Bryce - 8000ft up!

TUESDAY 27th
Brrrrr – the outside temperature plunged to a chilly –13 deg. C last night. It caught us by surprise because the day had been quite mild, but we’d climbed 4000 ft from Zion to be nearly 8000 ft above sea level at River View RV Park in Hatch, Utah where we stayed the night. It was hard to prise everyone out of bed but once the sun came up it was quite nice again. We headed on up towards Bryce Canyon after breakfast and out first stop was Red Canyon which lived up to its name especially in the early morning light.
Bryce was a further 15km east and we arrived about 10am at the visitor centre to work out our plan for the day. We drove south into the park and stopped at some stunning view points. We saw a chipmunk and a Stellar’s Jay at our second stop which was quite a treat. It was fantastic to be at a special place like Bryce Canyon at this time of year when there are hardly any people and you can walk the trails in peace, especially if you get off to an early start like we try and do.
We ventured into Bryce Canyon proper from Sunset Point and walked the Navajo and Queen’s Garden Trails tp pop back out of the Canyon two hours later at Sunrise Point.
The walk was just stunning – one of the best we’ve ever been on and would rank up there with Milford Track (although the scenery is a complete contrast) with the backlit hoodoos and cypress trees providing a spectacular scene. The kids thought it looked like a Star Wars movie set – in certainly was surreal.
We trucked off back south to find a place to stay later in the afternoon, passing through Kanab and crossing the Colorado River near Page (Lake Powell) and found that US wide you can stay at Walmart carparks for free (Walmart is “The Warehouse” of the USA – but with a bit more class). They have no services but you can pull up and stay the night – no problem. So that worked out well for us as we were able to stock up on essentials for the rest of the trip.
Mark