Bryce Canyon National Park

After a great night's sleep in the cool air of Bryce Canyon, most of us slept in.  Jeff was up and at it early to do P90X and some work.  The forecast today was 0% chance of rain, so we were pretty excited to do some hiking.

With a bit of a late start, we headed into Bryce Canyon National Park.  It's a relatively small park, with only about 20 miles or so of road and about 10 pullouts with viewpoints.  Our first stop was the Visitor Center so the kids could get their Junior Ranger booklets and we could get some information on good hikes. The ranger gave us two recommendations at each end of the park to try.  We got back to the Jeep and took the top down so we'd have an unobstructed view.

The guide recommends driving to the end of the park without stopping and then getting out at the viewpoints on the way back, when all the pullouts are on the right side of the road. 

It didn't take long for Jeff to spot some pronghorn on his side of the road, and then some deer.  We climbed in elevation as we went deeper in the park, to more than 9,100 feet at the Rainbow Viewpoint.  The views from the rim are amazing.  At the next five or six stops, the views are of Bryce Canyon from different angles, revealing different formations, including arches and hoodoos.

All of the viewpoints are great, but the Natural Bridge one was really amazing.  The sign says it's an arch and not a natural bridge, but the original name has stuck.

There are ravens here at Bryce too, and I think they've figured out the best places where tourists leave snacks behind, because at one stop, they were stalking the sidewalk and seemed to have no fear of people. 

As we were headed to Sunset Point, the clouds forming above had gotten darker, and it started to rain.  We pulled over and put the top back on the Jeep.  Just as we were pulling out, Jeff spotted a mule deer resting in the shade of trees off to the left.

The rain got harder, so we bypassed Sunset Point and went into the general store.  We browsed a bit, but this rain shower wasn't passing so fast. And now it wasn't just raining, there was hail coming down too! 

Facing the incorrect weather prediction, we decided not to head toward the spot of our hike, but instead to go get lunch. We headed to Ruby's Diner for a good lunch.  On the way, we saw some prairie dogs in a meadow.  Ruth and Henry were very excited to check them out.

After lunch, the skies were still full of gray clouds, so we took a drive on Route 12 east to see what we could see.  Route 12 is an All American Road, which means it has unique scenery.  We went as far as Escalante National Monument.  It was a very scenic drive for the time we drove it.  But Jeff promised Ruth her pool time at 4:00 p.m., so we headed back.



Storms overhead at Bryce



We've come to learn that dark clouds threaten Bryce frequently, but the clouds move pretty quickly.  Sometimes the storm clouds bypass us and sometimes they don't.  Ruth lucked out because the dark clouds passed to the south of us while she and Henry were in the pool today.

We're taking a break at the RV now, gearing up for the Western Dinner tonight with singing cowboys.  I don't know who's more excited about it - Jeff or the kids.