Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Bryce Canyon National Park

(Panguitch, UT) Hi 81 Lo 42 – Yesterday we had a very smooth trip from Moab, UT to Panguitch, UT. The scenery on the way was incredible, alternating between rolling plains with mountains in the distance, to steep mountain passes right through the mountains. To view different scenery click here.  Here’s the route we took:

Capture

We’re staying at Paradise RV Park, a couple miles north of Panguitch. It’s a nice park with a great price, only $14.95 per night for full hookups and a nice long pull thru site. We’ll post more information about the park, including some photos before we leave on Sunday.

I know we’ve been complaining about the wind out here in the southwest. However, today was about as perfect as you can get. Partly cloudy, breezy, and right around 80 degrees. Ideal for enjoying the sights of Bryce Canyon National Park.

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To say Bryce blew us away would be an understatement. The geology of Bryce is different from anything we’ve ever seen, or even imagined. The rock formations that are prominent in the park are called “hoodoos.” They’re pinnacle rock formations caused by weather erosion, mainly the alternate freezing and thawing of rain and snow on the porous limestone, causing deep vertical ridges in the rocks. The process makes for a bizarre and beautiful landscape.

The main feature of the park is the Bryce Amphitheater section, which has the largest concentration of hoodoos. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)

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Now use your imagination… doesn’t this look like a large gathering of people? The white formation in the foreground might even be a preacher or speaker.
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According to the Paiute Indians, there were “legend people” who lived in this area before the Paiute settled here. Some of the legend people were bad, and the coyotes turned the bad ones into rocks.

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The park extends about 15 miles south of the Amphitheater region, and offers about a dozen pull-out overlooks, all with a different spectacular view.
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This area is called the Grotto. The openings in the side of the rock, caused by erosion, look like caves.
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This is one of the paths that led to an overlook.
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At one area we could see the small town of Tropic in the distance.
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More hoodoos.
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This is called Natural Bridge, although it’s an arch. A natural bridge is formed from water erosion, and an arch is formed by weather erosion. Looks like one of the “residents” of Arches National Park escaped and came to Bryce. Smile

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We haven’t seen much wildlife anywhere in our travels so far this summer, but today we did see a couple of deer off the side of the road.

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We’ll end our photo tour with a couple of panoramas I stitched together.
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Bryce Canyon is very near the top of our list as far as “coolest” sights so far this summer. It’s a close call between Bryce and Arches. But I think Bryce wins out simply because of the uniqueness of its features. There’s just nothing like the hoodoos of Bryce.

I hope you enjoyed our little photo tour of Bryce Canyon National Park. We sure enjoyed our day!

See you tomorrow.

14 comments:

Gail Houle said...

Beautiful!
Saving this park for future reference too :) Thanks!

Vera said...

I liked Bryce Canyon better than the Grand Canyon. The formations and colours are breathtaking.

Jim and Sandie said...

Bryce really is up at the top of list for beautiful.

RV Khronicles of Kevelyn said...

Bryce is definitely one of our favorites, too!!

A couple of newer paintings 2019 said...

Beautiful spot. Sorry we missed it. Thanks for the photos!

Janice Williford Evans said...

oh goodness. . .we gotta get there!

Janice
http://readytogofulltimerving.blogspot.com/

owensontheroad said...

I absolutely love Bryce. Was there too in 1977 or so on a Geology trip in college. The variation of colors in the rock formations are just beautiful!

Bob and Jo said...

Bryce is certainly one of our favorites, if not 'the' favorite.

KarenInTheWoods said...

WOW!!!!!


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Karen and Steve
(Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
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Mike and Terri said...

Bryce Canyon looks like another spectacular place to visit. We look forward to getting there too.

Donna W. said...

beautiful

Unknown said...

Absolutely beautiful! Hope to get there one day, too!

Tom and Marci said...

We agree! We were there about a month ago and LOVED it! Truly amazing!

Gypsy said...

Just from pictures I've seen and descriptions, I think Bryce must be one of the most spectacular places in the world. Since I missed all the SW parks last year because of the shutdown, I am really going to try to get there one of these days. You did a great job on the panoramic pictures. I just don't have the patience myself, but I certainly like to see them.

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