September 25: Car Camping   Miles Today : ~15 Total Miles : ~38

Since Diane was still recovering from dehydration this morning, I headed out solo to the Fairyland Loop. This eight mile circuit starts out on the rim of the canyon and gradually works its way down to the canyon floor. The great thing about this trail is how close you get to the hoodoos and the other canyon formations. The trail winds around the rocks, giving you an up-close and personal tour. Also, being down so low in the canyon provides some spectacular looks back up at the canyon walls.

Another great thing about this trail is the variety of views that are provided. I wasn’t just looking at rust-orange hoodoos the whole time, but colors such as gray, yellow, purple and pink were prevalent. And it wasn’t all hoodoos either; there was a total variety of landscapes as well. Sinking Ship Mesa, plateaus, Tower Bridge and a wall of windows all made this a very cool trail to explore.

After finishing the Fairyland Loop, I headed back to the campsite to see how Diane was faring. Looking a bit better since last night, we headed to Tropic to grab some lunch and do a little exploring outside the park. After getting a bite to eat, we returned to the park and headed for Sunset Point. From there, we departed on the Navajo Loop. This short but rugged hike was totally amazing. It’s probably the single coolest thing in Bryce Canyon. The trail starts from the rim of the canyon and descends quickly through a series of hoodoos. You quickly discover, though, that the trail keep descending, right into a slot canyon!

While this really isn’t a true slot canyon, since there was no squeezing required, it was cool nonetheless and we followed the trail all the way out to a dry riverbed. We briefly considered incorporating part of the Peek-a-boo loop in with our hike, but not wanting to push Diane too much today, we opted to head back up to the rim on the Navajo Loop. We headed back up through another slot canyon and finally back to the rim at Sunset Point. It was an extremely cool hike with some mind-blowing scenery.

Not surprisingly, that hike took a lot out of Diane, so for the rest of the afternoon she hiked along the fairly tame Rim Trail while I shot over to Bryce Point to hike the 5.5-mile Peek-a-Boo Loop Trail. Its not like the park hasn’t been impressive so far, or exceeded my expectations in every way, however it was saving its best for last with the Peek-a-Boo Trail.

As I quickly discovered, the name for this trail came from the fact that, over the course of the 5.5 miles, you pass under 5 different bridges and arches. And if that isn’t cool enough, the views from this trail totally overshadowed anything that I had seen thus far, with the possible exception of the Navajo Loop. Along this trail were some of the most unique formations I had seen yet. Striking contrasts, large monolith-esque formations, this trail had it all. I finished back on the rim at 6:30 and I was beat.

So with the hiking day complete, it was back to the campground for dinner, some marshmallows over a fire and a couple or well deserved micro-brews. Life is good out here.

-Chomp

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