Our Bryce Canyon Adventure

Over Labor Day weekend we had an adventure. We left on Friday afternoon for Bryce Canyon. I had never been to Bryce and I was super excited. We drove down with Blake and Debbie on Friday afternoon. The drive down was beautiful. As we got closer to Bryce the more scenic it become. Driving in through Red Canyon was stunning. We got in and it was getting late so we set up camp, ate dinner, and got ready for bed.

We got up Saturday and headed right over to Bryce. We went over to Sunset point and enjoyed the beautiful views. I was awestruck by the magnificence of Bryce.

After enjoying the views we went on hiking around the Navajo/Queen's Garden loop. It was so much fun. Kristin, Dan, Skylee, Blake, and Debbie were all hiking with us. The hike was around 3 miles long and was very pleasant. We went down from Sunset point, which was really cool because we were descending into the red rock. We really enjoyed the subway area of the hike because you are completely surrounded by red rock and there are these huge trees that have grown up to reach the sunlight.

The Queen's garden was also a beautiful area. There were a lot of hoodoo formations. There is also a rock formation that is supposed to look like a statue of a queen. It took a minute, but then we were able to see it. Alison wasn't too impressed by the queen, she's pure American.



This is supposed to look like a statue of a Queen

This is the actual statue

We took a break for lunch and then Alison and I went with Dan on another hike called the Hat Shop. This hike left from Bryce point. It was more challenging than the Queen's garden. It was two miles but has a little over 1,000 feet in elevation change. You go downhill first down to the hat shop and then you hike back up to get out. I don't like hiking down first - I prefer going uphill first. The scenery on this hike is very different from the rest of Bryce. It is a lot more forested and the rock is mostly gray. The hat shop is interesting because you walk all the way out and there is a formation of hoodoos. They are red rock spires with these gray boulders that appear as if they are balanced on top. It was a really fun hike.



This is the Hat Shop

At night we explored the old town around Ruby's inn, but there really wasn't much to see. Then we went to a presentation called starry nights. It started out with an hour-long presentation from a park ranger about mapping the moon. It was very boring. If we went again we would skip the presentation. After the presentation, there were a bunch of telescopes set up and we got to look at some amazing star formations. The night sky at Bryce is truly stunning. Bryce has one of the darkest skies in the nation. You can see so many stars and you can see the milky way. I really enjoyed looking at the night sky.

The next morning we got off to a bit of a slow start. We tried some dutch oven cooking for breakfast. We made a breakfast casserole and it was delicious. It just took a little while to get going. After breakfast, Jake and Meg joined the family at Bryce. It was Meg's birthday so we all sang happy birthday for her.

Dan, Kristin, Alison, and I were ready to get going so we headed back to Bryce point to hike Peek-a-boo loop. This hike was similar to Queen's garden but more challenging. It is a five-mile loop that has 1,500 feet in elevation change. It was just as beautiful as the rest of Bryce canyon and less crowded. It was a challenging hike, but very rewarding. The grand vistas we saw were stunning.

At this point, we were pretty beat after all of our hiking, but we wanted to get as much as we could out of this trip and decided to go on one more hike. This hike was a little further into the park than we had gone before. It was the Swamp Creek/Sheep Creek loop. Dan, Jake, Meg, Alison and I went on the hike. It was supposed to be pretty easy because it was 4 miles with about 500 feet of elevation change. We really got this one started off on the wrong foot. We got a little over-anxious to get on the trail and we ended up hiking down a wash. It lost elevation fast and was very difficult going. Alison said the whole time she didn't think it was a trial and become more vocal the further we went down. Eventually, we could see the trail and we crossed a hill to get on the correct trail. Once we got on the correct trail the hike was quite pleasant. It was very different from the other hikes because it was more forested rather than rock formations.



This was the wash - it was treacherous

That was really the end of our weekend. We got back to camp and we were so exhausted after hiking 16 miles in 2 days. Needless to say, we slept great that night. We got up on labor day and headed home. It was such a fun labor day weekend in Bryce. It was great to spend time in such a beautiful place with our family.