Catching Up - Day Three

Day 3

Today we actually woke up at 4:00 a.m.! Cool! Got ready and hit the road by 5:30 or so. Our drive to Bryce led us through the rest of Zion Park with hair pin turns and carved out tunnels. The colors and rock formations were outstanding. At every turn, a different view. Excellent! Joe insists on driving so he is missing lots. Not ten minutes on the road and to our left, we saw a dozen long horned sheep on the side of a rocky hill! A couple of them were young ones. They didn't seem to mind the few people who decided to stop and photograph them. We were amazed at how sure footed they were. It was an unexpected bonus to our early start! Along the way we got out of the car at a scenic overlook, but not for long as it was soooo cold! Brrrr!! We stopped and had breakfast at the Thunderbird Motel where they feed hummingbirds at numerous feeders all around the resteraunt. There were sooo many hummingbirds. Anyway we cold barely eat our food the servings were so huge! Joe picked up a black tee shirt that says Thunderbird, Home of the Ho-made pies! On we went to Bryce. Not a long ride at all. Hit the gift shop first of all, way cool. Then we started out on the shuttle to all the lookouts and stops. First stop was the museum where we saw a short video explaining how the hoodoo formations were created through wind and erosion. Long story short, the shuttles were not so good and we went back to get our car to drive ourselves through the park. Our early start was for naught as by the time we decided to get our car, it was going on noon or so. (The time had change again and we lost an hour, so we never quite know what time it is!) We drove the 18 miles to the end of the park and worked our way down stopping every so often at the overlooks. At the highest, our elevation was 9,110 feet and the oxygen was at 70% of what we were used to. Just walking in the parking lot got us winded and wishing we were in better shape! At Sunrise Point we parked and took a hike. Actually, it was a two hike combo. It took us fifty minutes to get to the bottom. Very extremely beautiful. Saw lots of chipmunks, swallows, flowers. Also saw lots of evidence of lightning strikes to trees! Natural bridge formations and hoodoos that look like Bart Simpson and Charlie Brown. At the end of the first part of the hike we saw the famous Queen Victoria formation, very cool. As you can see by the photo, "Trail End" Joe was pretty wiped out at that point. The next hour of the hike was level for a bit, but then, we had to hike back to the top as is always what happens on a canyon hike. It was more and more beautiful as we progressed upwards. A bit gravelly, but we endured. Lots of twists and turns. The colors became more orange and brilliant, and the walls closer and closer as we went up. At this point, I was taking it pretty slow. Joe gave me his walking stick so I could have two! Every 10 feet we would stop and look behind us at how beautiful it was and how far we had gone and to catch our breath! At one point, when I looked behind, I saw this young whipper snapper. Couldn't have been more than 20 years old! He was, not kidding you, running up this hill carrying a back pack and a jug of water. We were astonished to say the least! In awe! We clapped for him as he ran past! After a he had a good lead, he stopped and sat on a ledge, waiting for his girlfriend who was a good distance behind even us. I swear if he had clapped when we passed him, sitting there all cool, breathing normally, I'd pushed him over the edge! Show off! Anyway, at exactly two hours total we finished our combo trail. Even skipped the shuttle and walked the half mile to our car. We had dinner at the Bryce Canyon Lodge. The food was ok. They soaked us on the bill. After leaving the park, we stocked up on a few items and spent the night in a log cabin a few miles outside of the park. It was brand new, cozy, clean.