When we left Valley of Fire, I had a pretty good idea that our
weather would be changing because Bryce is at 8000 feet of elevation.
The weather forecast was for lows in the mid-40’s. We could deal with
that.
In St. George, Utah, we stopped at an information center, and the
nice lady at the desk suggested that we take a scenic route to Bryce by
taking Hwy 14 out of Cedar City and then getting on Hwy 148 to Cedar
Breaks National Monument and then Hwy 143 to Panguitch Lake and
eventually connecting up with Hwy 89 and then Hwy 9 into Bryce Canyon
National Park.
She promised that it would be scenic, and she knew that we were
towing a trailer. I didn’t think to ask her about elevation or snow,
but it turned out to be quite relevant. We climbed all the way up to
10,500 feet in elevation on our route, and we saw snow along the road
and in the parking lots and occasional ice on the road. Julia says that
the route was quite scenic.
I’m pretty sure that my steering wheel has permanent marks from my
fingers holding on for dear life. The road was basically empty for the
entire route until Hwy 89. We didn’t see another vehicle towing a
travel trailer. I was very glad to make it to Hwy 89. I just noticed
on google maps that part of the road is closed from November until
spring.
We drove the rest of the way without event and then easily found a
campsite at Sunset Campground within the park. From our campsite we
could walk to the canyon rim and the Sunset Point viewing area. From
there, we could walk hike along the rim or down into the canyon.
On the first day, we took long walks along the rim with Elvis (hiking
with dogs is permitted between Sunrise Point and Sunset Point. That
night we built a fire, but retreated to the Brew Hut when temperatures
began dropping rapidly. We were prepared with a heavy zero bag and a
comforter, but it got cold that night. With the body heat from the
humans and dog, the BrewHut only dropped to 34 degrees, but a hard frost
was occurring outside. I was glad that we didn’t freeze our water or
waste tanks.
On our second day, we hiked down into the canyon in the morning via
the Navajo Loop Trail and then back up via the Queen’s Garden Trail. On
that afternoon, we entered the lottery for the Full Moon hike. Over 100
people were in the room, and only 35 were selected. With Julia’s good
luck, there was no doubt we were going to be winners. The moonlight
hike was interesting, but I probably wouldn’t do it again. The
ranger-led tour provided lots of information about the formation of the
moon(s), the interdependence between the moon and the earth, the
protection that the moon has provided over the years to the earth in
absorbing asteroids and planetary debris, and much, much more.
But the bottom line is that we were hiking in the dark most of the
time, even though the full moon provided light in places. The trail was
challenging especially going down, and we were both glad after we made
it to the top after the 2-plus hour hike. The highlight of the hike was
at the beginning when we watched the moon rise. Although the low
lighting prevented decent photos from our limited cameras, it was
spectacular!
On the second night, the temperatures only dipped to about 40 degrees
inside the Brew Hut. We were much more comfortable. After a tortilla
omelette, we hurried to catch the sunrise at Sunrise Point on the rim.
Then we hitched up and headed for Zion National Park.
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