flat walls of rock, rounded mud shapes, and porous lava rocks. At one point we were driving along a spine between two regions of rock - a red rock canyon and white slickrock hills. Then we were climbing up over a more fertile mountain of aspen at 9600 feet. So much diversity in one 100 mile drive!

Torrey is back in the red Navajo Sandstone with dark red cliffs. We found our room and then found some supper; nothing special but at least we got full. Back to the hotel for swimming (the boys) and laundry (mom). Time for another good night's sleep to get ready for more rocks and hikes tomorrow.