Rock Gardens

Each summer, I travel to the annual Convention of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, an organization which I joined in university -- and in which I have remained active for most of my adult life.

Often the Convention is in some location which I've visited before.  But every so often the site turns up in an area I have never seen, and that becomes my cue to add on a few days of before/after sightseeing.  This year it's Salt Lake City.

Utah is one of only eight states which I've never visited, so it was high time I got to see some of the natural wonders of this western domain.  As well, there's some remarkable human history, not least the history of the settlement of the Great Salt Lake region by the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- the Mormons.

Although I flew into Salt Lake City, my schedule was set up for me to drive first to southern Utah and some of the spectacular natural wonders to be seen there.

This trip put me within fairly easy driving distance of the man-made "wonders" of Las Vegas, and many people might wonder why I didn't add that on.  Simply put, I have no desire at all to visit Las Vegas.  Everything I have seen and read about the place tells me that it exemplifies many things that I can't abide and/or try my hardest to avoid: gigantic resort hotels, massive crowds of people, glitzy stuck-on "glamour," lavish floor-show entertainments, huge buffets, party central atmosphere, and so on.  For me, the idea of a side trip to Vegas suggested a Detour to Disillusion.

But to get down to business.  My first port of call was Bryce Canyon National Park.  The drive there took me a good solid 4.5 hours plus stops from Salt Lake City, and that's on a highway where the speed limit for most of the distance is 80 miles per hour (that's about 130 kilometres per hour, by the way).  The highway threads its way along open valleys between two mountain ranges, and occasionally has to climb up and over a lower mountain range in its path.  The hill climbing gets a bit more serious when you turn off to the east on a secondary state highway.  Grades are steeper, curves are more pronounced, and the speed limit is lowered to 65 mph or less.

Bryce Canyon isn't really a canyon at all, but a series of eye-catching rock formations etched into the eastern edge of a plateau.  The access road takes you up onto the plateau, and on the way up you get a sneak preview as the road winds through Red Canyon.

 
Those rock spires, by the way, are known as "hoodoos" and Bryce Canyon has far more of them than any other place known on the planet.

Like many National Parks, Bryce is nearly overwhelmed with visitors, many wanting to drive to every inch of the park in their own cars.  There is an (optional) shuttle bus service, included in the price of a park pass, and it's a far better bet.  The shuttles take you in turn to the main viewpoints overlooking the Bryce Canyon Amphitheatre, which forms the main scenic highlight.  No need to waste time driving around and around looking for non-existent vacant parking spots in the limited parking areas.

But those viewpoints are all within the first two miles inside the park.  There are many more fine views along the road to the south end, 15 miles farther down.  To get to those areas you need your own transport, or have to pay for a tour.

As it worked out, I was ready to check out of my hotel and go by 0715, and the shuttles don't begin to operate until 0800.  So I ended up taking the car after all.   I had the road almost all to myself for much of the time, until I was almost back at the park entrance two and a half hours later.  So I drove first down to Rainbow Point, making a number of stops along the way, and then returned to the Big Number One at Sunset Point at the end of my drive.  With that, here are some selected pictures (I took well over a hundred altogether -- Bryce Canyon is the sort of place where, in the old days, photographers kept running out of film!).

The distant Aquarius Plateau, at its highest point (Canaan Peak) is over 2000 feet higher than the 7700 foot elevation from which this picture was taken. 

 

These pictures give you a good impression of the dazzling variety of colours in the rocks, as well as clearly showing how the land falls away east of the plateau, so that the "Canyon" really isn't.  Farther south, The Natural Bridge is one of the scenic highlights that you will miss if you stick just to the areas served by the shuttle buses.  It's hard to get the scale, but at a rough guess I'd say the section right above the arch is perhaps as thick as the height of a 2-3 story building.

At the very south end of the park is Rainbow Point, also the highest spot on the road, over 9000 feet above sea level. Here, and only here, there is a clear panorama of the whole east side of the plateau clear back to the park's northern edge.

But it's the Bryce Canyon Amphitheatre which draws the most attention and the most visitors.  The best views of that incredible sight are found at Sunset Point.

After leaving Bryce Canyon, I drove across country over the mountains to Cedar City and on west into Nevada (another state I'd never visited before).  On the way, crossing a vast plateau of farms and ranches, I saw a dust devil -- a first for me.

In Nevada I visited Cathedral Gorge, unmistakably reminiscent of a smaller-scale Bryce Canyon in monochrome, except that this one is a true canyon -- but with only a dry river bed at the bottom.

Later in the evening, I saw a flash flood warning taking in Cathedral Gorge and other places I had driven through during the day.  Of course, it's thanks to these sudden monsoonal thunderstorms in the summer that such a canyon has formed in an otherwise near-desert climate.