Bryce Canyon and Grand Staircase Escalante
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| View from our room |
Our trip was during Fall Break in Oct. 2015. We stayed at Ruby's Inn Best Western. The room was nice, had a fridge and microwave, a view of a pond and tipi and part of the campground. It was comfortable and pretty spacious. We were on the ground floor in a wheel chair accessible room.
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| From top of the Queen's Garden trail |
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| The family with Bryce Canyon as a backdrop |
In Bryce Canyon Ampitheater (see map: http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/upload/Bryce_Amp_summer-web.pdf ) we hiked from Sunrise Point down into the canyon on the Queen's Garden trail. When we cam upon the Peekaboo Loop, we hiked it clockwise. When then hiked back to the rim on the left side of the Navajo loop. This is around 8 miles and took a fair part of a day. The first part of the hike, Queen's Garden, was a gradual down hill. I don't recommend hiking it counter clockwise. The Peekaboo loop went up, almost to the rim, dropped back down and went up and down again. There were switch backs up and down. It would be considered strenuous, but the trail itself was well maintained and there were no big rocks to hike over. This trail is part clay, so I wouldn't recommend hiking in the rain. We hiked in light rain and mist, and that was ok as the sun came out in between and dried the trail out. The Peekaboo trail gives you access to another ampitheater of Bryce that you can't see from Sunrise or Sunset Points, but you can look down into it from Bryce Point. The views from down in the hoodoos or looking at them from below is MUCH different than viewing them from above!
The hike back to the rim on the left side of the Navajo Loop (looking up, take the trail going left at the junction) was pretty easy until the end. It goes through "Wall Street" which is really awesome and then you are faced with a very long and steep series of switch backs heading up out of the deep canyon. It was like we were heading up out of a cave. Once at the top, you are at Sunset Point.
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| Hoodoos as seen from the Peekaboo Loop |
At the end of this hike you will feel like you earned your dinner!
We traveled to Escalante, skipping Kodachrome State Park due to weather, and stayed at the Circle D Motel. We were in room #5, which is a 2 room suite boasting two queen beds and bath on one side and a kitchen with pull-out sofa and table on the other side. The restaurant on location was extremely good and the service was excellent. I had the smoked pork ribs and the meat just fell off the bone. It was sooooo good.
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| Ribs with fries and green beans at Circle D Motel restaurant |
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| Circle D Motel Mini suite Bed side |
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| Circle D Motel bathroom |
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| Kitchen side |
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It rained on us all day Saturday and Sunday, so we weren't able to hike to Calf Creek Falls or drive down Hole in the Rock road, which is where I really wanted to go. We will go back just for that! There were nice streams and waterfalls on the petrified sand dunes north of Escalante' that we played in, so that was a nice treat.
The drive from Escalante all the was north to Torrey, Utah was VERY scenic, even in the rain. Hwy 12 is a scenic byway. Torrey is home to Capital Reef National Park, which is also a great place to visit and hike.
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| Map of Hole in the Rock Road - Slots, etc! |
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