Bryce Canyon National Park Off The Beaten Path

Another fine carved spine is seen from Sunset Point – The Sentinel – towering a little hoodoo section at the beginning of Navajo Loop Trail.
Looking almost as a warning finger stretched into the air to remind the hikers to hike safe and carry enough water, it might even be considered as orientation if you are down in the trail – he will help you to locate the place where you finally will arrive.

BTW: The Sentinel is the orange thin thing in the middle of the pictures, not the bit more chunky figure on the right…..

An interesting rock formation, you will see during the Navajo Loop Trail. It’s called Double Bridge, and is two bridges, which has been left between two walls during canyon carving.

On the picture, you can clearly see one, the second one is close to the bottom of the walls.

Well, this is more of a joke tip – but it has a hint of reality :-)

In these red-red-red colored mountains and rocks, it might be a good idea to select a harmonising color of your clothes.
Blue seems to be nice, as it fits well to the everblue sky.

Sometimes I saw people who got their pictures taken in screaming yellow or lime green shirts… this was a bit against my aesthetic feeling :-)

On Navajo Loop Trail you will also meet another very famous model which makes you stop to take a picture.
It’s a Douglas Fir with a strange growing development: out of the trunk, a little side branch has grown and developed to a kind of twin to the bigger brother – or maybe the baby fir of mother fir – clung together for eternity.

In the picture, the main trunk is right hand, the side trunk left hand.

Rainbow Point sits at the end of Bryce Canyon's main road. I'm sitting on a wood carved bench. Before me lies the vast open canyon- red rocks rise unevenly past a valley that stretches on seemingly forever. The mountains in the distance. The wind howls through the canyon bringing a chill to this point at 9,000 feet elevation. Its completely peaceful out here. That's why I've come. To steal a moment like this. Its one I can't put into words, nor will my digital photos do it justice. But the image and the moment will burn into my memory. Hopefully, years from now I will still be able to see it, and, in some sense, live it again.

Given all the opportunities at Bryce to pull over and stare at the unusual landscape, its hard to pick any favorite spots, but Aqua Canyon has one of the best views of the park. Unlike Bryce Ampitheatre, the hoodoos are not lined up uniformly. Here they are scattered among the Douglas Fir trees that share a portion of this landscape. The Pink Cliffs rise in the distance, but unfortunately are not visible from this shot. The color contrast and diversity of landscape are Aqua Canyon's most striking features.

This park is an overlooked gem. We took a drive over there one morning, just to take a look at it, and ended up hiking a good share of the day. Maybe it's busier during the summer (were there early Sept.) but we only saw one other couple in the campground and nobody on the trails. Great views from the top of the buttes, and the colors (for which the park is named) are wonderful. The campground looked clean and pleasant: a very good option if Bryce campground are full or you want to lose the crowds there. They also have some tidy little cabins (for a tidy little price) with bathrooms, fridges and microwaves - a nice alternative to pricey Bryce lodge rooms:

http://www.redstonecabins.com/cabins.html

Nice little station with trail maps - the lady working there was enthusiastic and helpful.
A great break from the crowds at Bryce.
22 miles east of Bryce and adjacent to Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument
$6 day-use fee, $16 for camping, $25 for hookups
Campground showers, bathrooms and drinking water
Camp store with the basics
Great little website with lots of helpful area info/links.

Sunrise Point is the genesis for the trails that lead below the rim. From this vantage point, you can glimpse Bryce's treasures from afar. A walk below the surface brings these images up close and the laborious efforts of the hike are rewarded with visual bounty. Of course, the real strenuous portion is the hike back up.