Utah - Day 4

We only did 1 park today and then part of another park.  So this blog will be pretty quick.  Our first park today was Rainbow Bridge National Monument.  The only way you can get to this park is to take a boat ride on Lake Powell (which is part of Glen Canyon NRA).  It's about a 2.5 hour ride each way with a one-mile hike through the Bridge Canyon to get to Rainbow Bridge National Monument.  The hike is absolutely beautiful and it's even better when you get to Rainbow Bridge.  Rainbow Bridge is the world's largest naturally-made arch, and it's very impressive up close!  The nice thing is, since this is only accessible by boat, the crowd is kept to a minimum (although, I'm sure in the warmer months it's probably much more crowded), and the small crowd allows for better reflection at the bridge.

Castle Rock on Lake Powell

Bridge Canyon

Rainbow Bridge - notice how small the people are?

Wildlife!

Bridge Canyon again

We got off the boat and had a slightly long drive to Bryce Canyon National Park.  We've only had a taste of this park so far because we got here in time to see sunset on the hoodoos.  Funny that Bryce has a Sunset Point and a Sunrise Point, but the lady who checked us into the lodge said that sunset is better viewed from Sunrise Point.  Thankfully we had clear skies today so we made our way to Sunrise Point which is only about a half-mile hike away from where we are staying.  We caught sunset in time, but we were blown away by just how big Bryce is when looking out from the hoodoo dome.  We could see for miles and miles and miles!

Another reason this is a short blog is because we're getting up early to catch sunrise on the hoodoos.  I have the feeling that will be more impressive than the sunset we had.

Weird how the tree grew this way.

Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon NP

Us at Bryce

More hoodoos at Bryce