Hiking the Hoodoos

We had the morning to spend as we liked in Bryce Canyon. Our first stop was a little grocery store for breakfast and lunch provisions. They had a bakery with actually had good pastries and bread. We got some chocolate croissants and milk for breakfast and they custom made sandwiches on their mini baguettes. Add Pringles and Oreos and we had lunch.

We got to Sunrise Point for morning shots of the amphitheater and considered the trail down into the hoodoos. We all wanted to go but Scott was leery of the hike because of his recent heart attack (just six weeks ago). We decided to give it a go knowing that we would have to take it very slow on the way back out. We drove to Sunset Point where the steep Wall Street section of switchbacks leads into the hoodoos. It beckons people to delve into the dark shadows.

The hike down was tremendous! We all enjoyed the switchbacks; which weren't tough at all to negotiate. It felt like real exploring as we plunged into the shadows between the tall hoodoos. After the most narrow section of hoodoos you suddenly arrive in the sunshine on the other side. What a wonderful contrast. We couldn't stop taking pictures. I'm sure that by the end of the walk we had dozens of pictures of hoodoos and other red and white rock formations. Once we got to the intersection of the trails at the bottom we decided to go on the longer walk to Sunrise Point instead of taking the quicker round trip back up to Sunset Point. It was level walking at the bottom and not a problem for any of us. It took us through pines at the far edge of the amphitheater.

We followed the trail past "Queen Victoria" and then around and through the hoodoos and up to Sunrise Point. Yes, it was a slog but we took lots of stops and finally made it to the top. What I noticed was that other people were taking as many stops as we were and we finished with the same few people with whom we started the incline. I guess our extra slow is most people's regular speed.Read more