Bryce Canyon National Park, in southern Utah, was first set aside as a national monument in 1923 to preserve an amphitheater of colorful pinnacles, spires, and walls, all carved by erosive weathering. This is a canyon that is not a canyon, but an intricately carved edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau and is best known for its hoodoos. These water carved walls, fins and spires reflect the moving sun with ever changing colors.
Hoodoo - pillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion. Hoodoo - to cast a spell. At Bryce Canyon National Park erosion forms an array of fantastic shapes we call hoodoos. Surrounded by the beauty of southern Utah, hoodoos cast their spell on all who visit.
People have lived in the Colorado Plateau region for about 12,000 years, but only random fragments of worked stone reveal their presence near Bryce Canyon. Paiutes, who lived here when white settlers came to southern Utah, accounted for the hoodoos as the "Legend People" whom Coyote had turned to stone.
In 1875 Ebenezer Bryce cane to the Paria Valley to live and to harvest timber. Neighbors called the canyon behind his home Bryce's Canyon. Soon after 1900 people were coming to see the colorful geologic sights, and the first accommodations were built along the rim above Bryce's Canyon. By 1920 J.W. Humphrey, U.S. Forest Service, was trying to protect the canyon's scenic wonders. In 1923 President Warren G. Harding proclaimed part of the area as Bryce Canyon National Monument
under the Powell (now the Dixie) National Forest. In 1924 legislation established the area as Utah's National Park, but the legislation established provisions were not met until 1928. Legislation passed that year changed the name to Bryce Canyon National Park.Upon entering the park you pass the visitors center, from there you follow the plateau rim road for about 18 miles. The park road overlooks offer stunning geological panoramas. It is suggested that you drive to the end of the road to Rainbow Point and work your way back, that way you do not have to cross traffic turning into the view points as all the pull offs are then on your right. As traffic in the summer can by
quite heavy there is also a bus that will bring you into the park and make many of the stops.
We arrived at the park early in the morning and we did not have much traffic until later in the day.
Our first stop was at Rainbow/Yovimpa Points. From this vista you can over look much of Bryce Canyon National Park. Here you can see the snaking rim of the Pink Cliffs, and many of the park's hoodoo-filled amphitheaters. The view from Yovimpa Point allows visitors to look south and west over Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It is one of the best
places to see the "steps" which give the Grand Staircase its name.
Black Birch Canyon; we found the "window" in the canyon wall.
Ponderosa Canyon: This vista shows off its multicolored hoodoos in Ponderosa Canyon, so named because huge Ponderosa pine trees grow on the canyon floor. Some of these trees measure more than 5 feet in diameter and exceed heights of 150 feet. The name is a bit confusing because the viewpoint area is surrounded by a forest of Blue Spruce and Douglas Fir trees.
Agua Canyon: This viewpoint overlooks two prominent hoodoos. The taller of the two is known as "The Hunter", the smaller one to the right (shown in photo) is know as "The Backpacker".
Natural Bridge: This was not formed by a stream like true natural bridges. More accurately it is an arch, carved by rain and frost erosion acting from the top of the rock. This "bridge" is very photogenic and from many vantage points you can frame rich green, Ponderosa pine trees through the arch
.
Farview Point: from this viewpoint here are also views of plateaus and mountains, and to the southeast is the Kaibab Plateau.
Paria View: This vista looks over hoodoos in an amphitheater carved by Yellow Creek The Paria River valley and Table Cliff Plateau form its backdrop.Bruce Point: a view of the huge amphitheater filled with hoodoos with pines growing along the canyon floor.
Inspiration Point; offers the best views of Silent City.
Fairyland Point: is one mile off the main road between the entrance station and park boundary.
This canyon is smaller, more intimate, than the vast
bowls farther south along the rim. Though erosion started later here, Fairyland may eventually resemble Bryce Amphitheater.
Bryce Canyon is one of the most photogenic national parks in America. It is not, however, the easiest park to photograph. Dominated by light-colored highly reflective formations and containing few trees or other familiar scale features this unusual landscape often yields photographs that seem washed out or lacking in scale and depth.
We arrived early in the day and the sky was overcast so the photos had a little more depth than if the full sun had been out.
I will add more photos below.
Until later, love,
Candy and Johnny
Go to older posts to see more photos
Next we go to Cedar Breaks National Monument
