Bryce Canyon

After breakfast we headed out to the first of the two “must see” places that the trip was built around, Bryce Canyon National Park.

Unfortunately, our first impression was one of disappointment. We decided to drive to the end of the road and visit all the viewpoints on the way back as they would be on that side of the road. The drive was through wooded areas and probably for the first 15 or so miles there was no indication of “spectacular scenery” that we had been used to just driving public highways for the last few days, perhaps we have been spoiled? We then started climbing up to 9100 ft and started getting glimpses of the red rock that Utah is famous for.

At the top our spirits lifted some as there was, after all, some scenery once we got out of the car at the overlook.

We stopped many times at various viewpoints on the way and were not disappointed with the view.

I would not like to do this trip at peak season though, almost every parking spot at the viewpoints was taken, with no opportunity to park other than in designated areas.

Below are some of the scenes. A Natural Arch

Results of a Lightning Strike Fire

We managed to get in a reasonable walk at the far end of the park, but any up hill climbs sure takes it out of you at 9100 ft!

For anyone planning a visit, be sure to take the side road off to Bryce Point, that was well worth it, and probably had the best views in the park. Bryce had redeemed itself by the time we returned to the park gates.

We started the drive to our hotel, and made a few stops along the way, one being a couple of arches across the road

We also took a side road off to a couple of canyon trail heads just to make the car dirty again!

We finally reached out destination of Hatch, Utah population 124 and checked into our accommodation. No big name hotels around here, just some comfy row cabins. Hotels in this area below $250 US are hard to find!