Day 26 (Halfway)
Day 26
July 17, 2006
Hiking Bryce Canyon
Today marks the halfway point of our 52-day odyssey. It's been great so far and we plan to visit many more terrific places in the next 26 days.
We ate breakfast inside the trailer and then while Norm and Sylvia decided to see if they could get a nicer room at Ruby’s than the one they had booked at the Bryce Lodge, the rest of us decided to hike into the canyon. We chose the Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop Trails and drove to Sunrise Point where Queen’s Garden begins. We were once again surprised by the scale of the canyon. It wasn’t until we hiked down around, through and beside the hoodoos that we grasped their scale. Some of these things were hundreds of feet tall!
The most famous icon associated with Bryce Canyon is a huge Ponderosa Pine that lives in the middle of a section of the Navajo Loop Trail known as “Wall Street” because it passes through a narrow slot formed by shear stone walls that rise hundreds of feet. The famous pine looks to be thriving in the most improbable location imaginable; “miraculous” in a word.
One day this May, at about 5 PM and under clear skies, a few huge boulders suddenly became dislodged and tumbled down from above into Wall Street, completely blocking the trail and nearly crushing five hikers. Two of the hikers bolted uphill and three ran down, with thousands of tons of stone separating them. Miraculously, the rocks came within a foot of the pine, but it was spared, too.
Sessy and Frank wanted to see the pine again and wanted Elliot and Emily to experience it, but because Navajo (“not a”) Loop Trail is still closed at the point where the rocks fell, and the tree cannot be seen from the trail above the slide zone, we had to walk three quarters of the way around the loop and then three quarters of the way back. In all, we walked about 3 miles; most of it in the full sun, with some significant elevation changes that left us feeling spent. We took two liters of water and drank almost all of it before we got back to the Rim. This was a vivid reminder of how inhospitable the desert can be. 
This is not an environment that should be taken lightly. Poor planning or a lack of respect for the severe conditions here could have tragic consequences.
The midday heat combined with more than 24 hours since we last bathed made swimming and taking showers sound like the best use of our afternoon. Five minutes in a shower in the park cost $2, while swimming and showering for an unlimited time, plus towel service at Ruby’s was the same cost. Needless to say, Ruby’s it was! That $8 was the best money we’ve spent in many month!
After showering, we washed 3 loads of laundry at Ruby’s and caught up on email and the blog. Tip: if you ever visit Bryce, consider staying a Ruby’s. It looks a bit like a tourist trap from the road, but actually everything there is quite nice (remember, add a star to any hotel's rating).
July 17, 2006
Hiking Bryce Canyon
Today marks the halfway point of our 52-day odyssey. It's been great so far and we plan to visit many more terrific places in the next 26 days.We ate breakfast inside the trailer and then while Norm and Sylvia decided to see if they could get a nicer room at Ruby’s than the one they had booked at the Bryce Lodge, the rest of us decided to hike into the canyon. We chose the Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop Trails and drove to Sunrise Point where Queen’s Garden begins. We were once again surprised by the scale of the canyon. It wasn’t until we hiked down around, through and beside the hoodoos that we grasped their scale. Some of these things were hundreds of feet tall!
The most famous icon associated with Bryce Canyon is a huge Ponderosa Pine that lives in the middle of a section of the Navajo Loop Trail known as “Wall Street” because it passes through a narrow slot formed by shear stone walls that rise hundreds of feet. The famous pine looks to be thriving in the most improbable location imaginable; “miraculous” in a word.One day this May, at about 5 PM and under clear skies, a few huge boulders suddenly became dislodged and tumbled down from above into Wall Street, completely blocking the trail and nearly crushing five hikers. Two of the hikers bolted uphill and three ran down, with thousands of tons of stone separating them. Miraculously, the rocks came within a foot of the pine, but it was spared, too.
Sessy and Frank wanted to see the pine again and wanted Elliot and Emily to experience it, but because Navajo (“not a”) Loop Trail is still closed at the point where the rocks fell, and the tree cannot be seen from the trail above the slide zone, we had to walk three quarters of the way around the loop and then three quarters of the way back. In all, we walked about 3 miles; most of it in the full sun, with some significant elevation changes that left us feeling spent. We took two liters of water and drank almost all of it before we got back to the Rim. This was a vivid reminder of how inhospitable the desert can be. 
This is not an environment that should be taken lightly. Poor planning or a lack of respect for the severe conditions here could have tragic consequences.The midday heat combined with more than 24 hours since we last bathed made swimming and taking showers sound like the best use of our afternoon. Five minutes in a shower in the park cost $2, while swimming and showering for an unlimited time, plus towel service at Ruby’s was the same cost. Needless to say, Ruby’s it was! That $8 was the best money we’ve spent in many month!
After showering, we washed 3 loads of laundry at Ruby’s and caught up on email and the blog. Tip: if you ever visit Bryce, consider staying a Ruby’s. It looks a bit like a tourist trap from the road, but actually everything there is quite nice (remember, add a star to any hotel's rating).
posted by Hazzard Family | 17:21
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