3/20/14:
Thursday dawn revealed a soft fire
glow of reds and oranges over Watchman.
We got a later start, hanging out at the campground until 11:30
relaxing. My mom and I enjoyed the scenery
of the Pa’rus trail so much that we hiked it again, this time I brought my
video camera to capture the vivid panorama.
We then went to the Zion Human History Museum, where we walked the path
back in time to ancient culture of the Pueblo people, referred to by the Navajo
as the Anasazi meaning ‘The Ancient Ones.’
The Pueblo lived for nearly 1300 years in this land, creating a complex
culture and system of agriculture. Other
tribes including the Paiute and Hopi, among others called Zion home. Native American culture is interwoven into
the fabric of the land. Their trials and
triumphs reminders of our limitations – overgrazing and overuse of resources
including deforestation caused problems for the Pueblo – they adapted, but
historically and now we must nurture the land and let it nurture us.
In
the Museum there is a wonderful 22 minute film that details the geologic and
human forces that shaped and continue to shape Zion.
My
mom and I are huge college basketball fans – I used to write an award-winning
blog for The Sporting News and basketball is a huge passion – so suffice it to
say March Madness boils my blood – giving me a rush of adrenaline. I willingly have sacrificed my usual
television b-ball viewing binge for the wonder of Zion, but tonight my mom and
I decided to haunt the local Zion Brewpub to grab a burger while watching
games. This is our final toast to
Zion. Tomorrow morning we pack up camp
and leave for Bryce Canyon National Park.
Zion has etched itself on my heart – I will return…in the meantime
follow the blog for more posts about our travels across country and also more
feature articles about Zion and beyond.
3/21/14
“One more drive up the canyon, one
more star kiss before the dawn…the moon and sun collide and I’m searching for a
home, in this temporary sanctuary I lay my head, with the dawn of inspiration
in spite of life’s dread, one more time up the canyon, twists and curves, I am
refined by desperation and hope, love and peace as I turn a corner in my soul,
learning in the shadow to seek the light, hungering for the thirst of flesh, but
it is the water that gives my spirit flight…”
Today is our final morning in
Zion. My mom and I enjoyed a scrumptious
breakfast at Café Soleil (Southwest Scrambler and home roasted potatoes, paired
with caramel lattes) before packing up camp.
It is hard to say goodbye to
Zion. It has been a life-changing
experience. Still goodbye is sweeter
knowing we still have the opportunity to chart the Zion to Mount Caramel Road. Considered
a feat of engineering, the road was proposed by the Utah Parks Company that
managed tourism in the park during the 1920s as a way to link the seemingly
impenetrable eastern edge of the park to connector roads to Bryce Canyon
National Park and Grand Canyon National Park.
This pipe dream became a reality when work began on the winding road of
switchbacks and tunnels in 1927. The
road was completed in 1930 and remains one of the prettiest drives in America
(I would stack it up with the Beartooth Highway, Blue Ridge Parkway, Going to
the Sun Road and the other stunning winding roads and byways I have traversed.
Snaking through otherworldly canyons,
blasted tunnels, Zion’s Z-MC Road is a window into another layer of Zion’s
geologic history. Though formed by
similar natural forces, the eastern edge of the park has a unique character and
charm, with scenery far different from the inner canyon. This landscape curves into petrified
windswept sand dunes, strange rock outcropping(s) and methodical and
intrinsically linear rock wall mesas.
The massive monuments of smooth, colorful sandstone is known as ‘Slick
rock: large smooth swaths of rock,’ because it looks smooth and slick. The most iconic slick rock in Zion is
Checkerboard Mesa, defined by the patterns of crisscrossed lines that mimic a
giant checkerboard.
Exiting the Canyon, the road hits the
Highway 89 junction. I paused for a
moment to survey the sign: South to Grand Canyon – North to Bryce Canyon. Standing
at the crossroads of majestic scenery and the promise of adventure strikes a
fire to your heart. Here the car is stalling on a seemingly lost byway, the
precipice of nature’s best secrets and hidden beauty revealed in the most
remote and wild of places.
As we headed north to Bryce Canyon
National Park, the setting quickly shifts from the windswept sandstone slick
rock dunes and narrow canyons to open sagebrush country, distant plateaus and
snow-capped mountains. The terrain is all
shaped by the uplift of the Colorado Plateau, yet the territory is
ever-changing – it boggles the mind and excites the soul.
I went to Bryce ten years ago and fell
in love with color and personality of the unusual canyon – it is a canyon, but
more of a gateway to another world, with hoodoo formations, grotto doors and
passages, the storyteller in me can only dream of its secrets…it is an wonderland
of color and character…this is my mom’s first trip to Bryce and I cannot wait
to show here the sites.
The drive from Zion to Bryce takes
roughly two hours. This lonely road has
a beautiful desolation in the hum of the tires hitting the pavement at sixty
miles per hour. The road to Bryce
(Highway 89-Highway 12) was practically devoid of traffic, making for a relaxing
and peaceful journey, surrounded by idyllic rambling scenery.
Bryce
Canyon National Park is situated in a remote rural area of central Utah off All-American
Road Highway 12. Bryce is a crown jewel,
hidden in the hills, a lost treasure in the veil of the wide open plateau. As we turned onto Highway 12, the prairie and
mountains are beautiful, but seemingly ordinary for the high country. It is hard to fathom the wonder and
spectacular display of color, rock art, ‘heaven’s symphony on earth’ obscured
by thick forests…Bryce Canyon is a lost world, a fairyland – where myth and
reality collide in a tapestry of mystery, supernatural awe, color and
light. To describe Bryce is
impossible. Staring at the deep colors,
so brilliant it still haunts the memory with vivid clarity, I struggled to
believe what lay before me was real. It
is a wonderland – a fantastical display of hoodoo like spires, grotto doorways
to ‘mystic kingdoms’ – it is a place you have to experience to believe.
Turning
onto Highway 12 in the Dixie National Forest, the first glimpse of the ‘lost
kingdom’ of Bryce is revealed in the Red Rock Canyon. Known as one of the most photographed spots
in Utah, the canyon is a collection of deep vibrant red spires and hoodoos that
resemble the gates to an ancient city, the spires the guards of the castle and
the domed formations like temples of old.
The red hues is contrasted by deep evergreen pines and flora.
My
mom did a short walk on a paved trail straddling the canyon. Every glance leaving me with renewed wonder,
my imagination on fire. These rocks are
alive, they are so meticulous in their creative shapes and daunting stature,
you feel as though you have taken the first step into a fantasy novel; it is a
history of time, these rocks nature’s artistic time capsule.
Continuing
on Highway 12 we turned onto junction 63, driving through ‘Bryce City,’ a
hamlet of hotels and gift shops to accommodate travelers on their sojourn
before entering the park.
We
started our park tour at the Bryce Visitor Center. The Center includes a film about the ecology,
geology and human history of the park as well as a fascinating museum that
details the complex geology of Bryce in ‘Lehman’s Terms.’ The museum also focuses on human history,
including the ancestral natives of the park, wildlife and Bryce’s night
sky. Bryce has some of the darkest night
skies in the world, hosting a Night Sky Festival annually. On a clear day you can see forever, well at
least nearly 100 miles into the distance across the vast plateau.
The
geology and human history of the Colorado Plateau is fascinating. The various regions each connected to similar
uplift, sedimentation and erosion, all the while geologic region of the plateau
is strikingly unique. Bryce Canyon is a
story of climate change, fault uplift and erosion. Bryce’s famous spires ‘hoodoos’ are formed
when ice and rainwater erode weak limestone that makes up a layer of rock known
as the Claron Formation. Bryce’s geology is complex and diverse, but at
its core are patterns of sedimentation and erosion…ice and rain continue to
transform Bryce’s dramatic landscape today, cutting away at the rocks like a
builders awl and hack, slowly and meticulous carving. (I will do a series of geology articles about
the Colorado Plateau in the coming month as I continue to learn more about the
science behind the landscape.)
Bryce
Canyon is technically not a canyon, but an amphitheater, a wide open collection
of a city of hoodoos – a civilization in stone.
So what exactly is a hoodoo – a spell – a charm? In geologic terms: “Hoodoos
are tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and
"broken" lands. Hoodoos are most commonly found in the High Plateaus
region of the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands regions of the Northern
Great Plains. While hoodoos are scattered throughout these areas, nowhere in
the world are they as abundant as in the northern section of Bryce Canyon
National Park. In common usage, the difference between Hoodoos and pinnacles or
spires is that hoodoos have a variable thickness often described as having a
"totem pole-shaped body." A spire, on the other hand, has a smoother
profile or uniform thickness that tapers from the ground upward.” http://www.nps.gov/brca/naturescience/hoodoos.htm
The
hoodoos at Bryce instantly casts a spell of enchantment – the color brilliant
and lucid, while the otherworldly shapes take on forms like watchmen, castles
and crowns, balconies and fortresses and a stone army. Myths can be created, woven to put together
the mystery of this amphitheater of color and hoodoo mazes. The storyteller in me sees a thousand
possibilities of inspiration for the backstory of this canyon – ancient
civilizations, elves and fairies, kings and queens, a secretive race that lives
in the rocks, entering through the natural arches and grotto doorways…Bryce is
a place of inspiration and ceaseless wonder.
You praise the creator and the science behind the creation of this treasure
hidden in the hills of Utah.
What
is striking to me about Bryce is the sheer altitude – you straddle 7,000 to
9,000 feet – Yellowstone is mostly in this range – putting into perspective how
high this area of the plateau is. Bryce’s
altitude makes it colder on average than Zion or Arches…the park receives over
100 inches of snow each winter, while the arid climate keeps the temperatures
milder than other similar topographies in this elevation. Bryce is bequeathed with four seasons, each
adding a contrast of perspective to the life of the landscape. On this trip, snow has melted from the trails
and roads, but still dances on the spires – the opposing spectrum of deep reds
and oranges against pristine white makes for spectacular imagery.
We
stopped at each vista, breathing in the color and allowing the light of the sun
warm our skin. I found myself allowing
myself to ‘fall’ into the blast of color and ponder each strange and exquisite
mold of rock in the amphitheater. One of
my favorite viewpoints was the expanse of Rainbow Point, as well as The Natural
Bridge (an arch). We capped off our tour
of the park with a short, but stunning hike on the ‘canyon’ rim from Sunset to
Sunrise Point. Bryce has ample hiking
opportunities. The Navajo Loop is
considered one of the prettiest hikes in Utah!
Bryce
Canyon is home to an abundance of wildlife.
We were fortunate enough to see several pronghorn grazing in a meadow,
as well as the persevering prairie dog.
Prairie
Dogs are one of my favorite animals.
They have a complex language and social structure and are critical
species to the prairie and mixed topography regions of the Rockies. Prairie Dogs are hunted by ranchers, poisoned
because of misinformation about dangers prairie dogs pose to cattle and farming. In truth prairie dogs conserve water, help
build a stronger ecosystem and pull up the more nutrient rich grasses for
cattle…Utah had taken steps to protect the white tailed prairie dog. One of the ways to help ensure the longevity
of Utah’s prairie dog is to symbolically adopt a prairie dog from the Bryce
Natural History Association…
Link detailing Paiute legend about Bryce's Hoodoos: http://www.nps.gov/brca/historyculture/americanindianhistory.htm
Paiute Indians occupied the area around what is now
Bryce Canyon starting around 1200 A.D. The Paunsaugunt Plateau was used
for seasonal hunting and gathering activities, but there is no evidence
of permanent settlements.
The legend of Bryce Canyon was explained to a park
naturalist in 1936 by Indian Dick, a Paiute elder who then lived on the
Kaibab Reservation:
"Before there were any Indians, the Legend People, To-when-an-ung-wa, lived in that place. There were many of them. They were of many kinds – birds, animals, lizards and such things, but they looked like people. They were not people. They had power to make themselves look that way. For some reason the Legend People in that place were bad; they did something that was not good, perhaps a fight, perhaps some stole something….the tale is not clear at this point. Because they were bad, Coyote turned them all into rocks. You can see them in that place now all turned into rocks; some standing in rows, some sitting down, some holding onto others. You can see their faces, with paint on them just as they were before they became rocks. The name of that place is Angka-ku-wass-a-wits (red painted faces). This is the story the people tell."
Fremont and Anasazi people occupied the portion of the
Colorado Plateau near Bryce Canyon from around 200 A.D. until 1200. The
Fremont were more to the north and west, with the Anasazi more to the
south and east. There is recently discovered evidence of the mixing of
these two cultures on the Kaiparowits Plateau.
Native Americans first occupied the Colorado Plateau
12,000 years ago, but no evidence of their activities has yet been found
on the Paunsaugunt Plateau.
My
mom and I booked a room at the Best Western Grand in Bryce City. After roughing it camping for a few nights in
sub-freezing temps, I am ready for a nice hotel room. The Grand did not disappoint. It is one of the nicest chain hotels I have
stayed in. The rustic modern
architecture fits the mood of the plateau and canyon, while our room was clean,
with comfortable beds, and a deluxe bathroom.
After
relaxing in the room (watching March Madness) we drove across the street to
world-famous Ruby’s Inn, a Bryce institution.
In 1916 Reuben and Minnie Syrett moved to Southern Utah to establish a
ranch near the entrance to Bryce Canyon.
The Syretts fell in love the canyon and began to promote tourism in the
area, building a small lodge called ‘Tourist Rest’ in 1919. In 1923 Bryce Canyon became a National
Monument beginning a tourism tradition for the Syrett family that continues to
this day. The Syrett family continue to
own and operate Ruby’s Inn as well as the Best Western, and several
restaurants, gas stations and a rental car terminal to accommodate travelers
visiting the park. The Syretts
understand top notch hospitality and their passion for the park shines through
from Ruby’s General Store to their hotels to the cowboy buffet dining experience.
My
mom ordered a burger and I got a chicken dinner with a baked potato. For dessert we indulged in a sundaes.
Tomorrow
we leave Bryce for a journey into wilds of southern Utah into Arizona’s Painted
Desert, Navajo Country and the Grand Canyon…
