Bryce Canyon is like no other place on Earth. And, thanks to Annelies, we experienced it in a very memorable fashion. Instead of just looking at the canyon from its rim…
…which would have been gorgeous enough, we ventured down into the canyon on the Navajo Trail. This trail, as described on the Bryce Canyon National Park website, is a 1.3-mile loop. That distance may sound easy, but there were lots of ups and downs. It was a bit strenuous at times, but well worth it.
In my last post, I said I like rocks, right? It was the unique rocks in Bryce Canyon that were responsible for it being declared a national park. The spires in Bryce, called “hoodoos,” are formed when ice and rainwater wear away the weak limestone. Erosion also created lots of other shapes like slot canyons (deep, narrow canyons), windows, and fins, all of which are “tinted with colors too numerous and subtle to name, these whimsically arranged rocks create a wondrous landscape of mazes, offering some of the most exciting and memorable walks and hikes imaginable.”
Think that’s a bit of an exaggeration? Think again.
Annelies and Yves had done this hike before, so they knew which end to start from. Descending the seemingly never-ending series of switchbacks was difficult enough, climbing out of the canyon that way would have been torture.
I wish I would have counted the number of switchbacks that carried us down into the canyon.
If you click on any of the images in this post, you’ll get a larger version to peruse. In the shot immediately above, those dots in the lower middle part of the frame are other hikers coming down the switchbacks we had just navigated.
There were hoodoos everywhere, not just on the walls of the canyon.
It almost doesn’t look real, right?
That spot in the lower, right-hand corner is a person. I left her in there so you could get a better idea of the enormous scale of the place.
See what I mean about it being memorable? That’s definitely a vacation moment/experience I will never forget.
Oh my lord – these pics are incredible. NEED to see this with my own eyes.
In the 3rd photo, is that white spot a person? I’m guessing so. Really speaks to the scale.
Fuzz, a bike trip through Utah would be amazing. Just not in the middle of summer. Good catch on the white spot, which is indeed a person going down the trail. It’s a very cool place.
I think that first photo might be my favorite. You can see the beginnings of a blue sky poking through, but the clouds and the rest of the light/color make it the whole shot look very dramatic.