Zach and I spent this past Memorial Day weekend camping and hiking at Bryce Canyon. The trip was an overwhelming success since the weather was beautiful, the park wasn't that crowded, and we had two great hiking days.
On Friday we drove down after work and arrived at our campground with plenty of time to setup camp and explore our campground before sunset. This was the first time we've camped without making a fire and roasting marshmallows! I was missing that tradition a little, but I know our bodies will thank us for the change in the long run. Everyone around us had large raging fires with burgers and treats which were a big contrast to our little backpacking stove diligently heating up a pot of mushroom soup (which was yummy).
Once the sun went down we went to bed so we could get up early to hike. It got pretty cold at night so we wore all the clothes we brought and wrapped up in our sleeping bags to stay warm.
On Saturday we woke up early for our first day of hiking. We hiked from our campground along the rim trail to Fairyland loop and back for trip totaling about 10 miles. We followed a park ranger's advice to hike the trail clockwise in order to travel in the direction with the best views, and we were very impressed with the gorgeous landscape along the way.
On Sunday we opted for a shorter hike (about 6.7 miles) along the Navajo loop, Peekaboo loop, and Queens Garden loop. This hike was great because we were hiking down at the bottom of the canyon. We were surprised at how green it was in the canyon, since from the top of the rim it seems very dusty and desert-like.
After the Sunday hike we drove home and spent the rest of the long weekend recovering, cleaning the house, relaxing with Cheetoh, and preparing meals for the next week.
Notes:
Bryce Canyon was a great park. They had good amenities (including free hot showers at the general store) and good campsites. The park was really small so we were able to hike all of the "must see" trails. For this reason, it may be a while before we return since I feel like we saw all there is to see. I would definitely recommend stopping by the park for a day if you're in the area, since the hoodoo structures are remarkable and truly one of a kind.
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