We had a lot on our plate for today, so we were on the road at 8 AM and 61 degrees. The plan for today was ambitious…drive 3 hours to Bryce Canyon National Park, visit the park, then drive 2 hours to our hotel near Zion National Park, which we would visit on Saturday. Bryce is not a big park, so we felt it was doable, but there would be no time to spare.

The drive to Bryce from Capital Reef was incredible. It took us through the Dixie National Forest, then through an immense canyon and ending up in Zion. The drive through the forest was very interesting. Most of the forest land is treed with white birch, one of my very favorite. They were standing tall, close together, reaching for the sun, and their delicate leaves were fluttering in the breeze like little green charms, as they often do. They looked absolutely regal.

Along the road we saw signs warning of deer, which was no surprise, and cows, which we found curious.   I thought perhaps they were for cattle crossings. Not so. We actually saw 12 cows in the road or beside it, just wandering freely. We stopped by the first one we saw, which was a big black bull, and he and I shared a moment of eye-to-eye contact, and I wanted to reach out and pat him because he looked so friendly, but decided that was probably not such a good idea. I thought that he must be a stray that had gotten loose and was looking confuse. Not so. We saw others, just wandering the roads, like they had no home, but they did, as evidenced by the tags permanently affixed to their ears. (This must be the modern alternative to branding. Seems more humane somehow. ) We also saw 6 delicate looking, sable colored deer and a 10 point buck, just wandering in and along the side of the road. I tried to get a shot, but they are just too agile and quick for my amateurish handling of a camera.

Out of the forest, we found ourselves driving into a canyon, first rising in elevation several thousand feet. We drove a very narrow ridge at the top of the canyon, with severe drop-offs on both sides. It was a bit of a white-knuckle ride. Then we drove around rough and rutted stone walls with sage growing from cracks and crevices, then down, down into the canyon, following hairpin turns and passing through tunnels, and finally down to the canyon floor, where the tan rock was replaced by lush green fields and tall green trees.   The view was considerably better than the photos I was able to get.

Eventually we landed in Bryce Canyon NP. And if yesterday was amazing, today was absolutely incredible. It was 18 miles out and 18 miles back. Occasionally we see bikers (the peddle kind) riding these roads. Today we saw a family of 5, Mom, Dad, teenaged daughter, pre-teen daughter and young son, and they did the entire route on bikes. I was really impressed because a lot of it was uphill. Gotta hand it to them. They may be tired tomorrow, but they will be proud of such an accomplishment, for sure. I for one, was proud to climb a few hills to look-out points. Nothing by comparison, but a big deal for me.   I did it for the photos, for the blog.

The color for this park is peach…all shades of peach. And a lot of the stone structures are like many tall spires, tightly packed together, like statues, often looking like stick candles partially melted and with pointed tops that Steve kept saying looked like the tops on castles. They do. At Sunset Point there is a huge grouping of these statue-like figures, all standing in rows, in a curve, and it reminded me of a very large choir, standing together under the blue sky, and patchy sunlight shining down through the cumulous clouds above.

After leaving this park, Steve and I decided to rate the four Utah parks we had visited by now, and we both decided that Bryce and Arches were at the top of the list, although this is not to poo poo the other two. They are all spectacular.

We then took the 2 hour drive to our hotel near Zion National Park. What we did not realize was that this drive would take us right through the park and out the other side to the town of Springdale, where our hotel was. More about this park tomorrow, but when we landed at our hotel and studied the map of Zion, we realized that we had already driven the only road where cars are allowed. The "scenic" road is for buses only and dogs are not allowed. So we went right to work figuring out how to modify our plans, which were going to keep us at this hotel for two nights. Clearly we do not need to stay two days. So we moved our next hotel up a day and will work on more changes in the days to come. As it is, the drive to Grand Junction, Colorado, our next stop, takes us right back through Zion, so we will take some photos tomorrow and head on up the road.