Today was the last day of sightseeing of our 2010 Vacation. We planned to visit Zion National Park. So we left around 10 am, took I-15 to Highway 9 and followed it east. about 1 hour later we got to Zion. We checked the map and it turns out that most of the features of Zion can be explored if you go backpacking. Since dogs are not allowed on trails, that wasn't really an option. So we drove through the southern part of Zion. That are about 15 miles or so, but it was still very impressive and the rock formations are incredible. Something that definitely has be experience in person. We have to go back to Zion in the future and without the dog to go backpacking. We crossed Zion from West to East and by the time we reached the East Entrance it was just a little after noon. People told us that we should go visit Bryce Canyon National Park while we were down here.. so we looked it up on the map and saw that it was about 60 miles north of were we were so we decided to go up and check it out.
So we took US Route 89 north to Highway 12. We followed highway 12 east. While on the 12 we came across a place called Red Canyon and OMG.. there was some of the most amazing looking rock formations that I had ever seen. It was like driving on Mars.. everything was an organish red. It's hard to describe the beauty of the lands, it's something that really needs to be experienced in person. At every view point we stopped and took a ton of pictures and video.
After the Red Canyon we followed highway 12 and got to the entrance of Bryce Canyon National Park. Our first stop was called Swamp Canyon. You have a pretty good view of parts of Bryce Canyon and here it becomes clear, why it is called a canyon. Until that point it reminded us more of your average forest. We drove further up and decided to stop at most of the view points on our way back down, since they all were on the opposite side.
We finally made it to Rainbow Point, the endpoint of the road and with an elevation of 9115 feet also the highest point of the canyon. From this point you have an absolutely amazing 180 degree view... And man what an fantastic view. The Hoodoo's are absolutely stunning. A Hoodoo is a Sandstone Columns, it's something that I have never seen before.
After we had taken pix and video we started to drive back down. We stopped at several view points and from every view point we had an absolutely stunning view. One that was pretty cool was called Natural Bridge. It's kind of a rock bridge, but it reminded me way more of an arch. Regardless it was just amazing to look at. After taking pix and video we continued to drive down Bryce Canyon. We stopped at several amazing viewing points before we got to Bryce Pointe... WOW.. that is all I can say about that view. I can't even put it into words. I have to say that this is the best thing I have seen on our entire trip.. and I've seen some really beautiful stuff.. this view took my breath away. While I was taking pictures I saw way down at the bottom what looked like a hiking trail... the only thing I thought was, that this has to be one of the most amazing hiking trails I have ever seen. Guess we will have to go back to Bryce Canyon and hike that entire trail, but in order to do so we have to leave the dog at home.
Next up was a viewing point called Paria View. This point had some great views, but doesn't even compare to Bryce Pointe. We then saw Inspiration Point, Sunset Point and Sunrise Point. Though they were all great views after Bryce Pointe, nothing would compare.
We headed back through Red Canyon and back on the freeway. It took 2 hours to get back to our hotel, we picked up some Wendy's for dinner and called it a night.
All in all it was a great day.. so glad we decided to head to Bryce Canyon because if we didn't we wouldn't have seen Red Canyon or the stunning views of Bryce Canyon.
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