Brrr-ryce Canyon

On Wednesday, Ron & I decided to make the trek to Bryce Canyon.  It was about 80 miles away, but we didn't want to miss it.  It was about 70 degrees when we left our campground.  We did not take into account that the altitude at Bryce Canyon is 8000-9000 feet.  We drove up to Cedar City - a really cute town, then over the pass in Cedar Break, where the altitude was as high as 11,000 feet and the temps dropped into the upper 30's.  It was beautiful, but there was still a lot of snow in the mountains.  Then we dropped back down and all of a sudden we were in Red Canyon!

This just rose up out of regular brown dirt!

Fun rock formations.

Onward to Bryce Canyon.  As we drove into the canyon, we were advised to drive all the way to the end of the road, then stop at every stop on the way back.  First up:

Rainbow Point!!  And, yes,  it was cold up there! 

The canyon is unlike anything I've ever seen before.  The formations are called "canyon fins", then as they erode more, "windows", then, the freestanding formations are "hoodoos".

Besides the beauty of the canyon, the elevation also provided fantastic views of the landscape many miles away.  Again, I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

This guy was begging for food!

I always wonder how these things happen, so I had to find out.  The weather has a lot to do with the formations.  Snow and ice seep into the formations and the freeze/melt/refreeze erode the sandstone.  There are 180 days a year that temps swing between warm afternoons and freezing nights.

I thought the choice of name for this point would have worked everywhere we stopped!

 

 

Needless to say, we really enjoyed our trip to Bryce Canyon, despite the cold & snow (which made us feel like real wimps!). Hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I hope everyone puts Bryce Canyon on their Bucket List!