DAY - 09: The Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park

Day - 09: Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Beginning Location:    Kanab, UT

Interim Location:         Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Final Location:            Kanab, UT

Some had breakfast at the Best Western but there wasn’t much satisfaction. Seems the breakfast room was overwhelmed with tourists much like us and as for the food the powdered scrambled eggs were less than appealing. To top things off there were still no newspapers to be seen.

By 8 AM we were all in one car and on our way to Bryce Canyon NP. The 70 miles between Kanab and Bryce Canyon takes you through steep canyons and later into farm and ranch lands in the Virgin River Valley. In heading north we passed through any number of small towns each distinguishable in its own right including Mt. Carmel, Orderville, Glendale, Long Valley Junction and Hatch.  One notable thing about several of the towns was the large number of old cars, some still in service but most just set aside on various properties rusting away or waiting for a restorer’s call for bodies, frames and parts from vintage automobiles.

Before reaching Bryce Canyon we turned from US-89 onto Utah-12, a scenic highway through the heart of the Red Canyon, a part of the Escalante Grand staircase. This 12-mile drive gave a taste of what was to come in Bryce Canyon with its steep red stone hoodoos and canyon walls and twin drive-thru tunnels carved into the red sandstone.

At Bryce Canyon City we made the turn onto Utah-63 and into the domain of Ruby’s Inn. Bryce Canyon City is a family/company town formerly named Ruby’s Inn until a name change in 2007.

Just beyond the Ruby’s empire we entered Bryce Canyon NP. The outside temperature was cool, well actually cold, hovering in the low 50’s. Our first stop was at the park lodge for purchases of warm clothing as well as a respite flavored with hot chocolate and coffee.


Our plan for the day was a pre-lunch trail hike and a post-lunch drive to the park’s southernmost outlook at Rainbow Point.

From the lodge we struck out for the Queen’s Garden & Navajo Loop trails. These trails dive steeply from the upper plateau into the canyon, a drop of about 500 feet over a half-mile or so of narrow and winding paths. The trails expose a walker to the mysterious shapes of red & white sandstone formations, the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. As with any hike “down” into a canyon, one must return to the top. The trail climb out incorporates numerous ramps, stone stairways and switchbacks.

Following the hikes we headed for the Bryce Lodge and lunch. Sandwiches were good, mine a BLT was loaded. The most memorable item from lunch was Fred, the table server, a 25 year old that could challenge any of us for “most traveled”.  His travels included many parts of the U.S. and time in central Africa working for various service organizations. Next on his agenda was the Peace Corp in either Kenya or Costa Rica.

Following lunch we remounted our Tahoe and drove the length of the park out to Rainbow Point. The weather had not warmed so our photo ops were time limited. Our return north included a stop at Bryce Point for our last park viewing. 

From there after a brief look at Prairie Dogs we departed the park for a brief stop at Ruby’s hoping for a bakery but alas there was none.

 



We retraced our ride back to Kanab but not without a stop at the Forscher's German Bakery in Orderville. Everyone bought pastries with the intention of taking them to the hotel for a better breakfast than this morning.

Turns out that Kanab is noted as a western movie hot spot, seems that over a hundred western/cowboy type movies were filmed in the area since 1924. All over town there are plaques commemorating various films and movie actors including Tex Ritter and Fess Parker.

For dinner we were not able to get a table at the Rocking V Café so we walked a few blocks to Houston’s Trails End Restaurant. After hanging our holsters and side arms by the door we were seated at a table with a baseball game view. The chicken fried steak with mac & cheese was GOOD!

That was it for the night; we’ll be off to Zion National Park tomorrow.