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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

bryce canyon

As promised I am going to share our next leg of our road trip with you. From CA we headed to Bryce Canyon City, UT. Basically we traded in the big city for a small town, which mainly consisted of two hotels, three restaurants, a campground and a bunch of stores at an intersection. From the little town you have easy access to Bryce Canyon National Park. We spent one and a half day hiking and exploring the park by car. There are great viewpoints that are accessible by car or by shuttle bus.

I believe I have uttered the word wow!!! countless times in our time in the park and after saying wow I needed to take a picture. All in all I took a little under 500 photos and had a hard time narrowing them down for this post. From every angle the landscape looked different, the colors of the rock range from white through orange to deep red. Paired with a blue sky and green forest it is the perfect landscape for taking photos. The colors also seemed to change over the course of the day and how the light would hit the rock formations. I feel that the photos I chose do not really do the park justice, it looked way more impressive in person. Some of hoodoos reminded me somehow of the terra cotta warriors in China, especially the ones in the fourth picture. I really hoped to see a prairie dog but we had no luck, instead we encountered a very curios chipmunk and a short-horned lizard.

Do you have a favorite National Park or other area for great hiking? I could start planning my next vacation right away...


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18 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, isn't Bryce stunning? We visited briefly on our move back east (We had a three year old with us as well as our dog, so no stopping anywhere and lingering!), but all of our stops had to be driveable. There was a fire deep in the mountains due to a lightning strike, and it was beautiful to see a plume of smoke rising tall among all those towering cliffs.

    Your pictures are stunning. No wonder you had so much trouble picking favorites! And I'll throw a vote for the Smokies, my childhood home. Vastly different and more gentle than these but beautiful nonetheless.

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    2. I couldn't get over how beautiful Bryce was. Even from the viewpoints accessible by car you get stunning views, you don't even need to hike to see its beauty. I'll add the Smokies to my list!

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  2. Awww Bryce, I just saw your link on Annie's post and I just had to come and have a look. Bryce was part of an RV trip we did a couple of years ago, it's just so beautiful isn't it? Nature and how it evolves at it's very best. It's true there is so much to photograph it's tough to edit down, but well done to you.

    We stayed there overnight in our RV and awoke just before dawn so we could walk to the top and photograph the sun coming up over the hoodoos. Thanks for bringing back so many fond memories.x

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    1. You're welcome! ;) We couldn't get up early enough to catch the sunrise, I was still so tired from not getting enough sleep the days before. The sunrise must have been beautiful! I bet the hoodoos looked even redder...

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  3. Oh it looks beautiful there. How far did you guys end up hiking?

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    1. We hiked only about 3-4 miles but we took our time, as I was constantly snapping photos or exploring.

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  4. Wow is right- this looks amazing. And how cute is that chipmunk?

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    1. Isn't that little guy the cutest? He posed for the pictures ;)

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  5. WHOA! Nina, those pictures are incredible! The views are totally stunning and breathtaking. My jaw actually hung slack looking at these. I had no idea Bryce Canyon looked like that! How shameful. I have to visit ASAP, even though I don't think I'd be the best hiker. I complain a lot, haha. You guys must have had an amazing time, just soaking up the view. I feel so small looking at all those rock formations, I can't imagine what it must have been like being there. That little squirrel (squirrel? chipmunk?) is the cutest thing in the entire world. I pinned it so I can always look back and giggle. Welcome home!!

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    1. They have a lot of easy trails. The only time I complained a little was when we had to walk uphill again ;) I have to admit I have no clue what the difference between a squirrel and a chipmunk is. Note to self google it ;) Chipmunk sounds cuter and that little guy is cute as hell.

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  6. Wow is very accurate! Love the rock formations. When ever we come to the states again we need to go see those. The chipmunk looks so human like standing that way :)

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    1. The whole area around Bryce Canyon is worth a visit! If you are ever planning a trip to that area let me know and I'll give you some pointers. He, he yes he looks like a human, with big feet ;)

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  7. Gosh, I don't know how you were able to edit. Your photos are beautiful. The canyon and vistas are breathtaking. Happy you were able to add this spot to a leg of your journey. After all the city dwelling, this stop must have been so refreshing.
    At one point in my life, I used to hike quite a bit. When I did, I loved the Dipsea Trail in Mill Valley (right over the bridge from San Franciso). You hike in the woods for miles. Then the trees clear and you reach a vista that looks out over the Pacific Ocean. It's quite amazing.

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    1. It was definitely a breath of fresh air on our trip, literally as well ;) Sorting through those photos took forever but as you can see I prevailed...Hiking in the woods sounds great, I'll put that on my list for the next time I'm in the SF area.

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  8. Me hike? hahaha I'm a rather sit back and watch kind of gal. But what beauty when u do walk huh ...... I love the pics of the cute 'natives'.

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  9. The good part about this park is you do not even need to hike to see a lot of its beauty. Good thing I did the hiking for you and you can enjoy the pictures ;)

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  10. wow looks amazing! Impressive - still on my bucket list!

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