Peek-a-boo - or a Helluva place to lose a cow!

Yosemite had us in awe, Zion Canyon was breathtaking, but Bryce Canyon, well, it just blew or minds! The day started off well  - what colour are those lenses, asks Steve, green left, blue right, says I. Ah! says he, no wonder I couldn't see properly! He'd only been wearing them in the wrong eyes for the last few days! Warmer clothes required this morning - only 55˚, and blowing a hooley! Set off from the car park with my raincoat on for wind protection! We were at 8300ft, mind you, so not really surprising that it was a little chillier than we've become accustomed to.

I’d been a little concerned that we may have missed the most beautiful colours and shapes to be seen here, as we didn’t get up to see the sunrise over the canyon. I needn’t have worried; what we saw as we looked over the railing at our starting point was some of the most mind-blowing views we have ever seen in our lives. This, I thought, is a serious contender for the most amazing place in the whole wide world. And we hadn’t even got down amongst these massive statues yet.

We’d decided on a figure of eight walk, putting 2 of the many trails together, thanks to a blog that I found whilst planning our trip here; blogs can be very useful things! I must leave a comment on it to say thank you! Even though I had read a bit about the place and looked at a few images, nothing can prepare you for what you see and experience as you walk down into the canyon and wander through and around the imposing rock formations. The photographs do not do justice to the sheer breathtaking beauty of these hoodoos. 

It looked and felt like you were walking amongst hundreds of fairytale castles, and at each twist and turn of the path there was another ‘wowtastic’ moment - have run out of superlatives, so started making up our own! (We are in America, so who would know that it wasn't a real word!) I guess that's why they called this part of the hike the Peek-a-boo loop!

One part of our hike took in the Queens Garden Trail; and here she is above, good old Queen Victoria! We sat and had our lunch here, not because we were paying homage or anything, but just because there was a nice flat rock to sit on. Despite the place being full of them, most were not suitable as chairs!

 We named this shape 'Comrade Corner'! Ssshhhh, don't tell the Americans, they might not like it!

The hike was considerably more up hill and down dale than I had anticipated, and provided ample opportunity for me to practise my nose-breathing; very difficult actually to keep your mouth closed when every few minutes you need to pick your jaw up off the ground! The 10km round trip took us about 4 hours, with goodness only knows how many stops for photos. Having finished our hike we drove around to the highest point, Bryce Point, to look down one last time on where we had walked and on the raw beauty of this spellbinding place. From here it was easy to see why Ebeneezer Bryce, the pioneer Mormon homesteader (who was actually Scottish), thought that it was 'a helluva place to lose a cow.'

We were also quite amused to notice a group of rather mean looking bikers going gooey over the chipmunks which were running around.

It was time to leave, but we will return.

The trip down to Page took us over the high plains, and very pretty they were too. We took a halfway coffee break in a place called Kanab. Not bad coffee, but we thought we'd better hurry up and drink it before Steve's ears started to bleed - great Country and Western on the stereo! He did rather take a fancy to a cowboy, though!

And as we approached our destination, the first clouds we've seen since we arrived here appeared on the horizon - though the temperature did climb to 79˚! 

Tomorrow morning sees us up very bright and early to take a morning smooth water rafting trip down the Colorado River, before heading off into real Native American territory, Monument Valley. We're staying in some authentic Navajo huts for 2 nights, so not sure if a blog will happen tomorrow. If not, I'll post from Grand Canyon where we arrive, of all times, on my birthday - what a present!