Saturday - November 29, 2008

Last night didn’t go below freezing so it didn’t get as cold as forecast – gotta like that. Today was a nice sunny day, with highs in the high 40’s here in Panguitch, but it was much colder at Bryce Canyon (just a couple of degrees above freezing) with a brutally cold wind.

Our Spot At Hitch-N-Post Campground



What a beautiful drive again today, to get to Bryce Canyon we had to go through Red Canyon then had a beautiful view of Table Cliff Plateau – and the best was yet to come.

Red Canyon





Table Cliff Plateau



Our first stop was at Bryce Canyon Visitor’s Centre and was it busy – we have been used to the quiet Visitor’s Centres at Arches and Canyonlands so today was a real change, guess it is because it was the weekend as well as the Thanksgiving holiday. From the Visitor’s Centre we took the scenic drive along the top of the canyon but because of the snow the road was closed at Ponderosa Canyon (elevation 8904’) so we couldn’t go to the end. We drove out to Ponderosa Canyon then stopped at all the scenic views on the way back. There was lots of snow – what, didn’t we leave Ontario to avoid this!!! At one point we stopped at a pullover that wasn’t plowed and John got out to take some pictures and the snow was well over the tops of his shoes – thank goodness for gortex lined shoes!!!

I was really disappointed that there was no hiking today as it would have been neat to hike down around the Hoodoos, but all the trails were snow covered and I wasn’t about to tackle them and end up slipping and falling so we had to make do with the overlooks. With the cold temperatures (about 35F) and the wind it wasn’t really nice to spend a lot of time outside anyways, guess we are just wussies.

I hope you aren’t terribly bored with pictures of rock formations as there are a lot of them today. Bryce is know for its Hoodoos, which are rock formations that at one time were fins, which developed windows, that later collapsed to form Hoodoos – a very brief description of how they are formed.







Natural Bridge



Snow On Trees



One of Us Was Smart Enough to Bring a Touque



And More Hoodoos











And We Saw This Pretty Bird



It was another pretty drive through Red Canyon on the way back home. When we got back we stopped at the one and only grocery store in Panguitch, pretty sad and pricey, took a drive through town and then came home and warmed up after our day in frigid temperatures.

Red Canyon On The Return Trip







And so ends another great gift of a day and we are looking forward to tomorrow and exploring more of this part of Utah, do come back and see what our day was like.