Towards Canyon Country and Magical Bryce Canyon – early October 2007

Towards Canyon Country
After Grammy’s memorial service and a short stay at home in Pennsylvania, we flew back out to Leila’s house in Phoenix. She and Mark had just married a couple of days before and were now in the midst of packing up to move out to California. There was still a bed for us, though, and after spending the weekend with them, we headed north, once again towards the Grand Canyon.

Twice we had come to within 80 miles of the Grand Canyon, and twice we had bypassed it, planning to return after a detour in another part of the state. We did it a third time. This time it was because, although it was only the end of September, winter was fast approaching in the mountains of the Southwest. They were already predicting snow in southern Utah. Truth be told, I had had enough of extreme weather, both hot and cold, and was in no mood to spend months biking through snow and freezing temperatures.

Even before our two-week time-out back home, we knew we’d have to rush a bit in order to stay ahead of the winter weather. But now, a couple of weeks later, there was no way we’d beat the snow if we continued on as originally planned (the original plan being to bike from the Grand Canyon north towards Bryce Canyon and then up past Capitol Reef and Arches National Parks before heading south in Colorado towards New Mexico and then Texas.).

We came down to two options. Either we skipped the canyon country of the Southwest and just headed east, staying along the southern route, or we drove up to Bryce Canyon and then biked south towards the Grand Canyon, before heading east. Because the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon were 2 of the 3 spots that we most wanted to visit in the U.S. (Yosemite being the third), we didn’t want to skip them completely, and so we chose the latter option. The main advantage of this option was that we started at the highest elevations and the coldest weather and then descended in elevation as we biked south.
That means we’re headed towards warmer weather instead of towards colder weather. And that means happy campers!

So we rented a car and drove all day from Phoenix to Cedar City in southern Utah, not far from the Arizona border. From 95-degree weather in the morning to near-freezing temperatures that same night, whew, it was a change! It was snowing up in Bryce Canyon, but by the time we got there, we had warm and sunny days.

Magical Bryce Canyon National Park
On the way to Bryce, we passed Cedar Breaks National Monument, which, if in any other region of the world, would surely be billed as one of the world’s greatest scenic wonders. Shaped like a huge coliseum, the natural rock amphitheater of rainbow-colored stone spires, columns, and arches is over 2000 ft. deep and more than 3 miles in diameter. We passed through Dixie National Forest, where I saw more deer in one day than I had seen ever before in all my years combined! Then on to the very fiery Red Canyon, just at the perimeter of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Bryce Canyon was my favorite memory of the six-week tour of the West that I had been on 15 years ago. I had hyped it up to Stephane, and even after all the anticipation, we were still bowled over by its intense beauty. The park is small – only 55 sq. mi. – and is easy to visit in one or two days, but for such a small park, it sure does pack a big punch!

Bryce Canyon is characterized by its multi-colored rock spires and pinnacles, also known as hoodoos. A hoodoo is defined as a pillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion. Hoodoo also means “to cast a spell.” With their widely varying hues and otherworldly shapes, Bryce’s hoodoos do, indeed, cast a spell. The visually stunning, graceful spires range in color from white to pastel pink, mauve, yellow, and blue, then turn fiery red, yellow, and orange at sunrise and sunset, when an orange wash sets them aglow. At times, they appear to be like melting sandcastles. Dark green pinyon pines and junipers are found on the canyon floor, while ponderosa pines cover the plateau tops, and firs, spruce, and aspen cover the hillsides’ highest elevations.

The formation of Bryce Canyon started millions of years ago, when a period of uplift began on the Colorado Plateau and a nearby fault began the sculpting process by breaking the rock with mini-fractures and creating a series of perpendicular joints. The rock was weathered predominately by water, and most importantly by the freeze and thaw cycles that take place over 200 times per year, which break the rock apart. Gullies are created by running water, which in turn create deep and narrow walls of rock. The walls eventually develop holes, known as windows, and these grow larger until their roofs collapse. This creates the hoodoos. (See the photos on our site in order to visualize what I’m talking about.).

We followed the scenic 18-mile road that parallels the canyon rim, stopping at about a dozen overlooks that offered outstanding vistas. Fall was beginning to show in all Her splendor and the trees were ablaze in color. We hiked into the canyon at Sunrise Point, walking among the pines and groups of hoodoos. And, among others, we spotted brightly-colored bluebirds and pronghorns, which are North America’s fastest land mammal.

And so from Bryce Canyon, we head southwest to Zion National Park, another one of Utah’s remarkable national parks and natural masterpieces.