February 29
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We got up fairly early to grab a quick breakfast, then get on the road.
Our destination for the day is Bryce National Park. I had hoped to encounter some snow there. Be careful what you wish for.... We could see snow on the mountains as we drove nearer. Soon we were driving with snow on both sides of the road, going over one of the passes on the way to Bryce. We stopped and I took this photo near Cedar City, Utah.
Turns out Bryce had gotten four feet of fresh snow in the week before we got there, including three inches just the day before! As a result, some of the park was inaccessible.
The photo on the left was taken near the entrance to Bryce National Park. This canyon is called Red Canyon.
We arrived at Ruby’s Inn Best Western, just outside the park entrance and checked in. Well, we tried to check in. Seems someone had cancelled our reservation! Still don’t know what happened. They had plenty of rooms available, however, so it wasn’t too big a problem. And the good news is, we wound up with a less expensive rate - the web site rates had not included the AARP discount...
So, we got settled, put on a few more layers of clothing, then headed for the park and the Visitor’s Center.
There we found out that only three of the overlooks were even accessible. The road beyond Inspiration Point was closed to vehicular traffic (open to snowshoes and cross country skis, however). Most of the trails were also closed. Those that were open had packed snow up to six feet deep on them!
With map in hand, we set off to explore the park - the open part, that is. The road was in pretty good condition, considering. It had been plowed and most of the snow was off of it. What was left was easy to drive on.
Sunset Point was the most accessible viewpoint. The parking lot there was almost clear of snow and the trails to the overlook were well packed. It’s an impressive viewpoint, one of the best in the park. We looked around there for a while, but didn’t take many photos this day - the sky was overcast and there just wasn’t much dimensionality to the hoodoos.
A busload of Japanese stopped at this overlook while we were there. One girl was simply amazing - it was really cold out there and she was walking around in a short skirt and nothing on her legs at all!! Brrrrrrrr.
On to Sunrise Point, where we were the only tourists in sight. The overlook there is a bit farther from the parking lot and not nearly as well traveled. Only a narrow trail was packed down to the Point. If you stepped off the packed trail, you’d sink to your knee! I did take a few photos here - the sun peeked out for a minute.
Then back to Inspiration Point. The road to it had been opened to vehicles just that day. Again, ours was the only car in the parking lot and it was a snow packed trail to the rim. Sunset was fizzling on us - just too many clouds, so we returned to the hotel for dinner and bed.
The weather forecast didn’t look promising for the next day, so I started to wonder if my timing was off completely.