Bryce Canyon National Park
Read the first part, about our time in Zion National Park.
Day 4 (continued): Arriving to Bryce Canyon
As we were approaching Bryce Canyon, our first thoughts were not to see the scenic overlooks, but to find lunch! We were staying in Bryce Canyon City, right outside the park, but the nearby restaurants did not have many good reviews. I thought that this might be typical of a small town, however, it was also odd to C and myself that every business seemed to be associated with Ruby’s Inn. We did a little more research, and realized that Bryce Canyon City is actually a company town, owned by the Syrett family. In the 1910s, Rueben “Ruby” and Clara Syrett moved to the area to homestead near Bryce Canyon. They learned that tourism would be more lucrative than ranching, and started hosting visitors to the area. Now, most of the residents of this town are relatives or work for the family. There has been controversy surrounding their incorporation as a town in 2007. With this change, the taxes from tourism went back to Bryce Canyon City to enhance the family business, rather than Garfield County, while they continue to use the county’s services.
That being said, we drove to the nearby town of Tropic for lunch, i.d.k. barbecue. I had a loaded potato with pulled pork. C had brisket with sides of corn bread and macaroni and cheese. It was tasty and affordable.
Now that we were fueled up again, we were energized to tackle another hike. The weather change was noticeable, as it was considerably cooler in Bryce Canyon. We had gained about 4000 feet of elevation on our drive here. We decided to visit Navajo Loop and Queen’s Garden trail, about a 3.1 mile loop. Unfortunately, the Wall Street portion of the hike was closed due to rock fall. At the Sunset Point trailhead, we were immediately taken aback by the beautiful views of orange and red rock spires, known as hoodoos. We were not alone in our amazement because we were followed by a bus load of Chinese tourists, with very audible ooh’s and aah’s, as they took in these otherworldly sights. We saw landmark hoodoos, such as Thor’s Hammer and Queen Victoria.
After our hike, we returned to our hotel. I was very glad that we had heat, since the temperatures overnight dipped into the teens. We had ramen noodles for dinner.
Day 5: Tower Bridge trail
C and I woke up and walked over to the free buffet breakfast offered by our hotel. It was chilly out! Later, C had to scrape the ice off the windshield before we started our drive to the park. We had initially planned to do the Fairyland loop trail, but decided to be easy on ourselves. Instead, we hiked a portion of the trail to see the tower bridge. This was a 3.4 mile out and back trail.
This was not one of the more popular hikes, but it was one of my favorites. It was interesting to see hoodoos in all stages of “life,” shaped over millions of years. I felt like it was a visual display of the ephemeral nature of life. It felt somber at times. We saw “babies,” just starting their journeys into becoming a hoodoos. We saw magnificent windows and towering chimneys, which you would see featured on the front pages of travel guides. We saw the forgotten hoodoos, past their prime, weathered over time, and stretches of sand dunes where hoodoos had returned to dust. It reminds me of Genesis 3:19, “… til you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And, as C would say “In the end, time makes hoodoos of us all.”
Once we finished the hike, C and I decided to go back to the bbq place for a late lunch. We are creatures of habit, and they had good food! We both ordered brisket plates. Yum!
Our last activity in Bryce was to drive through the park. It’s not a very long drive, about 20 miles. I downloaded the National Park Service app, where they had a guided audio tour. We stopped at most of the 13 scenic overlooks, starting at Rainbow Point at the southernmost end of the park. At 9115 feet, it also had the highest viewpoints in the park. At Agua Canyon, C and I saw two prominent hoodoos, “The Hunter” and the “Rabbit.” And, C and I were impressed when stopping to see the Natural Bridge.
Day 6: Snow Canyon State Park, Hoover Dam, and traveling back home
C and I had been amazed every second of this trip, and we were sad to see it end. We often said to each other, “Can you even believe the views?!” and felt grateful for the privilege of being able to travel here. Even though it was the last day, our flight wasn’t leaving until around 9:45pm that evening. And, by driving back toward Las Vegas, we would gain another hour.
Initially, we had thought about walking along the Las Vegas strip, but we are not really into the glitz and glam of the city. We had spent so much time marveling at natural wonders, that we felt unimpressed by man-made structures. Instead, we decided to explore Snow Canyon state park in Ivins, Utah. On our way there, we stopped for hot drinks at Wanderlust Coffee in Panguitch. We almost drove right past it, as it was a little hut on the side of the road.
At Snow Canyon, we went on the Butterfly and Lava Rocks trail. We came across three lava tubes, almost missing the first one (or lava tube #3) that was not marked on the map. We climbed down into the lava tube with our headlamps, but I was too nervous to go too far. Lava tube #1 also looked pretty impressive. C was going to climb down into it, originally thinking it was deserted. However, about 15 teenagers soon emerged, and we decided to keep walking along the trail. It was amazing that they all fit! And, that we didn’t notice them initially because they were loud!
We had lunch at Viva Chicken, learning that they originated in Charlotte, NC. The chicken was good, but not as good as our favorite Peruvian chicken restaurant back home. We both think they had better side dishes though, and C enjoyed the sweet potato fries. We also had smoothies at The Orange Peel. I had been craving a smoothie all trip – Utah is hot and dry during the day!
The next stop was the Hoover Dam. The most interesting part for me was not necessarily seeing this engineering marvel, but listening to a podcast about its inception on the drive there; learning about how they harnessed the power of the Colorado River, the design of the arch-gravity dam, and the perils of working as a high scaler. It was also fascinating to see how much the water level had dropped at Lake Mead.
For the perfect ending to our trip, we stopped at C’s favorite place before going to the airport – Pucks, for another chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream. Yum!