Our Travels

We had planned on getting up for sunrise, but were so tired from the previous days hiking we decided ‘sleep in’ until a whopping 7 am.

 

We packed up our things, got one last look at the view from the balcony and went to the lobby to checkout. While Jenn was in checking out, I stopped in their little café and picked up a lite breakfast.

 

We decided to check out a couple more sights on our way out of Zion. One was the Canyon Overlook trail.

 

The sign said this was an easy .5 mile trail to a nice overlook point. However I will have to Google Earth this because it felt like much much more. The view was nice, but after the 10+ miles of hiking the day before, I would have preferred an elevator.

 

After we hiked back from Canyon overlook, we stopped at Checkerboard Mesa. We really didn’t see the ‘checkerboard’ but oh well. We took some pics anyway:

 

After that amazing site we continued to our next destination. Bryce Canon National Park.

 

Bryce has an 18 mile scenic trail that is best viewed from the end of the scenic route to the beginning since all the pull offs are to the left. So we did just that.  As we drove higher and higher the temperature dropped ad the wind increased. We finally reached the first view point. When we got out, we were quite surprised by just how cold and windy it was. We had just came from 80 degree weather in Zion to mounds of snow in Bryce.

 

The first overlook was beautiful, and as we continued back down the route the scenery got better and better. Here are some of our favorites:

 

 

Bryce is famous for its Hoodoo Amphitheater. Hoodoos are basically large Redstone pillars that are remnants of once solid land. 

 

Once we completed all but 3 of the overlooks we stopped at Bryce Lodge for lunch. It was way overpriced and not very good, but they did have their own microbrewery, so that was nice. Their Pale Ale was excellent.

 

After lunch we had planned on doing a 3 mile hike that required us to descend about 500 ft, which while that was nothing compared to the 2,000 + we ascended in Zion, we heard hikers talking about the trail icing over…so we decided to bail on that one.

 

Instead we finished up the scenic drive, and attempted to check in early. The cabin was ready so we drove over and took our stuff inside.

 

The cabin was modestly appointed, but what can you expect from a cabin inside a remote national park. It did have a fireplace which came in handy since the temps dropped into the 20’s and snow moved in overnight.

 

We took a short nap to recharge and then went into town for some dinner. We ended up eating at Bryce Canyon Pines restaurant. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but the menu was pretty diverse and the food ended up being pretty darn good. They are for their pies, so we were FORCED to try them. Jenn got a banana & strawberry cream pie, while I had a peach pie with ice cream. They were both fantastic, and I fear I will forever crave homecooked peach pie.

After dinner we went back to the cabin and decided to upload some pictures to the computer, and then call it a night. 

Tags: Out West 2009

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