16 straight...

days of camping are over and the Days Inn seems like a 5 star hotel!

Hi all

I write to you from Torrey, Utah, home of Capitol Reef National Park. After 2.5 days in Bryce Canyon National Park, I've arrived here a bit tired and ready to sleep in a bed for a change.

Bryce was a nice change from the relentless heat of Zion. I arrived to much cooler temperatures with rain and a lightning charged thunderstorm keeping company on my first night. Bryce was nice (had to use it) and unlike Zion, they had showers!! WOO HOO. I hadn't felt so clean in days.

The park itself is located at 8000+ feet and offers excellent hiking around the canyon and in the canyon itself among the hoodoos. What's a hoodoo you ask? Well here is a close up...

The canyon is just loaded with hoodoos of various shapes and sizes. Some have names like the shipwreck, the great wall, the hammer of thor. Pretty cool actually. Native legend says that they were once humans that were tricked by a (wiley) coyote and turned to stone.

I spent each sunrise and sunset in and around the canyon. For photography, this is the prime time to view the hoodoos. Like the shot above, the sun just illuminates the hoodoos so nicely. You only have a little time catch this moment. It's a race in which you and umpteen other French, German, and English tourists all gladly compete. I've never heard so many cameras clicking, snapping, and flashing. Here's the canyon just before sunrise...

One of the highlights of the trip was hiking the Fairyland loop. It's one of the less frequented trails within the canyon and comes in at 8 miles round trip. A more popular hike is called the Navajo trail. Just about everyone coming back up from this down then up loop were huffing and puffing. The switchbacks can look quite intimidating...

I enjoyed the hike alot. You really get a chance to see the hoodoos up close. They are much bigger up close than they look from the rim of the canyon. From the rim you get a full panoramic view of the canyon. You can hike to several viewpoints and get different angles of view. It's fascinating how humans can be so drawn to eroding sandstone pillars but I have to admit I was right there with everyone else, drawn to these colorful hoodoos that were before my eyes after millions of years in the making. Sometimes mother nature just pushes things over the top and mixes some of her magic together just to tease the viewer...

Suffice to say, I felt lucky to witness this moment. It only stuck around for a little while and it was gone. Bryce was time well spent. I hope you liked some of the photos.

Before arriving at Bryce I did manage to get some more good shots from Zion. This park is unbelievable and there is a reason why 2.7 million visitors flock to this park each year. The sunsets are always a show (unless clouds break up the party). The cliffs just look so amazing when they are drenched in the low light of the sun...

The east side of Zion is fantastic, a total feast for the eyes. If you take east bound road out of Zion you must first take switchbacks that pass Pine creek and Mt Spry....

Once you pass through the tunnel the landscape transforms into a wonderland of geological masterpieces. As one of my photo guidebooks mentioned it looks like a pastry chef went crazy. I was skeptical when I first read this but when I saw these formations with my own eyes I realized the author was dead on....

One of the more famous landmarks is checkerboard mesa. It's a must stop for most tourists, myself included. It's famous not only for its unusual shape but also it's one of the best views of "cross bedding". Don't ask me what that means...

Phew...this is a long posting. I've got some more information to share, but I will put that in another blog entry that I will post a bit later, probably tomorrow morning.

Hope all of you are well.

the wanderer