And We Bowed to the Queen!

3 Sep 2010--Went hiking in Bryce Canyon yesterday, but before I get to that, check out this package of beer. Cathy went to the grocery store and saw it, so took a pic using the cell phone. Funny, huh?



We started our hike at Sunrise Point, one of the spots we didn't get to the day before. We descended into the canyon from there, went on what's called the Queen's Garden Trail to the Navajo Loop Trail, and came back up the Wall Street section at Sunset Point. The descent was about 350 ft, the total loop was 3.5 miles, and it took almost 3 hours due to picture taking. I thought the climb back up was going to be brutal, but we took so many pics on the way that it wasn't a problem.

Here, we are at the top of Sunrise, looking out from there, and starting the descent.

Check out the moon in this shot, and that's Cathy in the 3rd pic going thru the arch.

Here is Queen Victoria in the rocks...we paid our proper courtesies (curtsied) to her and then continued onto the Navajo Loop Trail. No more than clouds, if you stare at the rocks long enough you can see lots of stuff in them. haha

Here are 2 stitch pics of the sights along the Queen's Garden Trail.

That tree in the 4th pic ruined an otherwise beautiful scene.

Cathy is checking out a crevice to see if she can get thru it, safely...no go!

This is where we start to come back up to the top. Note the "falling rock" notice. After hiking this far, they were going to have to throw a lot more than this sign at me to get me to go back the way I came. This was the only place we hiked that had stairs leading to it. It almost looks like you are entering a cave, but it is actually 2 huge slabs of rock that almost meet at the top.

Coming out the other side, you start climbing up "Wall St". I thought it was going to look like a bunch of big buildings, but it is named Wall St because you have to climb a "wall of streets" to get to the top. It is really straight up, (you can see people above us at different levels), but you switch back and forth and take a lot of pics to preclude any pain.

You can see the switchbacks in these pics best.

Looking back down into Wall St.

Going thru the final arch for one last push to the top.

And the visual reward for all our hard work. haha Back up at Sunset Point. Don't the rocks in the 4th pic look like castles?

Stitch pics and video looking down at Wall St and the out, over Wall St at the top.

Stitch pics looking out from Sunset Point and then towards the Wall St valley

Looking to Sunrise Point, from Sunset Point.

And finally, looking at both the Wall St area and Sunrise Point, while basically standing in the middle of it all at Sunset Point.

A little picnic before heading home.

This bird is called a Stellers Jay. I love how blue they are, but their head reminds me of Woody the Woodpecker...funny looking, huh?

The 3 hour hike was more than worth it...we are heading back for a 3rd day today, to hike in the Bryce Point section, where most postcards come from. That is supposed to be a 5.5 mile hike...don't know if we will go that far, we'll see.