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Showing posts with the label Yovimpa Point

Glorious Utah, a drive down Bryce Canyon and a sunset at Bryce Point

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After the marmots and a talk by one of the park rangers, Anne needed to see the rest of Bryce. As I explained in an earlier blog, Bryce Canyon is not a true canyon but rather a cliff face which is being eroded back by the action of frost and water. As you drive the length of Bryce there are stopping points where there are scenic overviews. These are mainly amphitheatres where for some reason a bite has been taken out of the side of the cliff, and erosion has created the dramatic hoodoo formations. The road and the Canyon finish in the south at Yovimpa Point and this is where we started. I did not take a large number of pictures as I had already done that on my previous visit with Mike, so I will just show a few. We ended the day at Bryce Point, as the sun was setting. Bryce is not the best place for sunset as it faces east, but I gave it a go! The clouds became quite heavy as the sun set but cleared in the 'blue hour'. Yovimpa Point The Backpacker, Agua Canyon

Glorious Utah, first steps into Bryce

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Feeling rather bloated after our late lunch of fish and chips, we thought we should drive down to the Canyon, get our pass, have a quick trip to the Visitor Centre and start exploring. On the road from Panguitch into Bryce you pass through another park called Red Canyon, for obvious reasons. We stopped there for a brief look around but decided to move out when a tourist bus arrived and we were inundated by the human tide. We passed mule deer feeding on the side of the road and an area of burnt trees as we drove into Bryce. Bryce Canyon runs roughly north south and lies at the northern edge of the Grand Staircase, a huge geological area which extends from southern Utah down through Zion to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon, The rocks are sedimentary, the youngest being at Bryce and the oldest at the Grand Canyon. They are classified according to their colour, Bryce being comprised of a pink stone known as the Claron Formation. Bryce is not a true cany