Bryce Canyon--April 3

We woke up during the night last night extremely cold, so we used our little propane heater, Mr. Buddy, for the first time in our van.  It was working very well until it ran out of propane, so....we tried to get some more sleep and woke up extremely cold in the  morning.

We left the state park and headed for Bryce Canyon.  It was still windy and kind of chilly when we got there, so we ate our lunch in the van and then headed out for the signature hike at the park--Queen's Garden, combined with the Navajo Trail.  This trail is about 3 miles long, but drops very steeply off the canyon rim down into the hoodoos (about 700 feet, I think).  The hoodoos are rock spires that have been formed by the wind erosion out of the orange and white striped sandstone in the area.  In some places, the trail winds through small openings in the wall, like little doorways, and in others, there are small rock bridges that are above your head as you walk along.  After the hike, we drove partway out on the scenic drive along the rim and stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks.  One of them, Bryce Point (named for the person who promoted the park for national park status), projects out into the area and you can see off 3 sides of the point at the hoodoos, the cliff walls, and the mountains across the valley in the distance.  It's really a beautiful place.

Because it was so windy and cool (and was supposed to get very cold that night), we left Bryce Canyon and drove to Zion National Park.  When you enter the park from the east side, your first view is of this massive rock mountain that is called "Checkerboard Mesa."  Seriously, it looks like a giant white checkerboard....the sand was laid down in large layers before it became rock, so there are huge horizontal cracks there, and then the water and snow have run down the rock vertically, forming cracks that way.  I've never seen anything like it at any of the other parks we have gone to.

The other fun thing on the drive into the park is the huge tunnel they built through one of the mountains...it is 1.1 miles long and was built by the CCC during 30's.  Because it was built back then, there are a lot of vehicles that won't fit through the tunnel and a lot that take up the whole tunnel when they come through.  We had a short wait on our side while a big truck and a big RV came through from the other side, but it wasn't bad.  The campground in the park was full by the time we arrived in the evening, but we found a free spot on the BLM land.  We ate some dinner, had a little campfire, and played a game of Trivial Pursuit cards in the van before we went to bed.  Tomorrow, we get to check out Zion and I can't wait!