Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon, what can I say? So different from anything I have ever seen before. Do you know what a Hoodoo is? I didn't either. But now I consider myself an expert and am going to have Reid create a Hoodoo for his science fair project next year. A Hoodoo is simply all that's left of a plateau after years of erosion. The plateau breaks apart after years of freezing and thawing, the water is able to get to the sandstone through the cracks and eventually carves away the sandstone so that all that's left are pillars, or Hoodoos. There's more to it, but that’s Sharon's abridged version of what happens. Bryce Canyon isn't truly a canyon. Canyons by definition are carved by a river or stream. That is not the case with Bryce Canyon. It was created by rain and thawing snow infiltrating the cracked surface and eating away at the sandstone. The changes to Bryce are fast and furious compared to the changes of other mountainous regions. Because the area is mostly sandstone and other porous rock it is affected by every big rain. The landscape is constantly changing.

We got to Bryce a little later than we usually choose to go to parks, but we did that on purpose. We knew we would be staying late and we can only entertain the boys for so long. We had an early lunch in the RV then took the 50 mile drive north to Bryce. We hit our peak elevations in and around Bryce Canyon, our highest point being 9115 feet. Every park we have been to in the last week has been spectacular in its own right, but Bryce was the most unusual. This is a must see park. I would like to go back and hike when the kids are a little older and can carry more of their own stuff.

We started our visit at the Visitors Center to pick up our Junior Ranger booklets and watched a 20 minute film about Bryce Canyon. It was raining when we got there, so the Visitors Center was packed. Bryce Canyon has a shuttle service, but it doesn't go to all the stops, so we decided to use our car. Each stop within the canyon has a spectacular view of rock formations such as The Sinking Ship, Thor’s Hammer, The Amphitheatre. Each stop also has a different animal in abundance. One stop had chipmunks, another had ravens. Another stop had Steller’s Jays, yet another had horned lizards. We even saw hummingbirds at another stop. No mountain lions though. I was hoping to see one from a far off distance. Between several stops there were lush meadows where we saw deer and prong horn grazing. A prong horn is a small deer like creature with antlers that come out of the head and turn back towards each other. The only animal faster than the prong horn is the African cheetah. Their only predator in America is, unfortunately, man. I don’t’ know that they are hunted anymore; their death is usually by means of motor vehicle accident. There are also thick evergreen forests between the viewing areas. One area still bears the scars from a forest fire that raged through the park a year ago. The most likely cause of that fire was a lightning strike. We saw lightning all around us while we were at the park but the rangers assured us that unless we heard thunder within 30 seconds we were safe. We were so high in elevation that we could see for 85 plus miles. Incredible.

While doing a little research before our trip Glenn discovered that Bryce Canyon has an astronomy program every night. We were interested in attending but were getting discouraged by the storm clouds rolling in as the day progressed. We decided to go into the little town of Bryce, have dinner and see what the cloud did. I'm so glad we didn't give up and go home early. Once we were done with dinner the skies were clear and we were back on track to view stars. Because of Bryce Canyon’s elevation, there is very little light pollution. On a clear night you can see up to 7500 stars with an unaided eye. Those of us who live anywhere near a town can only see up to 2500 stars. Those living in a city or the suburbs can see even fewer. I read that as darkness falls on Bryce Canyon the first star you can actually see isn’t a star at all, but the planet Venus. Venus is so bright it will cast your shadow. How’s that for spectacular? We attended a Ranger led astronomy presentation and then followed him to the area where they had four high powered telescopes. Unfortunately, our night sky was a little cloudy so we weren’t able to see as many stars, but we did see Saturn, rings and all and Saturn’s moon Triton. I was amazed as were Glenn and the boys. With the telescopes we also saw a star that they have determined is a candidate to go “supernova” in our lifetime, it’s the brightest star in the constellation Scorpion, as well as a few other stars. With the unaided eye we were able to make out the Milky Way, Ursa Major, Sagittarius, Scorpion, parts of Cassiopeia and many others. We also saw two satellites tracking across the sky. We were told that you can see the International Space Station some nights. Robert was all over that. He really wanted to see the ISS, but had to settle for the satellites. Again, on clear nights they have had reports of being able to see up to 20 shooting stars. That was not the case with us. The longer we stood there looking at the stars the cloudier it became. We finally called it quits about an hour into stargazing.

The drive back to Glendale was nerve-wracking. The deer were perched on the side of the road, just waiting to dart out in front of our car. Both Glenn and I have had deer hits, we weren’t too excited about reliving the experience. The closer we got to Glendale, the more frequent the sightings. I was so relieved to finally pull into our campground. In the backseat we had two boys sawing logs and another on the brink. I tried to carry Sean, but he’s almost as tall as me and the ground was very uneven. I’m lucky I didn’t trip and fall to the ground on top of him. I had to wake him long enough to get him inside. Glenn rousted Reid and got him in the RV. I never would have been able to pick him up. At nine he’s a scant three inches shorter than me. Finally the whole crew was in bed. It was another successful, exhausting day at one of our nation’s beautiful parks. I am already trying to figure out when we can go back and hike some of the trails we skipped due to the weather. I hope my good friend Angela Green and her husband Richard are ready for company; we may be flying into Salt Lake City very soon. I used to feel sorry for Angela when I thought about her being tucked away in Utah, so far from family and friends. Now I’m envious. I had no idea there was so much to offer in one state. We barely scraped the surface of National Parks in the area. Utah is definitely a state worth checking out. We’ll be back; hopefully we’ll have more time to explore.