Monday 4th May – Bryce Canyon National Park

We drove from Knights Inn, Panguitch, Utah to Bryce Canyon National Park, then on through Zion National Park to Sprindgdale, UtahThe road through Bryce Canyon National Park follows a ridgeline overlooking amazing rock formationsDetail showing the amazing landscape on the walk into Bryce CanyonOur new mascot, Chirpy the Unusually Quiet Bird

Day

After a lovely sleep in a huge king bed we packed and checked out just on eleven. We drove to Bryce Canyon National Park and spent the rest of the day there. We started with a walk which had a lot of steep downhill sections, which hurt my knee enough that by the end of the day I wasn’t able to go on any further walks.

The national park—and especially that first walk—was very cool. Lots of crazy rock spires.

Canyons in Bryce Canyon National ParkNumerous “hoodoos” all over the placePeople walking down into a canyonBronwen looking over the hoodoosHoodoos in the Bryce Canyon National ParkPeople walking around the parkOne of the many canyons in the parkBronwen in a tunnelHoodoos surrounding one of the many amphitheatresThe walls of the amphitheatres were all sculpted like thisBronwen in another tunnelBronwen walking down into one of the amphitheatresA “little planet” from a small hill within one of the amphitheatresAnother “little planet” from nearbyYet another “little planet”, showing just how large some of the hoodoos areEverywhere at the bottom of the amphitheatres was surrounded by hoodoosBronwen sits and reads surrounded by friendly rocksBronwen in front of some of the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National ParkOne of the first small and cute animals we sawBronwen on the walk out of the first amphitheatreThe rocks were a mix of vibrant coloursThe steep and windy path out of the first amphitheatreLooking back down into the first amphitheatreThe path out of the first amphitheatrePeople walking the wrong way down into the amphitheatrePeople snaking their way out of one of the amphitheatresWorkmen fixing a pathA valley full of hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National ParkAnother view of the same valleyCanyons full of hoodoosDeep canyons surrounded by towering hoodoosHoodoos as far as the eye can seeBronwen overlooking a hoodoo-filled canyon at Bryce Canyon National ParkA hoodoo-filled amphitheatre in Bryce CanyonSeemingly endless hoodoosMore and more hoodoosA spectacular view down into the valleyThousands and thousands of hoodoosApparently it is quite dangerous, especially for bicyclesBronwen looking down into Bryce Canyon, which still has some snow on itOne of the canyons further into the national parkA slighly less hoodoo-filled canyon further into the national park

Night

After finishing looking at the things in Bryce Canyon, and once again just as it began to sprinkle a little, we drove to Zion National Park, and out the other side of it into a small park at Springdale, where we stopped and made some dinner.

We met two other couples there also both looking for places to spend the night—a French couple and a Kiwi couple. The Kiwi couple told us there’s a Walmart about a half hour drive away, but we ended up spending the night in the park.

Bronwen cooking dinner in a park at Springdale