8/21 - Bryce Canyon National Park (2)

Satisfied with the views I took in at the viewpoints, I went to the visitor center to get some information about the National Park. To my surprise, Bryce Canyon got its name thanks to a couple of early settlers with the family name Bryce. At that time, Mr. and Mrs. Bryce settled their house in front of the unnamed canyon, and the place was known as Bryce's Canyon ever since. This was a bit hard to imagine for me since I was brought up in an era that almost all lands on the Earth have been named. Today people pay huge amount of money to have a building, a school, or a sports arena named after them, but back in the nineteen century you could have a canyon named after you if you came to the right place at the right time. All I can say is that we live in a different era for sure.

Hike Down into the Canyon

At 3 P.M. the Sun moved to the west side of the sky and it was not as hot as the noon. So I continued on my plan of hiking down the canyon. I drove to the Sunset Point, the last viewpoint I had not visited and started from there. The plan was to hike down the canyon and complete a loop hike to walk up to the Sunrise Point. Then I can take the rim trail to the Sunset point, just in time for the sunset.

I once had a plan to go hiking in Grand Canyon with a friend, Kevin. But due to time constraints we were not able to carry it out before I left LA. But I had read about hiking in grand canyon - The potential danger of dehydration and all sorts of that. Now that I was at another canyon with similar weather condition - high elevation, low humidity, and direct exposure to the sun - I thought it would be a good place to have a taste for how it is like to hike down and up a canyon.

As I had already learned my lesson yesterday, hiking downhill is not as easy as it sounds. With each step I could feel some muscles in my legs complained for working it in two consecutive days. These were not the muscles I use when I walk on flat ground, so they are not well-trained. But the urge to have a close-up look at the strange stones was strong enough for me to carry on with the sore legs.

The trail again featured zig-zag switchbacks, and soon enough I came far from the rim that the crowds at the viewpoints were out of sight or earshot. There were plenty people down here too, but considerably quieter than the world above. It seemed to me that everyone had been influenced by the mysterious atmosphere emitted from the huge stone formations now just next to us. Watching these stones from atop was totally different to standing next to it. First, I realized that they are actually much larger than I perceived. Hence it was more awe-inspiring to look at them down here. Instead of considering myself as a king ruling a huge army, I now felt like a child getting lost in a crowd of giants. Second, I got to observe the details of the stones. They are actually very fragile, with a lot of slits and crumbs on its surface. There is clear evidence that the force of mother nature has been constantly working on these stones to give its current look. I was actually walking in a studio that had been in production for thousands of years. I pondered on that thought for a bit longer and felt happy that I decided to come down here.

I followed the routes in the canyon and visited several interesting sites. Again, I think it is better to let the pictures speak for me.

The start of descent into the Bryce Canyon
Endless switchbacks... Luckily I was taking this road downwards
A site named "two bridges" in the canyon
Close-up shots of the cracks and crumbs of the rock
Look up to the sky at the bottom of canyon
This is the main character of the cartoon "Chip and Dale", I assume.Standing among the stones, they seem to be much bigger.
The way up.

Finally there came the unavoidable up-hill climb. It was then I realized I had came far from the canyon rim. I labored my way up hill, and really thought about whether hiking in the Grand Canyon is for me - This was a two-hour hike and I felt tired, then how about a three-day hike in an obviously larger scale? I'd better seriously reconsider that now. But, hiking down Bryce Canyon was a good decision for this trip, as I had the opportunity to experience the canyon from a very different perspective I couldn't have had otherwise. It showed me a delicate, quiet, remote world I was not familiar with - A very worthwhile getaway from my daily life.

The sunset

Finally I came back up to the rim, walked to the Sunset point and had some time to rest and waited for the sunset. I didn't know exactly what I should look for, so I just sit and watched. The sky turned cloudy in the late afternoon, so there was not much sunlight. I stared at the canyon and expected something miraculous to happen - such as the stones would suddenly turn alive and walk around in the canyon. Perhaps I expected for the wrong thing or the weather was not good, nothing really caught my eyes until it turned dark. If someone had seen some wonders at the Sunset Point, please drop me a note to let me know what I missed. Thanks.

Waiting for the sunset at the Sunset Point. It was getting dark.
The far side of the canyon glowed. But the canyon itself did not change a bit since it was cloudy.

It was getting really dark, but I did not see much interesting.

Finally I drove back to my motel room at Hatch after dark. Another nice day spent at the second stop of my national park tour.