Today’s national park was Bryce Canyon. It was a cool day that I don’t think got above 62 degrees, which is great hiking weather. The first hike we did was a 3 mile hike into the canyon. The canyon was so beautiful. Every corner you turned there was another amazing view. It rained a few drops, but thankfully it didn’t downpour and only lasted a few minutes. The greatest challenge of the hike was the way back up through ten different switchbacks. We took it slow and stopped several times for pictures. This by far has been my most favorite hike. There were other trails within the canyon I would come back and do, and I wouldn’t mind even going on the trail we did but going in the opposite direction. Just loved it!
The hike worked up our appetites, so we were more than ready to eat our picnic lunch. The threat of rain lingered all day, but we wouldn’t let it stop us. The park has a shuttle that runs between some of the sites and trailheads of the park. We were going to hike along the rim for about a mile and a half and then take the shuttle back to our car, but as we started the hike the shuttle pulled up at our parking lot, so we changed our minds and hopped on to go the end point first and walk back. Once we were on the shuttle we learned that we would have to change shuttles at the visitor’s center, which we hadn’t planned on and now was disappointed that we would have to wait for another shuttle. On the way though, we did spot a mother praghorn and her fawn with the fawn stopping to get some milk from her mother. This is a site we would not have seen if we didn’t take the shuttle! Up until two days ago, I had never heard of a praghorn, but I bought a book for Owen at the bookstore at Arches National Park called “Whose Butt is This”. The book is a children’s book of animal butts, and tells you what the animal is. The praghorn is in the book and I even commented when I flipped through it, that I had never heard of that animal, and then wouldn’t you know, the next day I see one! It felt like we waited forever for the second shuttle to pick us up from the visitor’s center and with the clouds turning darker by the minute, I was starting to think we had screwed up and should have just started our hike before it rained and gotten a shuttle back. When we got to the first shuttle stop at the end of the trail we got out and took in the views. It was chilly and windy and with a few drops of rain, we decided we better not hike and took the shuttle to the second viewpoint. At that viewpoint, it was only .75 miles back to the car so we decided to hike back. It was mostly downhill, so in the end we really did make the right call by taking the shuttle first.
With the constant threat of rain we knew that our next planned hike at the end of the park might not happen, but we drove the 18 or so miles anyway. The drive took a little more than 20 minutes and on the way the kids fell asleep. When we pulled into the parking spot, Uncle Tommy volunteered to stay with the kids while they slept, while Jen, Tom W, and I walked the 1 mile trail. The trail was mosly through the forest, but we did get some glimpes of the canyon as well. As we were about finishing the hike it started to rain with small bits of hail. Looks like we had finished the hike just in time.
Driving back through to the front of the park we stopped at several lookout points and by the time we got to the entrance of the park, we felt fully satisfied with our visit. Jen did have one more hike planned, but it was outside the main entrance of the park. It was a short one mile hike to an alcove and waterfalls. The trail to the waterfall was closed, but we could still see it from our vantage point where the trail split. With all hikes checked off it was time for the drive to our hotel at Zion National Park.
Tom W drove the couple of hours and before we knew it we were at the entrance of Zion National Park. We took our traditional family photo at the Zion sign and I got behind the wheel. The drive through the park was beautiful. We had to drive through the longest tunnel I think I have ever driven through. I was happy they had cut out windows along the way so it didn’t feel so clausterphobic. After driving through the many switchbacks we were at our hotel just outside the other side of the park in Springdale, UT. We threw our stuff in our rooms and headed out to find dinner. We ate at a local touristy American restaraunt. Tom was all set on a turkey club type sandwich (shocker for anyone that knows him), and was surprised to find out that the restaurant didn’t serve their sandwiches after 6:00p.m. Really? That seemed so weird. He changed his order to chicken marsala and I got a steak. The food was good, but the waiter was lacking. After dinner we were on a quest to find one more geocache for Jen to drop a trackable in. With the sunsetting we found one just in the knick of time. Back to the hotel and straight to bed for us. Another early morning was upon us for Friday.
