Framedlight

It was getting on in the day by the time we finished our 'under the rim' experience, so we drove out of the Canyon to the rather nasty, so called, Bryce City. A motley collection of petrol stations and cheap diners. Here we had a pretty indifferent meal before we headed back in, past the visitor centre now closed, to do a little sunset photography. A couple of wild turkeys strutted across the road in front of us, these ones don't have to worry about Christmas, or Thanksgiving. We ended up at Swamp Canyon, I am not sure why because it is not the most scenic look out. I think we must have missed the turning for Inspiration Point and had to carry on because it was getting dark.  Anyway it was quiet which was good. The pink colours of the sky looked good against the red rock, although, as expected, no light was falling on the Canyon.

One of the most popular walks in Bryce is the Navajo Loop Trail which starts at Sunset Point, goes down from the rim on to the valley floor and meanders round the hoodoos before coming up to Sunrise Point. In September, a little off season, it was not too busy so Mike and I gave it a go. Here are some of the pictures from this journey, apologies for the high number. You can see how impressive the rock formations are when you are in amongst them. When the sun was out everything seemed to glow red. The eponymous Ebenezer Bryce who homesteaded here in the 1870's said that 'it's a helluva place to lose a cow'. Mike in Bryce Mule deer crossing the scree

After some lunch we got ourselves to Sunset Point, another spectacular overlook. We met up with about 6 other people and went on a short geological walk with one of the park rangers (a rather dippy one) along the edge of the Canyon rim to Sunrise Point. We learnt all about the Grand Staircase and the formation of Bryce, as well as a little about the trees. We all had a sniff of the trunk of the cotton candy tree, which does smell sweet! But first here is an American robin who was hanging round the car park. The sun started to break through and really lit up the rock formations. Here is a general view looking out towards the Aquarius Plateau. This little limber pine is still hanging on. They live to great ages and this one must be quite old if you look at the amount of erosion around it's roots. Here is the Navajo Loop Trail which runs under the rim of the canyon, between Sunset and Sunrise Point. It is the most popular walk in the park and we wer...