CaNeUt Vacation Day 3 - Hiking Bryce Canyon

Day 3!  We woke up eager to explore Bryce Canyon.  We had breakfast and picked a path to walk/hike.

Paul chose Sunrise Point to Victoria's Garden.

The views were incredible.

And it was fairly easy walking, going down.  I did slide around a bit, and I turned my ankle once.  I was wearing Toms, which are totally tractionless on the bottom.

Paul is much more of a hiker than I am.  I'm more of a sidewalk sort of girl.

But the views were spectacular.

Paul and I both had our cameras with us, so we have many pictures of the same things from different perspectives.  Like me and a funny rock formation...

...and then Paul taking a picture of the same funny rock formation.

Or how about these cool doorways?

There were several of them.

Lots of cool rocks, but not much in the way of plants.  It takes some hardy flora to survive the unique conditions that exist here, at Zion, and the Grand Canyon.

So this was the "end" of our chosen .8 mile hike down.  The logical step here would be to turn around here and hike back up, right?

Well, not exactly.  Paul wanted to cross the canyon and hike up Navajo Loop to Sunset Point.

I'm pretty sure this is the last picture I took of him on this hike, because after that, I was not so happy with his great idea.  In retrospect, any "up" would have been less fun than down, but knowing it was half a mile longer made it even worse.

This sign made me laugh.  Stay on the trail.  Or the prickly plants will get you.  It's enforcement by natural consequences.

The flat-ish walking part and especially the shaded part, was pleasant enough.

But at some point, I stopped even seeing the view, I was so focused on the next few steps up.  And it was a long way up.  Paul figured out later that we covered a 600 foot difference in elevation.

See all those switchbacks up the hill?  Now imagine them in the full sun.  That's what we came up.  Needless to say, we were ready for a rest after that.  We took the shuttle back to our hotel and had a nap.

Later that afternoon, we rode the shuttle back to wander around some more.  We got out at Bryce Point for a while.  Sam called while we were there, and gave us some news on where he'll probably be after he finishes training.  We're holding that with open hands, though, since we know things change with the military.  "Semper Gumby," always flexible.

We caught another shuttle to Inspiration Point.

It was getting kind of windy here!  But the views were awesome.

We ended up walking from here back to Sunset Point.  It was a pleasant, mostly downhill walk, and honestly, I think getting out and walking some more helped keep me from getting as stiff as I would have if I had just stayed at the hotel the rest of the day.  My phone step counter indicated that day was seven times my usual amount of walking, so I expected to be more sore than I was then next day.

My feet really appreciated my Cool Azul cream with wintergreen in it!

We also saw lots of cute little chipmunks, and even a few deer while we were there.  

And that's the end of Day 3!  

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