DESCENT INTO THE CANYON

TUESDAY NOV. 13/07
Because of the higher altitude I think we have had our coldest morning so far with our outside thermometer showing 30F. A heavy frost blanketed everything & the dog's outside water dish was frozen. A brisk morning walk around our scenic little RV park got the blood flowing again. Washrooms are clean & the showers nice & hot.
Waited for the sun to get up a bit & begin it's wondrous warming ways. Headed out for Bryce Canyon about 10 & spent some time in the visitors center watching a documentary on Bryce. By 10:30 we began our descent into the canyon at the Sunrise Point viewpoint. A 1.6 mile hike to Sunset Point. Again, I cannot find the words to describe the beauty we saw for the next 3 hours as we slowly made our way along the winding pathways down into the canyon & along the canyon floor before the steep switchback incline leading us back out of the canyon to Sunset Point. I took many photos (nearly 200) which I will upload (no,not all of them) to our Picasa Web Album as soon as we get a good solid internet connection somewhere. This place is a photographer's paradise so I hope you have a look at some of the photos. Not a lot of people on the trails because of the off season but I would say that 90% of them were younger to middle age German. Decided to take a break so headed back to the campsite & let the super dogs out for a run. At 3:30 we headed back to the canyon again. Only about a 15 minute drive. There is an 18 mile road that runs along the canyon rim with viewpoints along the way so we headed to the end of that road & started to work our way back stopping at all the viewpoints. Surprised to see smatterings of snow alongside the road here & there. We were at 9,000 feet & it was quite cold. Deer alongside the roadside casually watched us drive by not concerned at all about our close proximity to them. The sun quickly dropped below the horizon & by the time we got back to Bryce's gates we were in darkness with the heater in the car maxed out. Stopped briefly at Rubys to use the washroom & then popped into a little restaurant near our campsite that specialized in soup & pie, so that's what we did, specialized ourselves with soup & pie. Super!!
Back to the motorhome by 7 & feeling good about the excellent day we had. We saw countless majestic things, got some great exercise, & finished it all off with a bowl of homemade broccoli soup & strawberry pie. Hey, how can it get any better than that:)))))))))))))

Bayfield Bunch Photo Album

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy