Bryce Canyon And Kodachrome State Park Days 3 and 4

This is part two of our trip to Bryce Canyon National Park and Kodachrome Basin State Park. This one will be a little more than a stub article as it will include all of the viewpoints in Bryce Canyon. If you want to view part one, you can do that with the following links.

Days 1 and 2: Kodachrome Basin State Park

Panorama Trail
Grand Parade Trail
Angels Palace Trail

Day 3: Bryce Canyon

After a long day of hiking in Kodachrome Basin State Park yesterday, we thought we’d do another long day of hiking in Bryce Canyon. So off to the park we go. We been here twice now, last time in winter and we just really love it here.

After having a nice breakfast we decided to head towards the park.

Just starting to see the pink cliffs on the way out of town (DBP).

Passing the park sign on HW 12 (DBP). It might surprise some people that the park extends down here, There is even a trail.

The Mossy Cave trailhead (DBP). We did this last year and it was neat. We ended up doing it again this trip.

Another sign on HW63 (the main road for Bryce Canyon) (DBP).

Starting the day with a quick wildlife sighting (DBP). Hello deer!

We did a quick stop by the visitor center. I like this sign.

I forgot how much I love the forest up here.

Our first stop is Sunrise point.

A lot of the points are get out and look, but some of them require a short walk. This one is about 0.2 miles to the point, paved.

Walking out to the viewpoint is a little disconcerting. It looks like the world just comes to a stop.

Just breathtaking. I believe this is Boat Mesa.

Quick panoramic. Not quite from the point, but almost.

So pretty.

We decided to do the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop Trail It was incredible! Above is the Queen Victoria Hoodoo, one of the many incredible sights on the trail

That took us to Sunset Point. In case you didn’t get here via trail, this one is about 500 feet, paved from parking lot to viewpoint.

Looking down into Wall Street.

Looking out of the amphitheater.

Wall Street again.

Lots of hoodoos.

More hoodoos.

Thor’s Hammer. You can see this closer on the Two Bridges segment of the Navajo Loop.

Looking across and out of the amphitheater.

Panoramic.

After a long hike we decided it was time for lunch. We decided to see what the general store had. We found some chili and some bread and with the blustery day thought that would be perfect. We purchased our food and proceeded to enjoy lunch in the picnic area outside.

While enjoying lunch I enjoyed watching this little bird flit about.

I had planned to do 4 trails in the park on this trip. 2 shorter, 2 longer. I did not anticipate doing the 2 longer trails on the same day, but you know,after having lunch we were up for the 2nd longer trail and decided that is what we would do.So, Tower Bridge was next.

Tower Bridge. This trail is my new favorite trail in the park. So neat!

After Tower Bridge we decided to do the main lookouts, and maybe one last easy trail.

The best way to enjoy the scenic lookouts is to drive the 18 miles to the south end of the park, and hit the view points on the way back. The reason for this is all of the view points are on the east side of the road. this way you are not making a ton of left turns, and instead are pulling in to the right, and pulling out to the right.

Driving to the south end of the park (DBP).

Hitting the fire damaged area (DBP).

Pink cliffs (DBP).

Rainbow Point, end of the line, the furthest south point, and also the highest elevation. Random tip I have learned amongst my adventures, take a picture of the point of interest sign. That way you know the subsequent pictures are from that area. I have learned that it really helps, particularly in a park like Bryce Canyon that has a lot of lookouts. They can start to blend together.

Pretty view.

Panoramic. You can see the Black Mountains off in the distance.

After this we did the Bristlecone Pine Loop. It’s a nice easy 1 mile loop out to a 1600 year old bristlecone pine.

On the way over to Yovimpa Point (same parking lot) we found this unafraid crow. We useually see them at Agua Canyon but today up here.

It is neat to see it so close, look at the size of it’s beak! Sadly though, this is a sign that people have been feeding it.

Next stop, Yovimpa Point. Oddly enough, we somehow have never done this one.

This one is about a 10th of a mile out to the point.

Nice view point, and a little different than most of the other ones.

Panoramic. The pamphlet says this and Rainbow Pow Point are some of the longest views in North America.

White cliffs. I like that the white is running down over the red.

Pretty forest.

Heading back north on the park road on the way to the other view points (DBP).

There are 2 or 3 random un-named pullouts with a view. this is the southernmost one.

To the north.

The next named viewpoint is Black Birch Canyon. This one includes a short walk of about 150 feet out to the view point.

$100 dollar penalty for going off trail. Or, you know, your life. High cliffs here.

Kind of pretty.

Iddy biddy window.

Nice view here.

View from the next unnamed turnout.

The next viewpoint is Ponderosa Point.

This might be a peregrine falcon, but I didn’t get my telephoto lens out in time to get a better view so I don’t know for sure.

On to the view.

Narrow gap.

View.

Panoramic.

Next stop, Agua Canyon. I must say my new habit of taking pictures of the viewpoint signs has helped tremendously telling the different viewpoints apart.

Hoodoos.

This one is called The Hunter.

With other hoodoos.

A little closer you can see some plants growing on the top.

To the north ish.

Another unnamed pullout.

This is one of my favorite viewpoints, Natural Bridge.

Like the park name, it is a misnomer. Bryce Canyon is not a canyon, it is a series of amphitheaters, and Natural Bridge does not span over water, so it is technically an arch. But, it is pretty.

Pretty colors.

Steep drop beneath it.

Information sign explaining what I just did. Bridges are formed by rushing water, arches by wind and ice. A couple of the signs appear to need replacing up here.

One last look.

Pretty forest along the road (DBP).

Next stop, Farview Point.

Little arch below.

The view.

You can see the Henry Mountains from here as well. It’s that faint lump in the middle.

Panoramic.

From the same parking lot is a short, 980 foot long dirt trail out to Piracy Point. Come to think of it, I am pretty sure we have never done this one either.

Nice little trail through the woods.

Looking back towards Farview Point.

Pretty view.

That cliff face looks fairly raw. Like it may have collapsed recently.

Panoramic.

Formations below.

Pretty views to the north.

Exiting the small loop back to the short trail back to the parking lot.

The amphitheater walls.

Pretty forest.

Entering a burn scar (DBP).

One of the cool things I have learned is that originally forest service people thought fires were devastating and did what they could to suppress them as quickly as they could. However, they have since learned that fire is a natural process that clears out dense forests and forests that go too long start getting diseases which create even worse fire conditions so now they generally tend to let naturally caused fires burn, while monitoring them.

You can already see the undergrowth is coming back up and doing just fine here (DBP).

Next stop is Swamp Canyon.

Very pretty.

Pretty hoodoos.

We saw some deer but they surprised us, so we decided to try and turn around and well.. hello what is this? A wild turkey. Of all the places to see a wild turkey, I did not expect it to be here.

The deer crossed the road and were quickly lost. But, if we hadn’t turned around to see deer (I know I know, deer are super common, but this was a wildlife slow trip) we would not have seen the turkey.

Turning around again to keep heading down the turkey is still hanging out, although we kind of startled it pulling over.

Pretty bird.

Next stop: Bryce Point. This one is about 600 feet out, paved.

Pretty view.

Random enough, we can see Tropic, the town we are staying in, from here.

Fun hoodoos.

The Grotto.

Panoramic of it.

Closer view.

Whoa! They have seriously improved the area and made it a lot safer, and it appears, even ADA accessible. Let me see…

Here is what it looked like in 2014. With the fog Landis had to talk me down through it.

The Grotto again.

This is still one of my favorite viewpoints.

Another panoramic.

Looking out of the amphitheater.

Wonderful colors.

Still just marveling at the improvement here.

Our last viewpoint is Paria View. We somehow have never managed to hit this one either.

This one is about 2/10ths of a mile, paved from parking lot to viewpoint.

With great views along the way.

The days last light catching on the rocks across the way.

View from the viewpoint. You should be able to see the Paria River out there, but I think it might be too dark.

Tried to zoom in and lighten it a bit but still cant really see it. Should have saved this for the next day, or at least came back.

Panoramic.

You walk past the tops of the hoodoos to the left here to get to the viewpoint.

View below, and the tops of the hoodoos from the previous picture.

We were rapidly losing light but thought we’d hit Inspiration Point on the way back.

View. Not quite from the official viewpoint. That is about a 3/10 mile walk and we were done walking today. But you can see a view with a short walk from the parking lot.

Panoramic.

Hoodoos.

I think that is the Peek-A-Boo Canyon trail.

More hoodoos.

The trail up to the viewpoint.

Between losing the light, the fact that we didn’t want to walk anymore, etc. We decided to call it a day and head back to the room. There is one viewpoint left that we have never seen before, Fairyland. So we decided we’d come back the next day.

Terrible drive by photo of a deer (DBP). Only one of a small group.

A few more in this field (DBP). I have a feeling the previous group might have been heading this way.

More on the other side of the road (DBP).

Getting way to dark for drive by pictures, but there were a bunch of deer in this field as well just outside of town (DBP).

Well that was a long, full day of adventuring! We saw quite a few new things we haven’t seen before so that was really cool!

After the days adventure we decided to have dinner. The restaurant next to the hotel had a wait, of indeterminable time, so we found something in the general store and were happy with that.

Day 4: More Bryce Canyon, and the drive home.

While enjoying my coffee I decided to wander across the road and check out what I might be able to see of Bryce Canyon from down here. Not too shabby.

After that we packed up and checked out of the hotel. We were thinking about staying another night but it looks like a storm is coming in so we decided to head home. We were still planning to do Mossy Cave today though, and while turning in the key I asked about the Ebenezer Bryce Historic Cabin, but apparently it is being restored at the moment. Darn. All righty, back to Bryce. First stop, Mossy Cave!

After a nice hike to Mossy Cave and the Tropic Ditch waterfall our legs just about gave out on us. We decided to hit the Fairyland Viewpoint because we have never done that one before.

Heading back west on HW12 (DBP).

The main park sign (DBP).

Stallers Jay near the visitor center.

Better shot of the sign in front of the visitor center.

The short 1 mile road out to Fairyland Viewpoint (DBP). This is just before the fee stations for the park.

Last view point of the park, that also happens to be new to us as well. I don't  know how we have missed it, twice, other than it is before the park gate.

Wow! This is a cool viewpoint.

Panoramic. That is Boat Mesa to the right.

That hoodoo is like a smaller Thor’s Hammer.

I think now, on our 3rd visit (as adults) we can officially say we have been to every viewpoint within the park! I kind of wish we had gone back to a couple of them that we visited last night after the sun started setting, but we still had a long drive ahead of us.

The road to Fairyland (DBP).

Pretty forest (DBP).

Deer! (DBP).

Of course no trip to Bryce Canyon would be complete without a stop at Ruby’s Inn. Lately I have a habit of picking up random fossils while on vacation.

I got a nice Othoceras (Cephalopod) specimen.

There was a sign that said more fossils at the fossil store in the Old Bryce Town shops across the street. of course it didn’t mention that it was closed for the season. Darn. But the old west style shops is kind of fun.

Huge chunk of petrified wood.

After that we really decided it was time to head on down the road.

Entering Red Canyon (DBP).

They are doing some maintenance on the tunnels and we were stopped waiting for our turn to go around. I looked over and saw Butch Cassidy Draw (DBP - I define drive by photos as pictures taken from a moving car, or through a closed window of a car).

Said construction (DBP). Don’t worry, they are just replacing the concrete mixture on the inside of the tunnels.

More of Red Canyon (DBP).

We had planned to explore other areas that are accessed on dirt roads, but car issues, so we didn’t want to risk it. Speaking of car issues, the car apparently did not like the wait for construction and started overheating. So we pulled into the main visitor center parking lot.

While waiting for the car to cool down, we decided to do the Hoodoo Trail. I wanted to add the Pink Ledges trail, but after the long days of hiking we did, out legs barely made it along the short Hoodoo Trail. Oi.

However the trail did give the car enough time to cool down and we were able to push on to Panguitch and see what we could do about the car. We managed a band-aid which did get us back home safely.

More Red Canyon (DBP).

Heading down the hill towards Panguitch (DBP).

Downtown Panguitch (DBP).

We had a couple ideas of places we wanted to stop on the way home, however with the car acting up we had hit the ‘Oh jiminy, just get us home safely’ mode. Car troubles can sure ruin a vacation rather quickly. However, all things considered, we still had a great vacation! I can recall 2 vacations in another lifetime with another partner where we had car troubles and the stress of feeling like we might be stranded (pre-cell phone days) was real and it really just ruined the vacation. This trip we had a couple stressful moments but overall, it wasn’t bad at all. We changed a few plans and made the most of it, and most of all made it home without too much stress. Also, so far it appears the car will recover. Phew!

Heading up the pass on HW20 (DBP). This was the real test, in my mind, to see if the car would get us home safely as it is the steepest, highest pass. No issues here.

Dark clouds above (DBP). It kept looking like it was going to rain on us, but we escaped it mostly. But it did make me happy we decided to head back when we did.

Patch of purple flowers (DBP).

Mount Nebo (DBP). You can explore that a little closer on the Nebo Loop.

Well, we made it home safely. We had a wonderful trip and saw some familiar stuff, and a bunch of new stuff. I love Bryce Canyon, I now love Kodachrome Basin, Again, I had ideas to explore different areas, but I am happy with what we did do. this was a wonderful spring vacation. I am happy that we found enough alternate adventures to make this a packed, fun filled trip. And of course, we still have reason to return.