Skip to main content

Day 42 - Bryce Canyon Pt 2

With all afternoon free after my Coyote hike, I decided to drive an hour west to Bryce Canyon. My one day there with Page and Roman last month was too short and I wanted a completed feeling before leaving each place. There was much to Bryce left to complete. 

I hiked down to the hoodoos on the famed Queens Garden Trail with the throngs of people. Bryce is a photographer's dream and the cameras were out a clicking. The national parks are crowded compared to the national monuments, with most visitors being from Europe or Japan.


Back in March when I came here one of the most scenic parts of the popular Navajo Loop trail was closed, so I hiked down there hoping it was open-- but it was still closed due to rockfall danger. The picture with the high trees is the farthest point I could get to-- called Wall Street. 


There was a section of the park that was newly open so I got in my car and drove to the southern sections of the park to look out all the viewpoints as the sun was falling. The view from Fairview Point and the nearby Piracy Point were my favorites. The dusk light gave the hoodoo canyon a painted feeling. One of my favorite landscape shots yet. After the sunset, I drove to a nearby free and beautiful BLM campsite to sleep. 







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 57 - Rocky Mountain National Park

Ever since I decided to go west for my big trip, I had dreamed of high mountain lakes with snowy peaks arching in every direction, with chilly air making every moment crisp, and with clear skies bringing all into perfect focus-- pure bliss.  Today was the first of many great mountain lake days to come.  Hiking here was far easier here than in the San Juans because the snow was packed down on the trail, but I brought my mini crampons for the downhill. I made it safely past a narrow ridge with narly black peaks across the gorge (pic 1), then up to Mills Lake (pic 2) then Jewel Lake then the Loch (pic 3) then down before the afternoon rain started falling.  I hiked around some lower, more accessible lakes but the sky was now overcast and pictures no good.  I drove up the open portion of the Ridge road amid a very light dusting of snow before heading back to camp for dinner and bedtime. I did manage to capture some fine Elk grazing in a meadows on the return trip and a g...
3 comments
Read more

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site.  Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint.  And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...
1 comment
Read more

Day 67 - Badlands

Badlands means very difficult and dangerous to travel through-- Badlands lived up to this name.  I began my eight mile loop hike by climbing up a steep canyon side to the mesa wall on top. From here I travelled east towards the popular window, door and notch trails via a wet, muddy and slippery Medicine Root trail that left me covered in mud up to my knees.  Of the popular trails the notch was my favorite because it involved a wooden ladder climb and then a hill scramble past crumbling rock up to a six foot "notch" step that required a almost-rock climbing move to ascend.  The views up at the top cliff were sensational. Even more fun, two girls from New York-driving to Portland and a young couple saw me up there and followed the path up-- with a bit of my help at the notch. I love helping people get a bit beyond their comfort zone. We all enjoyed the view then descended safely to find that this notch was not actually the trail but a side canyon-- haha.  I then hiked ...
Post a Comment
Read more