Our trip to Bruce Canyon, Utah - 2006...
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Bryce Canyon, Utah. After six months of planning and dreaming we finally made it. Here's what it looked like as we entered the park... |
| Nothing prepared us for our first look, though. Simply awe inspiring... |
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This fellow seemed to be laughing at us as we stared into the canyon with gaping mouths... |
| These things have been photographed a million times before by much better photographers than I am but I still couldn't stop taking pictures... |
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Interesting rock formations almost everywhere you look... |
| This one reminded us of a candle flame. In a few thousand years it may have blown out (or eroded away, as it were)... |
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Here's an arch carved by erosion from wind, water and repeated freezing/thawing cycles... |
| Another overview of the canyon. Over a thousand feet of elevation between the rim and down in the hoodoos... |
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We decided to hike down into the canyon during the early morning to escape some of the heat while looking at things from a different perspective. The constantly changing light illuminates the hoodoos in fascinating colors.... |
| We decided on the "Queen's Garden" trail for our first hike. We only planned to go partway down to see how we handled hiking at 9,000 feet. If we didn't die we'd return and go deeper. As we descend into the canyon the perspective changes.... |
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This window in the wall may someday be a new arch. The sky is startlingly blue against the stone.... |
| More beautiful rocks. It got so we were saying, "Oh, look! Just another beautiful rock..." |
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We startled these canyon dwellers and they ran ahead. Gave us a another chance to look around. As if our heads weren't already swiveling like crazy.... |
| The Hoodoos get even more imposing as you begin to gaze upwards at them. Sentinels of the canyonlands, erosion becomes more evident on their sufaces as you get a closer look.... |
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The morning light on pink, white and terracotta colored Hoodoos. Simply incredible.... |
| Masterpieces. I couldn't have done better myself. The green vegetation just adds another facet to an already colorful landscape.... |
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Will we ever find our way out? Then again, do we really want to?.... |
| Ho hum. Just another bunch of beautiful rocks... |
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This one looks kind of like a prop on a movie set but those trees are taller than we are... |
| Another gathering place for lonely rocks looking to bond with like minded friends... |
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We were thinking we could sell this one on eBay. Isn't that the Virgin Mary? |
| This just has to be the bust of someone famous... |
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And a balancing act... |
| Life is tough if you're a tree struggling to survive on a barren cliff face. Either the rocks fall on you from above or your footing falls from beneath you... |
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This one is called "Thor's Hammer". I actually took the photo earlier in the hike but just came across the picture now. Oh, well. Artistic license... |
| Decisions, decisions. We looked around and didn't see anyone so we decided on the road less traveled by hikers (we hoped); The Horse Trail. It didn't really matter since we were going to hike all of them anyway... |
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Hey! What's that noise?... |
| Darn! We should have known the horses would show up as soon as we headed down the trail. Oh, well. The wrangler seemed like a nice guy (for a cowboy) and gave us a tip of his hat. Had I not been so fat we'd of been riding with them instead of hiking. Grrr. We eavesdropped while he explained the canyon to the dudes. A friendly acquaintance named Hunter was kind enough to point out to me later that these are actually mules. We'll never know why they allowed mules on the "Horse Trail".. |
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Life can be tough in Southern Utah and particularly tough in the canyons... |
| I wonder if the door to the afterlife is going to look this good... |
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But the view through the portal looks remarkably like the side we're on... |
| Then, when you pass through, it's heaven (again)... |
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This had to be the most popular sight. There were four people taking pictures of this creature. We decided to make it five... |
| Other strange and wonderful creatures crouched alongside the trail waiting to snare the unwary... |
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While Hoodoos hovered ominously nearby... |
| This pair reminded us of lovers waiting forever for the music to start... |
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Now we see why this hike is called "Queen's Garden" as we gaze up at her visage in the morning light... |
| One of these looks like a flutist playing homage to the rising sun... |
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Climbing back up out of the canyon with many switchbacks behind us. We tried to warn the people heading down that we'd already used up all of the oxygen and seen all of the sights but they seemed to want to go down the trail anyway... |
| Looking back at the elevation we've gained while hoping our breath will return... |
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Looking up at the rim and hoping we don't have much farther to go... |
| Closer but there still seems to be a lot of rock in the way... |
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Yaaay! We made it out safe and sound. Well, safely anyway. Here's another view over the canyon. I know we'll come back... |