Have you ever been so cold you’d actually jump into a fire
to warm up?! That’s how it felt when we
pulled into Bryce Canyon National Park!
Buuurrrrrr! It was so cold that
we could barely pull ourselves out of the car to set up camp at North
Campground (site 60, AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME)! The back of our site actually backed up to
the canyon, with THIS view! Whew
Bryce! I’m in love!
Okay, I'm more in love with this guy... but you know what I mean!
We went ahead and reserved our campsite by throwing $15 in an envelope and throwing it in a deposit box at the front of the campground, then drove into town for lunch and a chance to warm up! After lunch, we put our big kid pants on (and all the warm clothes we had, which wasn't much) and set off on the Queens Garden & Navajo Loop, a hike that descends 55 stories into the bottom of the canyon and then back up! Helloooooo leg workout!
We started here at Sunrise Point, which as you can see was at 8015 ft above sea level. In case you're wondering, this wasn't great for my effort to attempt to appear super fit while climbing... I was panting like a parched dog most of the way! It's REALLY hard to breath at 8000 ft!
Besides the fact that I was panting, I did take in the beauty of the place, as best I could! It's like nothing I've ever seen and dare I say, EVEN BETTER than the Grand Canyon itself!
Check out the balancing rock! It's incredible how the earth has formed itself into this over millions of years!
A little tree climbing never hurt anyone!
Okay, I'm just gonna slip this in here, because, well, I think it's fairly genius! So, you know when you're hiking and your hands feel dirty and grimy so you don't wanna touch the trail mix you packed to snack on? Well, empty a water bottle out and pour it in there! Great right?! We have a bottle of corn nuts in the car too! Feel free to steal my idea, or pin it! lol
Oh, and in case you ever happen to have your trail mix with you when you see a "wishing rock" formation and are worried your heavy rock won't sit atop, throw an M&M on there! It's sure to work and your wishes will come true!
Time for an instagram!
Me and "Thors Hammer"! ... and yes, it was STILL FREEZING!
I think the pictures speak for themselves in this blog post! Bryce is pretty incredible!
The rest of the day was spent showering and doing laundry at the General Store, (1 load of clothes had to go through the dryer 4 times! The only good part about that was I got through 3 episodes of Glee while I waited!), cooking dinner, and sleeping! Our plan was to stay here in Bryce for a couple more days, but the cold weather is unbearable! It got down to 20 degrees today! So, tomorrow morning, we're headed North East to Arches National Park, which also happens to be in Utah! Who knew Utah was so beautiful?!