After leaving Moab, we headed to Bryce Canyon National Park. I'd been plotting for some time staying in the fancy lodge somewhere to celebrate Heather's birthday. First, the goal was snowshoeing in Glacier NP, then it moved south to Yellowstone, and finally, it wound up as Bryce Canyon. This is another relatively small park, but a welcome change from the desert we'd been in for weeks. Most of the best sights are very easily accessible from the road, which follows the canyon rim for 20 miles. Hiking the entire 23-mile "under-the-rim" trail seems like it would be an awesome 3-4 day backpacking trip. We sort of took it easy here - no terribly strenuous hikes, but we did wind up marching out into the cold mornings for two sunrises (the best lighting time of day here), and took a madcap, speeding drive to survey all the viewpoints at sunset the evening we got there.
The most adventurous event here might have been the hike down into the canyon to the "Queen's Garden". There we stopped for a snack, and found the most aggressive chipmunks and ground squirrels I've ever seen! They would fearlessly approach to within kicking distance, and if you shooed them away, they'd just dart around behind you or under the log you are sitting on. I was really expecting one of them to run up my back, snatch the M&M's from my hand with a high-pitched "thank you", and leap off into the bushes!
It was pretty clear we were both pretty travel weary by the time we got here. Some downtime in the lodge was good for us, but the remaining 1000 miles to Portland still seemed like a long way to go...
1 comment:
I love the idea of a high-pitched "thank you" as a squirrel steals your M&Ms :)
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