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Monday, September 26, 2016

A trip to Bryce Canyon, Utah….A Red Letter Day!

 

Red rocks, red canyons etc. etc. …..you get what I mean.

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This is our route and we will do this trip in the truck.  We will not unload the bike untill we get to Kanab and we have more time. 

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First order of business is fuel in Cedar City and then on the road for Bryce Canyon National Park.  We leave Cedar City at an elevation of 5,840 ft.

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As soon as we head along Hwy 14 we start to climb.

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The vistas are beautiful.

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The first look-out that we stop at explains how the terrain was created. 

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Lots of dead wood appearing and apparently more higher up.  Looks like the beetle kill in B.C.

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We hit a plateau and it opens into a wide meadow.  This is much similar to home in the Williams Lake and the Chilcotin area of B.C.

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Not too far and we hit a huge lava flow area. 

We pass through the Duck Creek Village area which is at 8000 ft.  This is where the fellow that we met in the Boise/Meridian RV park has a house.  He suggested we stay here but we wouldn’t make our truck pull the RV up here and besides that it gets too cold at night. 

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We turn left onto Hwy 89 and head north to Highway 12 where we will turn right towards Bryce Canyon.

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Turn right in 1/2 a mile.

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As we enter the park we arrive at Red Canyon.  We got out to take a walk and have a look at the visitor’s centre.

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Rock pinnacles.

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Pine trees.  I even picked up a little pine cone to go with the one I have at home that I picked up at Lake Tahoe in 1992 on a trip to Reno with my Dad.

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Signs about the early days and settlement of the area.

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Water is a prime commodity here.

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Only “YOU” can prevent forest fires!  Okay Smokey.

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Can you spot any tourists here!

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Rock tunnel leaving the Red Canyon.

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Entering Bryce Canyon Village.  Lots of crap…oh I meant souvenirs here!

At the park entrance a nice young lady collected $30 from us and Eric just about choked.  Now the complaining really started! 

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First stop was Sunset point and it was just packed with every type of tourist you could imagine.  Really not up Eric’s alley….way too crowded and it was really hard to find a place to park.

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The views are just spectacular.

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This does not even look real and it is really far down.  There are trails to hike and they were just jammed with people.

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How beautiful is that!

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See right in front of the garbage truck….well that’s where Eric initially parked the truck.  I said “ We are going to get towed!” and he moved.  Good thing don’t you think.

One really funny thing happened when Eric walked back to make sure he locked the truck.  There was a young couple in the parking area really going at it.  Eric said “ Hey, that’s not allowed in a National Park!” and they jumped apart and said “Sorry!”  I don’t know who they thought he was but maybe the buzz cut makes him look ex military.  Later we passed them and the girl wouldn’t even look at Eric.  Come on, get a room for that kind of thing.  We laughed about it all day!

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Next stop Farview Point and it is getting higher.  There are less people here and Eric has stopped griping about the $30 bucks he had to pay.  The views are definitely worth $30.

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It is very high and very sunny and the pictures are a bit washed out with all the light.

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Surveying the landscape.

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We are now at the Natural Bridge.

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Explanation of how they were formed.

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Definitely a wonder to behold.

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One of a few arches.

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As we pass Agua Canyon (we’ll stop on the way down) I spy these people on top of the rock.  Are they nuts!

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The end of Bryce Canyon and the highest point….Rainbow Point.

Eric and I both have a bit of a headache at this point and our sinuses are very unhappy.  We live at an elevation of 500ft. so this is a huge change for us. 

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Way, way down.  See that rock cliff on the upper left of the picture…well that’s where those people are standing.

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I zoomed in and you can just see them.  I wonder how many people die up here every year. 

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We are heading down now and stop at the Agua Canyon trail.

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A real Group of Seven picture.

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It’s getting later and the color is once again rich with the fading light.

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A post card shot.  Just breath taking.

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Down a bit more to Ponderosa point.  Still very high.

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How red is that.

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As we continue down we pass through huge areas of dead trees.  Forest fire, natural death…who knows.

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We are now back to beginning of our journey into Bryce Canyon and are at Red Canyon. 

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This is just up behind the Visitor’s Centre and what’s nice here is that the rock formations are very close.

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Visitor’s centre.  I bought a t-shirt here as a momento of our trip.

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We are back around Duck Lake and this is Duck Lake pond.

From here it’s all downhill to Cedar City.  It was really nice driving the truck without the trailer attached to it’s ass.  It has been a great truck and has never let us down even though it is 11 years old and has pulled the trailer to Mexico many, many times.

All in all it was a really good day and we are both tired.

P.S. – Eric begrudgingly admits the day was worth $30!

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