Bryce Canyon is known for its strange and colorful rock formations, especially the sandstone pillars known as "hoodoos". It is located in southwestern Utah, at an elevation of 7000 - 9000 ft. The altitude supposedly keeps Bryce cooler than the lower deserts in central and eastern Utah. Indeed, the official air temperature went up to only about 90°. But the hot southwest sun bakes the bare ground, the ground temperature rises to perhaps 140°, and the heat radiates back up. I've never been so hot hiking.
Ebenezer Bryce - after whom the park is named - was a farmer.
He described this area simply: |
Hoodoos, along the Peek-a-boo Loop Trail
On the Peek-a-boo Loop Trail
The pink cliffs, with some hoodoos that seem to glow!
(also on the Peek-a-boo Loop Trail)
View through one of the "windows" which give the Peek-a-boo Loop Trail its name
On the left is a section of "Wall Street", a narrow ravine along the Navajo Loop Trail.
On the right, an unidentified girl emerges from one of the "windows" through the rock, and is awed by the immensity of the formations. (Navajo Loop Trail) |
A lone tree is dwarfed by the hoodoos (Fairyland Loop Trail)