Bryce Canyon NP

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The 8th park is up today.
Let's see what we find.
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Spectacular! Miles and miles of hoodoos.
That what the sculpted rock is called.
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Hoodoo Hammers
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This was taken from Bryce Point.
Just a little while into our visit and I'm already impressed.

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Silent City.
Each hoodoo is supposed to be an indian.
Legend says a wolf tricked them then turned them into hoodoos.
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One day, all this will just be sand.
Look at the piles of sand, that was all sandstone, hoodoos. Gone forever.
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Giant Gary ruling over the hoodoo warriors.
A magical place!

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The gusty wind almost blew me off the edge.
Thanks broken fence!
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Gorgeous view.
This shows why the park exists.
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Wind is the order of the day at the park.
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Walking the rim trail from amphitheatre to amphitheatre.
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This is as close as you can get to the hoodoos from the rim.
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Sunset Point.
Look at the glow, the color seems to be coming from inside the rock!
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Sunset Point, just beautiful.
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Sunrise Point. Luckily, we didn't come for sunrise.
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Sunrise point is colorful as well.
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Hanging out for a few more minutes to enjoy the view.
What a nice day, blue skies, a few puffy clouds, not too hot.
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Not a natural arch, but cool anyway.
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This is the highest point in Bryce.
My lungs agree!
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The entire cliff face is hoodoos.
Glowing in the morning sun.
See the difference in the terrain? The part with hoodoos has almost no vegetation.
The rock below has lots of trees which stablizes…
Black Birch Canyon. No birches, black or otherwise could be found.
Ponderosa Point.
Again, no ponderosa pines in view.
This arch looks like the Arc de Triomphe
Swamp Canyon.
No, no swamp to be found.
Maybe revisit names after 50 or so years.
Our ride has a flat and needs to be fixed.
Hanhan and her trusty mule Kate.
We have begun our adventure to the canyon floor.
Hopefully in 3 hours, not 30 seconds.
Hanhan is smart, she has a mule instead of a horse.
Mules are the 'Cowboy Cadillac'
The formations we saw from the rim look very different from below.
The patented Hanhan Fake Smile! On muleback!
Wow! Look at the pink color!
Bristlecone pine, some of the oldest thigs on Earth.
This one is a youngster, only about 2,000 years old.
Various rock has created the multicolored cliff face here.
The piles of sand used to be hoodoos at some point in time.
Look at the limestone caps on the sandstone hoodoos.
That is what keeps them intact.
Colors.
Magnificient desolation!
When close to you, hoodoos are really big!
The surviving hoodoo, all alone now.
The rest have crumbled into sand.
The same amphitheatre we were viewing from the rim.
Don't know which view I like better.
You can see the different stages of erosion here.
From thick to thin, as fluid as water in geologic terms.
All 'windows' are created by erosion.
Freeze/thaw is the main driver.
Gary's mule is happy, see the standing ears?
You'd be happy with this view too.
Two dummies who hiked instead of riding.
Majestic!
Our wrangler, all in black.
John Wayne should ride in anytiime now!
Looks like a castle.
Looking straight up is impressive.
This reminds you of Lombard Street in San Francisco.
Except for the horses and mules.
And the lack of water.
Light at the end of the tunnel!
An amphitheatre from slightly below the rim.
See how close to the edge the stupid mules walk?
No fake smile on Hanhan now.
Her mule was not cooperative!
Hanhan is happy now.
We can see the stable!