Zion, Bryce & Kodachrome Part 2

BRYCE CANYON, LAND OF THE HOODOOS

OMG It's beautiful here!

As we were readying ourselves to depart Zion and head to Bryce Canyon we discovered that the route we wanted to take - Hyway 89, was closed for road repair work.  So we had to take a slightly longer route.  No big deal, we were not going to let anything keep us from the Land of Hoodoos!








For Bryce we decided to stay in the small town of Tropic, which was about a 15 minute drive to Park entrance.  We had the cutest little cabin at Bryce Canyon Inn.

Outside View of our Cabin 

Inside View of our cabin in Bryce

Bryce Canyon is approximately 9,000 ft above sea level, compared to 5,000 ft at Zion, so I found myself feeling a bit breathless the first couple of days.  Hiking here seemed more strenuous for me.

another stunning photo by Cathy 

Our first hike in Bryce was the Queens Garden Trail.  You zig-zag down some switch-backs in to the canyon and end up at Queen Victoria (this is a rock that looks like a statue of queen Victoria).  This trail hooks up to the Navajo Loop trail.  We followed it along as we could, but a big section of the trail was closed.

On our second day, we did a morning hike and then CS took a 2 hour trail ride, while I hung out reading in the sun at the Lodge.

(Below just a few pics of the various hikes we did in Bryce Canyon)

Day 3 - we decided to check out Kodachrome Basin State Park, which was about 35-45 minute drive from Tropic where we were staying. What a fascinating place!  We did 3 short hikes there, for a total of about 7 miles of hiking.  I highly recommend making a side-trip to Kodachrome!

These are the 3 trails we did in Krodachrome 

 Loved each one - all different!

 Here are a few photos from our Kodachrome Hikes.  Really difficult to choose just a few.

Fascinated with these cone-shaped hills 

shenanigans at Kodachrome 

a cave with ancient markings and hand prints 

your caption here

walking out to the point

Hey, I am way out here 

looking over the edge.....

We saved the most challenging hike for last - The Fairyland Loop Trail - 8 miles of up & down the canyon & through Hoodoos, Windows, Fins,  & streams, Magical - and tough!  This trail is considered hard due to its length & meandering trails with multiple elevation changes up to 1,500.
It was a very diverse hike - the photo selection below is an attempt to show that.  We started out all bundled up, but by the end we were down to t-shirts !

 

building a rock tower in a stream 

natural bridge 

 We had wanted to do Zion National Park & Bryce Canyon for many years.  I am so happy that we finally got to it this year.

Final notes:

Loved our stay in Tropic.  We stayed at the Bryce Canyon  Inn.  LOVED our little cabin - and the price was right!  Just under $100 per night!  There are not a lot of places to eat in Tropic.  Here is what we tried during our stay:

Bryce Canyon Coffee Co - This is part of Bryce Canyon Inn, they have a nice coffee bar with coffee, espresso drinks, tea, hot chocolate.  They also serve a variety of breakfast items including hot breakfast sandwiches.  I stopped in each morning for a Chai Tea Latte.  It was alway busy with guests and locals.  This was obviously the best place in town for coffee & a muffin!  Lovely staff that works the coffee bar in the mornings!
Bryce Canyon Inn - The Pizza Place - This place is run by the same family that runs the Bryce Canyon Inn & Coffee Co.  We each got a small 10" pizza for dinner one nice after a long day of hiking and it was quite good, reasonably priced.  They also have burgers, sandwiches & salads
Rustler's Restaurant - We went here on our second night in town.  I got the 'special' which in this case was Dutch Oven BBQ Chicken and CS got Salmon.  Food was tasty, plentiful and staff was efficient.  We both had enough left over our lunch the next day.  One nice touch here is they bring you a complimentary mini loaf of fresh baked bread to your table.
IDK Barbecue - Hit this one up on our last day.  Great little BBQ joint.  We both ordered Pulled Pork Baked Potatoes - delish!
For all these restaurants I recommend planning to arrive by 6 pm.  Since food options are so limited, all of these places get busy quickly at dinner time.

Like all small towns, there is a local grocery.  Tropic's is called Clarks Country Market - limited selections but you can get your hiking provisions here.  We purchased water, yogurt, sandwich fixings.  If you are doing a trip similar to ours, it is really helpful to stock up on your grocery store items in St George where there is a Walmart.

This trip was 8 days.  We did 3 days in Zion, 3 in Bryce, 1 in Kodachrome & finished up in St. George Utah for our last night.  We arrived in St George in time for lunch - we enjoyed the Painted Pony.  It's like a tree house setting and the food & service was top notch !

If you are planning a hiking trip to Utah, enjoy!  Happy to answer any questions you have
Until next time, safe travels!
Susan