Bryce National Park - WOW!!!!!

May 19 – May 25, Mon-Sun ... We got up early Monday morning and got on the road for the Bryce Canyon National Park, a 125 mile drive from the rv park near St. George, UT. Once in the park, the first thing we did was to drive through it, stopping at several overlook points to view the magnificent landscape. After having our picnic lunch outside at the uppermost stopping point (about 9,000 ft) we took a 3 mile hike, from a lower entry point, to the bottom of the canyon. The sights were, without a doubt, breathtaking to say the least. While the weather was sunny, it was also warm at about 85 degrees. Fortunately, we had taken plenty of water because it took us just over 1.5 hours to complete it. We drove back into the park at sunset to get a different view...the colors are different once the sun goes down. It was Awesome!
We stayed over night at the Bryce View Lodge so that we could partake in a horse back trail ride on Tuesday morning. Even though neither of us had been on a horse in many a moon, we had a good time. It was a ride into the Red Canyons of the Dixie National Forest and lasted an hour and a half. This was plenty of time to be on horseback because we were getting a little sore toward the end of the ride. The guide was personable and answered all of our questions. He had spent time on the rodeo circuit in Texas and Oklahoma when he was younger. Of the 12 people on the ride, only 4 of us were from the USA. The others were from Germany. We would highly recommend a trip to Bryce Natl Park if you have not been before.
Wednesday brought cooler temps and rain. We took a short hike and visited with some neighbors in the morning. The afternoon was spent on the computer and doing some house cleaning.
Thursday was another cool, wet day so the exciting part of our day was driving into Hurricane for some supplies.
Friday we drove up to Snow Canyon State Park, north of St. George and hiked the lava rocks. It wasn’t a very long hike (about 45 minutes – two miles) and not very strenuous. However, the mountains in this area are very beautiful. We had brought along a picnic lunch but with thunder and lightening in the area, we ate inside the car while listening to the radio.
Saturday was another cool and wet day so we decided to drive into Hurricane and go to a movie. Even though the new Indiana Jones movie was showing, in a weak moment, Mike agreed to go with Dixie to see the chic flick “Made of Honor” with Patrick Dempsey. He said it “wasn’t bad” and pretty entertaining.
Sunday was a beautiful day with sun and warm temps with no rain in the forecast so what better time than to take another hike. This time it was the mountain behind our rv park. We walked several hundred feet up along an ATV trail to the peak of the mountain overlooking Quail Lake, a smallish lake in the Utah State Park system. Later that afternoon, Dixie cleaned the interior of the car while Mike cleaned the exterior of the motorhome. Tomorrow we plan to go back to Zion and on Wed. we hit the road again.