Day 20 - Tuesday 7/19/2005 -  Into the Hoodoos...

It was such a pleasant experience to go to sleep in a cool breeze instead of a pool of sweat.  The temp here at Bryce goes to 90 degrees in the daytime (higher in the canyon), but drops into the 40's/50's at night.  The only distraction last night was a nearby group camping area occupied by the French.  Not to sound like a Francophobe, but the American Southwest is absolutely overrun with them.  It may just be a perspective thing.  It's not that there are more French - there are just fewer Americans since there are so many over fighting a war in Iraq!  I guess Bryce Canyon is geographically as far from Baghdad as possible, so it was time to throw the Peugeots into reverse and head out as fast as possible.  Ooops - broke my soapbox on that metaphor - time to move on.

We awoke and went down to a good hiker's breakfast of snack cakes and Mountain Dew Code Red.  Laugh if you will, but pure sugar is great for short hikes.  We loaded up plenty of water and started off about 10 am from the rim at Sunset point.  

The geology of Bryce creates a canyon with a wealth of personalities.  In summer, the hot sun lights the canyon at mid-day with an explosion of colors.  In winter, the canyon is often calmed and subdued in a soft blanket of white.  Stark differences emerge throughout the day as shadows grow and die across the landscape, creating phantom canyons and exposing new hidden chasms.  We noticed the changing shapes and perspectives as we worked our way down the rim, across the canyon floor, and back up the rim.

The planned trail (Navajo) was closed due to landslides from floods in the spring.  We opted to hike about 5 miles to Bryce Point.  On the way, we visited "Queen's Garden" and "Wall Street".  Wall Street was the location of the trail closure, and a pic below shows the washout.  If you zoom in, you can see the rangers rebuilding it in the picture.  From there it was down to the canyon floor and a meander UP.  On the way out, we passed some of the most beautiful spires in the park.  Many of these oddities will not be around in thousands of years, given their soft composition.  

Although it was very hot, we had plenty of water and we sought the intermittent shade.  Occasionally a cool breeze would blow, and we made the most of it by collecting water from sandstone springs and pouring it over our heads.  Sandstone is incredibly porous, and a large block can consist of 30% water.  This contributes to the weakening of the sculptures and eventually causes their demise through frost-thaw cycles.

As we emerged at Bryce Point, we hopped a tram back to our car, and drove back to camp.  We ate hot chili for lunch (we didn't cook it - it was hot from being in the packs!).  The afternoon was spend in the campground pool washing off thousands of years of clay residue.

Tomorrow we head for points north (Idaho I think - we'll decide in the morning).