JOURNEYS: Bryce Canyon National Park

September 18, 2016

Staying at Ruby's RV park in Bryce Canyon City just outside of the national park. The campsite was okay, so level that we didn't have to unhook, but no shade and no place to grill. They do have good facilities, and the showers are free. It got very cool over night, so we got our electric heater out this morning to warm things up. After breakfast we took the shuttle into the park. Bryce has a free shuttle that will pick people up at Ruby's Campground, but the park still allows visitors to drive into the park. This makes everything very crowded. We were happy to just ride the shuttle. We got off at the Visitor's Center to ask about hiking, etc. The ranger that was answering questions was not very helpful. We just used the paper given to us at the shuttle stop by the campground to figure things out for ourselves. We got back on the shuttle and rode to Inspiration Point. The farthest point (Bryce Point) was closed for maintenance to be done on the road and trails. It opened back up the day we left. Bummer. We walked to an observation point, but not the top one; and looked at the views. Very pretty. Then we walked the Rim Trail to Sunrise Point (1 mile). We ate lunch at Sunset Point where there was a bench in the shade overlooking the canyon. All of the viewpoints were gorgeous. I was battling sinus problems, so we rode the shuttle back to Ruby's and I took a 2 hour nap. It seemed to do the trick because I was okay after that.

View from Inspiration Point

Mike at Inspiration Point

Mary at Inspiration Point

Views from the trail

Another view from the rim trail

Mike on Rim Trail

Mary by Rim Trail

Another view by the trail

Enjoying the views

September 19, 2016

Slept in again, kind of a habit with us now. It was cold again during the night, but with the sun shining during the day it warms up pretty quickly. After breakfast, we rode the shuttle to Sunrise Point. We hiked the Queen's Garden and Navajo Combined Loop trail (about 3 miles). Not a hard hike until we had to come up out of the canyon. It was a beautiful and fun hike. After getting back to camp we took showers and then just rested.

Views of part of the trail we walked

Views on the trail

A place at the bottom of the trail

More spots on the trail

A narrow section of the trail

Natural Bridges

One more view

September 20, 2016

We got up early (for us anyway) so we could catch the Rainbow Vista Tour Bus by 9:00. This is a free tour , you just have to call and make reservations. After picking everyone up, the bus went all the way to Rainbow Point where we did a short hike and looked at the view. This was at an elevation of 9100 feet. The bus driver is also the guide and he led the hike and talked about vegetation and the views. It was cloudy, windy, and cool. On the way back down the mountain we stopped at Ponderosa View (just to drop off some backpackers), at Natural Bridge, Farview (Mike and I barely got to see this because we had to wait so long to use the restroom), and finally Fairyland View. All very interesting. Jay, the driver guide, did a very good job. The entire tour took about 3 hours. When we got back to camp, we ate lunch and then did laundry. We did some things around camp to get ready to head to Moab in the morning for the last leg of our trip.