Bryce Canyon National Park

Tuesday morning we took the motorbike to Bryce Canyon National Park, the road to the canyon first takes you through Red Canyon a small but pretty forested area which is part of the Dixie National Forest.


The road goes through two tunnels of red rock and then winds it way along the National Scenic Byway 12 to the entrance to the Park. Bryce Canyon is carved out of the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, one of the highest plateaus of Utah. The grey, white, vermillion and chocolate cliffs recede into the distant south, stepping down to the Kaibab Plateau which then rises to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The vantage points offer up to 200 mile views of southern Utah and northern Arizona.


We drove to the southern end of the park’s 18 mile scenic road and stopped at Rainbow Point 9115 feet above sea level. The Bristlecone Loop Trail was a moderately easy hike along the top of the plateau although the lack of barriers between us and the edge of the cliffs was a little disconcerting. We then started our return journey north planning to stop at each of the view points on our way back.


First was Black Birch Canyon 8750 ft, which looks out over the canyon to Horse Mountain in the distance.


Ponderosa Point 8904 ft then Agua Canyon 8800 ft, where you get a good view of Thor’s Hammer, one of the many Hoodoos (pinnacle or odd shaped rock left standing by the forces of erosion).


Then Natural Bride 8627 ft, Far View Point 8819 ft, and Swamp Canyon 7998 ft.


Then we took the side spur to Paria View 8175 ft and Bryce Point 8300 ft, where we walked out to the thankfully guard railed view point.


Then Sunset Point 8000 ft, where some hardy soles were taking the Navajo Trail to the canyon floor! Then Inspiration Point and Sunrise Point which both look out over the Amphitheatre Region and finally the visitors centre on our way out of the park.


Back through Red Canyon and home. The pool was calling and we had a very pleasant couple of hours cooling off before a BBQ supper.

The next day we walked around Kanab, a nice little town and an excellent hub from which to visit the surrounding attractions, Zion National Park 40 miles, Bryce Canyon 77 miles, Grand Canyon 79 miles and Lake Powell 73 miles. Its nickname ‘Little Hollywood’ came about in the 1930’s when an enterprising Whit Parry took hundreds of pictures of the surrounding area to Hollywood and started knocking on producer’s doors. The result was that over the next five decades hundreds of films, mostly westerns, were filmed around Kanab and the rich and famous stayed at ‘Parry Lodge’ of course!


The list of past guests is very impressive; Charlton Heston, John Wayne, Olivia de Havilland, Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Maureen O’Hara and Clint Eastwood are just a few. The town’s residents also became involved and dressed up as cowboys or Indians became extras in films such as Stagecoach, Wagon Train, Buffalo Bill, Pony Express, The Lone Ranger, Sergeants 3, Duel at Diablo, Eldorado and more recently Planet of the Apes, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Exorcist II and Maverick. Also TV series including Gunsmoke, Six Million Dollar Man, Laramie and Wagon Train. Dave had a nose around a gun shop and then I had a soda and Dave had a coffee at a little coffee shop decorated out like a 1950’s diner.


We stopped in at Denny’s Wigwam and Dave had a go in their shooting gallery, depending which target you hit there was either a noise (cat meow) or something like a bottle fell over or it squirted water at us, Dave seemed to hit more of those! We came back for a few hours by the pool and met some bikers, Bill & Kathy invited us back to share their BBQ and we had a great evening talking about bikes and cars and places we had all been to.