We began climbing up the mountains...
...and even began to see some snow.
We reached an elevation of a little over 10,000 feet...
...and it seemed like we could see all the way to Mexico.
A little past the summit, we drove past Navajo Lake, a lake that was formed when a prehistoric lava flow dammed the east side of the valley.
The water in the lake seeps through natural sinkholes in the lake bottom and travels through old lava tubes all the way to the Great Basin and the Colorado River. Portions of Hwy 14 is lined with this ancient lava rock.
Hwy 14 ends at Hwy 89 where we began heading north through some beautiful countryside.
We turned east on to Hwy 12 and drove through Red Canyon.
After driving through Red Canyon, we turned south on to Hwy 63 into Bryce Canyon.
Bryce Canyon basically consists of mainly one road with several viewpoints and overlooks. We decided to drive all the way to the end and stop at all the overlooks on the way back. Before taking our first look at the canyon, we ate our picnic lunch at Yovimpa Point. It was just a little cold. Can you tell?
This chipmunk tried to join us for lunch. :)
After lunch, we walked out the sidewalk to our first viewpoint. They must get a lot of snow here. Even the sidewalks have tall markers for snowplowing.
As soon as we reached Yovimpa Point, I think I said my first "oh my goodness" of the day because the views were so incredible.
We also walked over to Rainbow Point. The views were incredible. According to the information at the visitor center, you could see over 100 miles from these viewpoints.
There was snow on some of the canyon walls.
And the rock formations were amazing!
Our next stop was Black Birch Canyon.
Below was a rock formation that looked like a small castle off in the valley.
At our next stop, Ponderosa Canyon, there was a raven posing for pictures.
At Agua Canyon, Chuck spotted this hawk way out on top of one of the rock formations. You see him don't you?
How about now?
Chuck is always amazing me with how quickly he spots animals.
The views at Agua Canyon were beautiful too.
Our next stop was Natural Bridge...
...and then Farview Point where we could see far, far away.
Another arch was visible from this overlook.
This rock formation in the distance looks like a castle.
Our next stop was Swamp Canyon.
And then we drove out to Paria View...
...and Bryce Point.
Look at all the hoodoos!
Thousands of them!
To the north side of Bryce Point, the rock formations reminded me of ancient Roman or Grecian ruins.
We walked further out on an overlook at Bryce Point.
As the sun was going lower into the western sky, the shadows gave the hoodoos a different look.
We drove over to Inspiration Point and walked up a very steep hill to the overlook.
Very inspiring!
Our last stop was Sunset Point.
The hoodoos began to look like they were on fire in the setting sun.
We could see Inspiration Point (where we had just been)....
...and the people hiking below us on the Navajo Loop Trail below us. We did not hike this trail because it was getting so late in the day and we didn't want to get lost in the hoodoos! Maybe next time!
It is amazing to think that anything could grow between those hoodoos but look at the tree growing between the hoodoos in the below picture.
All the hoodoos and different colors and rock formations are what make Bryce Canyon so very interesting!
Below are a couple of video clips that give a different perspective to beautiful Bryce Canyon.
Video of Bryce Amphitheater:
Video of Ponderosa Canyon:
Oh my goodness!
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