Before I started planning my trip to the U.S.A. I hadn’t heard of Bryce Canyon. We had planned to ‘do’ the Big Sur (route 101), Las Vegas and to take in a few national parks. When I started to investigate the region and what we could reasonably do in the 3 weeks we had available I happened across Bryce, and am very glad I did.
The small national park is a wonder of almost surreal rock formations called ‘hoodoo’s’ that are quite unlike anything I have seen anywhere else. They look a little like church organs as they are sort of joined up pillars of rock in varying colours – mainly from white to a vivid salmony pink formed when ice and rainwater wear away the softer limestone.
Read more...
We approached the Zion national park late afternoon from the east looking for somewhere to stay the night before exploring the park the following day. We had driven through a few towns en-route from Bryce Canyon and hadn’t been inspired, so headed for the town Springdale which seemed to be within the park itself.
Our twilight drive into the park was quite an adventure in itself! We drove on the Mount Carmel Highway which took us through the Checkerboard Mesa. Strange interlocking hills that seemed to have a huge irregular chessboard etched into them purely by the forces of nature. The road winds its way around the bottom of them and enters a couple of tunnels. The first was relatively short, but the second was over a mile long. As we progressed through the second tunnel there was a kind of window cut into the rock that enabled us to get a glimpse of the stunning scenery. There appeared to be a huge ravine falling below us with large rock formations across the other side.
It was really getting dusky when we emerged from the tunnel to find we were a couple of thousand feet up. The road meandered down to the canyon floor through many switch-backs and bends. It had precipitous drops and very little by way of crash barriers that wouldn’t do much to prevent a vehicle going over the side, and barely space for oncoming vehicles to pass. Even the speed limits were extreme – I seem to remember the limit was stated as 5mph on one bend! I think the whole experience was heightened by the fact that we were going down hill. When we finally got to the bottom (it seemed to take an eternity) my partner who had been driving stated he would like to go back up in the morning to get a better look at the scenery in daylight. Whilst the Checkerboard Mesa certainly looked interesting and I would have liked to take some photo’s I didn’t fancy coming back down the road again – I felt going up it would be infinitely preferable!
Read more...
We visited the canyon one October which seemed like a good time of the year to go. Very pleasant climate (one of the driest months there too) and crisp clear skies, so good photo opportunities. Also, there were none of the congestion issues getting into the park that I have read about in the summer.
The night before visiting the canyon we found a motel in Williams. Bit of a one-horse town, but the lack of light pollution in the area meant that I did get to see the Milky Way clearly and 2 shooting stars that night on a short drive out of town!
In the morning on our quest to find breakfast we stumbled across the Williams Depot (http://www.grandcanyonrailway.com) – who have some fabulously restored old trains that will take you on a return trip from Williams to the Canyon’s south rim. The return trip just for the train seemed a little expensive but packages are available for accommodation, meal(s) and return trip. I believe you will have a limited number of hours at the canyon and only stop at the one area of the canyon. They put on a bit of a ‘shoot-em-up’ cowboy show before the train departs in the morning that we hung around for. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it but it’s probably OK for kids.
Read more...
