Sat, Sep 29th - Bryce Canyon National Park

Today it didn’t get out of the 40’s—BURR—and the wind was gusting from 45 to 50 mph! No mule or horseback trail ride for us today! Our group of 3 couples drove back into Bryce Canyon to see more Hoodoo!

We drove to the end of the 18-mile Park road and started back, stopping at many of the overlooks where the men had to hold onto their hats and the ladies had ear muffs and gloves on or their jacket hoods up! Note the elevation in the picture above!

I think our favorite spot was the Natural Bridge formation above.

At a couple of overlooks, ravens greeted us as we parked the cars, looking for a handout. We got some good pictures of them.

And more Hoodoos!

Here's a neat single Hoodoo by itself.

This picture shows a trail that goes down around the Hoodoos. It's that light colored line about in the middle of the picture.

We had a late lunch at Fosters Steakhouse where I had a bowl of chili and a cup of hot chocolate and Chuck had a steak. After lunch, Judy, Judy and I did a little browsing at some nearby gift shops, while the guys went back to the coaches to watch football or the Busch NASCAR race. Needless to say, there was no Happy Hour this evening as everyone was “happier” staying warm in their coach. So I didn’t get a picture of that Stellar Jay! Maybe at the next campground. We did get together for a few minutes at 5:30 for a travel briefing for our trip up to Torrey tomorrow morning.

Did you know? An elderly Paiute named Indian Dick describes how Bryce Canyon was formed:

“Before there were any Indians, the Legend People lived in this place. They were of many kinds—birds, animals, lizards and such things—but they had the power to make themselves look like people. For some reason, the Legend People were bad, so Coyote turned them all into rocks. You can see them in that place now, all turned into rocks; some standing in rows, some sitting down, some holding onto others. You can see their faces with paint on them just as they were before they became rocks.”

Grandkids and Nephew Mason: I have gone back to some of the previous days and added some questions relevant to the Southwest Indians. I will go back and add some more as time permits and let you know which ones to go back and look at. I picked up the book, “101 Questions About Ancient Indians of the Southwest” by David Grant Noble, ISBN 1877856-87-8.

*I added some questions to Sat, Sep 15th--Mesa Verde.

www.brycecanyoncountry.com/bryce.html