2010: Bryce Canyon

First Look at Bryce

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Our first day at Bryce Canyon would be a short driving tour of the main viewpoints; we'd save hiking into the canyon for another day. Bryce Canyon has a shuttle bus like Zion, but it's optional and we'd heard from other tourists that it isn't really necessary, so we chose to drive ourselves around in the park.


Even though there are zillions of photos of Bryce Canyon out there, and even though you know most of them are going to be better than yours, it's hard to stop snapping away. Digital photography is terrific for the freedom it gives you, but it's overwhelming when you go to sift through the results. You should see all the ones I dumped, and this is just our first day!


We made as far as the 8300-foot elevation at Bryce Point, the last scenic viewpoint in the main amphitheater of the canyon. Unlike our RV camp in Cannonville, Bryce has cell service! So I had to call my mom from the rim of the canyon. I emailed her the photo later on.


Bryce Lodge is a little downscale compared to Zion and the Grand Canyon; we stopped in briefly, but there wasn't much to see. A gift shop. There's always a gift shop.


On the other end of the civilization scale is Ruby's Inn and RV Park, a huge tourist complex just outside the park boundaries. In addition to all the t-shirts and chotchkes, they have just about the only grocery store within a ten-mile radius. You won't find your truffles or French wine there, but slightly wilted lettuce? They're all over it.

On the way back out, we investigated Ruby's and another small nearby RV park, and we made a tentative decision to move away from the awful rocky roads of the Cannonville park in two days. However, the next day we learned that a cold front was coming in; when we saw the projected evening low temperatures around Bryce of 31 degrees, we had to reconsider. Our leaky trailer isn't built for that kind of cold, and neither am I. Cannonville is 1500 feet lower than Bryce, so I reluctantly agreed that because of the weather, we'd have to stay put.

When we got back, Mike took Peanut for an outing on our weed patch. With a little help from some astroturf.