The Beauty of Bryce

So there’s these big, colorful rock thingies around here. Apparently, they’re quite famous. Perhaps the only ones like them in the world. They are rather beautiful and it is hard not to be entranced by the hoodoos. The rock here is mainly limestone, which can absorb water, and is topped by a harder dolcomite. This area has on average 200 days a year where the temperature dips below 32 degrees at night and rises above that during the day. This leads to a type of erosion known as frost wedging, which shatters and breaks the weak rock apart. Eventually, holes form, called ice windows. The holes get larger and larger until they can no longer support the rock above them. This rock collapses, forming a notch. As the notch deepens, the spire lengthens, forming the hoodoo. The colors come from different iron (yellow and red) and manganese (pink and violet) deposits in the stone.

(Hint: clicking on the photo below will lead you to some others we took at Bryce Canyon.)

Bryce Canyon

We're Still Feeling It, But It Was Definitely Worth It

Grand Canyon

(Hint: Clicking on the above photo will take you to a collection of pictures from our mule ride into the Grand Canyon.)

Phew, Room at the Inn

We were deciding between Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks . . . we were unable to get reservations on either. We read that the campsites at Zion are in mostly desert, at the bottom of the canyon (so, hot) and Bryce had Ponderosa Pine sites with what appeared to be ample first-come, first-served locations. So it was on to Bryce. And here we are with a dusty campsite, just got out of a sweeping ranger talk on the geology of the entire region and are plotting our next move.

PORCUPINE!!!

We’ll Feel This For Several Days, But We’ll Remember It Forever

Today was the day we’d been training for since January. Our mule ride. We had been hesitant to the point of almost chickening out but boy are we glad we stuck with the plan!

Mules, it turns out, are fascinating creatures. The product of the union between a female horse and male donkey, they are more sure-footed than horses because their eyes are set slightly farther apart on their heads so they can actually see all four of their feet. This is helpful when the path is narrow and the consequences of a mis-step can be severe. They are also are naturally inclined not to drink a lot of water in the middle of the day, which is helpful on a day-long ride. A horse can be trained to tank up but mules tend to do their drinking early and late (they can go through 15 gallons of water in a 24 hour period). Festus and Pumpkin got along very well, which is why they were put together in the line. Scott was fortunate enough to be right behind our guide, Swaney, who was training a three year old mule named Slim. Swaney would slap his reigns against his leather chaps every now and then to get Slim acclimated to sudden noises, the better to keep him from spooking when a paying customer is on board. Mules can live over thirty years and can work well into their twenties.

Swaney was a gem. He’s the type of guy you can ask a yes or no question and get a 15 minute answer. Unfortunately, Scott couldn’t think of any questions (just kidding). Swaney knew many of the plants (Century Flower was our favorite) were riding by, He was exceptionally knowledgeable about rocks and geology, and, obviously, mules. We’re sore. Our knees hurt a little, but mostly it’s the sit bones. We’ll recover, but we’ll feel it for a while.

Lunch

Through all our trips, we try to end up with a memorable lunch spot or two. Two years ago we had an amazing vista of fields and mountains near Devil’s Tower. That year we also forded the Snake River to have sandwiches on a log. Last year we dined on a sandbar when we went white water rafting. This year we took a 2 ½ mile (one way) hike on the Widforss Trail and found a spot on a rocky outcropping with great views. A little scary getting in and out though!

Thoughts on the North Rim

We’ve been enjoying our time here. The fauna is plentiful – plenty of mule deer, a coyote, many different birds, and tons of butterflies. We even saw a Kaibab squirrel that is only found here on the North Rim and no where else in the world (too fast for the camera, though!).

The flora is beautiful, with towering ponderosa pines, lupine meadows, and aspen groves – very Colorado-esque.

And of course the stunning vistas.

Unexpected Bonus: People Watching

We walked a ½ mile trail before dinner to catch the sunset. We perched on a rock and watched the parade of tourists coming to snap photos. Many languages were spoken, and there were some very impressive camera setups (most notably by the Japanese contingent of four 20-something men). The jockeying for position on a small space was deeply humorous as everyone seemed to want the same shot.

It is a Dry Heat but . . .

So Tuesday night we slept in the Glen Canyon recreation area because our trip through Monument Valley meant we wouldn’t make the Grand Canyon that day. When we turned off the car at around 10 PM (Mountain Standard Time = 1 AM Eastern Daylight Savings Time . . . Arizona being the only state not to observe daylight savings), the thermometer read 92 degrees. Hard weather to sleep in. Fortunately, there was a good breeze and our tent opens up quite a bit to let the air in.

Then on Wednesday, when we settled in at the forest site, the temperature on the car at 10 PM read 42 degrees (forecasts said the low would be 32). Fortunately, our tent holds its temperature pretty well when it’s all buttoned up. We piled on the clothes and used all of our cold weather gear and we were fine.

Tonight’s low is predicted to be 28. We're working on our sunburns, a trick we picked up last year.

No Room at the Inn

Our trip to the North Rim from Glen Canyon was very scenic as it took us right past the Vermillion Cliffs (Scott was disappointed to learn that “Vermillion” is just a code word for “red” . . . not one of his best colors).

We had been lured to the North Rim by a number of websites which suggested that it was the “quiet” side, with more trees and fewer people. Hmm. If that’s the case, then the South Rim must be intolerable. We were greeted at the entrance station with a sign that said sorry, campsite full. The lodge was full too. Directly north of the park is the Kaibab National Forest. The nice ranger at the ranger station said there was a ton of dispersed camping in that area. Just drive in, find a place you like, and set up. We pitched our tent four miles in, just past the trailhead for the East Rim overlook, which connects to the Arizona trail, a trail that runs from the Utah border south through all of Arizona to Mexico. The campsite had a lot of large trees and was completely private. And free.

The only reason we wouldn't stay there our entire visit is because it's at least a 30 minute drive to the campsite. We managed to secure two different campsites in the Park for Thursday and Friday, so we'll be closer to the action for our mule ride tomorrow.

At the Grand Canyon

We're on the North Rim. The wi-fi here is primitive (it seems only one computer can access it at a time and even then it's a trial . . .) so we will post when we can. We've got campsites for tonight (Wed), tomorrow, and Friday (all different sites, but at least we're not sleeping in the car) so it might be the weekend before we can post again.

Hey, Them’s Some Big Rocks

Hey did you know, there’s this nifty place called Monument Valley along the Arizona/Utah border? We’d heard of it, vaguely, but didn’t think much about it until the landscape started to get interesting and road signs popped up. It was only about 20 miles out of the way (one way) so we decided to go for it.

It was definitely worth the 11 mile bone jarring, unpaved ride through the area. Essentially, the formations are a soft sandstone capped by a harder rock that slows down the erosion of the sandstone.

Four Corners Decision

Hey, how can you get out here and not contort yourself so all your limbs are in different states? Plus, we have a nifty photo of Arizona taken from the Four Corners Monument in 1970 thanks to our neighbor Jill. The plan was to get to the monument, eat from the vendors we’d heard about, and then decide where to go.

There is nothing for miles around until the monument itself which is surrounded by artisans, souvenir stands, and three food vendors all offering variations on fry bread. Mainly, though, it was hot. Brutally, unrelentingly hot. After $12 to Navajo Nation (following the $3 per person entrance fee), we were somewhat fed. We took the obligatory photos then we laid our map of Utah on the hood of the car and were promptly blinded by the reflection of the sun. There is no break from the sun and heat there. No hint of shade. We made a hasty decision to head to Capitol Reef and use it as a base to see Arches as well, since they looked close together. Ten miles down the road, after the A/C had cleared our brains, we pulled over to re-assess. We didn’t want to risk missing the “big name” places on this trip. We know we’ll come back to this region but we didn’t want to rush through things. So we decided to head for Zion and Bryce. Problem was, as they say in Maine, you can’t get there from here. We would have to drive out of our way many miles, either to the north or the south. It seemed a bit shorter to go the southern route, so we were Arizona bound.

Decision Time

Not 100% sure where to go next. Today is shaping up to be about 10-15 degrees warmer than we’ve had so far (mid-to-upper 70s for highs) so we’ll want to stay in the A/C as much as we can (supposed to cool down tomorrow). This might mean we head for Monument Park before entering Utah.

Cliff Dwellings

While the cliff dwellings are the most spectacular and famous attractions here, they represent fewer than 600 of the more than 4,000 archaeological sites in the area.

The alcoves which serve as the “foundations” of the dwellings occur naturally throughout the region. Sandstone is extremely porous and as the water which it has absorbed freezes and thaws, chunks of the rock break away from the cliff faces, creating the alcoves. Here’s a very small scale version of an alcove we discovered en route to the Spruce Tree House.