Bryce Canyon, NP, Utah

After taking the Observation Point trail too quickly on our way back to camp the day before, hiking in Bryce Canyon was a challenge. But here's the thing: typically I like to hike up first and down on the way back, but when you're hiking into a canyon it just doesn't work that way. Yet, after such a hike, it was painful hiking into the Bryce amphitheater (it's not really a canyon), and coming out was much much easier!

We've finally learned our lesson about paying for more than one day at a campsite, and though we'd planned to spend two nights in Bryce, we paid only for one in case we changed our minds - which we did. Anyway, after we found the spot we wanted at the sunset campground, we walked up to catch the bus out to Bryce Point.

 Bryce Point, Elevation 8300 ft

The plan was to take the Peek-a-Boo trail to the Navajo trail and come out through wall street at the sunset point parking lot. The Peek-a-Boo trail took us down into the amphitheater, through arches and switchbacks.

As we descended, there were numerous panoramic moments.

Once we were at the bottom, most views were hindered by trees and "dead" hoodoos. However, wall street (two really tall fins that haven't yet eroded into arches or hoodoos) was pretty cool.

We were lucky I guess. Last year we hiked the Navajo to the Queen's Garden loop, and since the wall street side of Navajo was closed, we went down the thors hammer side. This year, the opposite was true: thors hammer was closed so we got to do the wall street side. Amazingly, I made it up the 20+ switchbacks out of wall street with only one short stop in the middle. I guess I was pacing myself and had gained some muscle endurance on all our other hikes this trip.

The next morning we got up early to see the sunrise from sunrise point. 

Though we should've been prepared, we didn't expect it to be as cold as it was. One hour of waiting and watching, then we packed up our campsite and drove to see the south end of the park before heading to Colorado.

Here marks the end of our national parks tour for this trip. We loved the beautiful sights we got to enjoy and I've really had fun making all the collaged photos and little planets. The last days of our trip were spent driving and a two-day stopover in Boulder, CO. There, we relaxed, went to a movie, and I spent some time in the Butterfly Pavilion, which was awesome! So, stay tuned...

Photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

This is a series on our 2011 trip. Here are the previous posts:

• Hiking to Observation Point, Zion NP
• Zion NP
• Grand Teton NP
• Sunrise at Yellowstone NP
• Day 4 in Yellowstone NP
• Day 3 in Yellowstone NP
• Day 2 in Yellowstone NP
• Day 1 in Yellowstone NP
• Devils Tower and Little Planets
• Hiking in the Black Hills AKA Custer State Park

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