The Great Southern Utah Road Trip - August 24 - Part III - Bryce Canyon

We turned off Highway 89 onto Route 12. First stop - Bryce Canyon! This was my third visit, but Holly had never seen it and I was excited to introduce it to her. It was sprinkling when we got there. That changed to a downpour, but luckily no lightning, so we were safe to go to the overlooks. Because we had a deadline, we confined our visit to the northern section.

Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m). 

Just six of the many, many photos I took of this beautiful park.

Holly sadly learned that the great bargain rain jacket she bought at a yard sale turned out to be just a windbreaker.

Spotted two birds sheltering from the rain in the pines: a White-breasted Nuthatch and a Stellar's Jay. These are two birds I don't get to see at home.

The rain let up as we headed out of the park, so we had an impromptu tailgate picnic in a motel parking lot,

where we were treated to the sight of a couple of wranglers exercising the park's horses (and a mule).