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Showing posts with the label Sunset Point

Glorious Utah, walking the hoodoos

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Inspired by the thought of walking around the hoodoos, we resolved to do the Navajo Loop Trail which runs on the floor of the Canyon between Sunset and Sunrise Points. I had already done this with Mike, but the weather on this day was different, and there is so much to capture anyway. You descend from Sunset Point down a steep path known as Wall Street, for obvious reasons. At the bottom of Wall Street are some tall Douglas firs which are beginning to grow higher than the hoodoos. Going down you get a good view of Thor's Hammer a well known landmark. The whole of the floor of the canyon seems to glow red from the light reflected from the rock and the floor of the Canyon. It was a great walk and I took far too many pictures, but what's new! Thor's Hammer 2 rock arches Twisted trunk of a limber pine Pinyon jay Limber pine Aster

Glorious Utah, prairie dogs and more on Bryce

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Arriving at Bryce Canyon we had passed through Red Canyon, which had looked particularly fine in the sunshine. We went to the Bryce Visitor Centre where there is a display on the prairie dogs, marmot type rodents who live in Bryce. We were keen to see them so we took advice on the best place and drove out to their 'town'. They were a little distance away from the road but we spotted them sitting meerkat style on top of their mounds looking out for danger and sometimes chewing on bits of vegetation which they held in their front paws. We also saw a northern flicker rooting around in the undergrowth. We were close to Sunset Point, so we went there first and were lucky enough to see a group of ponies trotting along one of the paths in the Canyon. In order to get a little more information we joined the ranger geological walk from Sunset to Sunrise Points. It was run by a slightly wacky lady but was good fun. I got a shot of Thor's Hammer, one of th