Bryce Canyon was not quite awake yet. I checked into the Bryce Canyon Resort Motel (a bit of an exaggeration, but the cabin was cute, well equipped and a little rustic. The manager was exceptionally pleasant and gave some good advice about the Park. Once again, the next morning I went to the park.

I focused on going to the various lookout points, since number one, it was cold, about 44 degrees, and two, the rangers were warning everyone that the trails were pretty muddy. The views, as you can see here, are unbelievable. Several times the lining up of the Hoodoos, which is what the spires are called, reminded me of the Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors. I showed up at the appointed time and place to hear a ranger named Jan Stock discuss the geology of the area. A huge area called the Colorado Plateau started out as a base of sedimentary rock, caused by an inland sea which split what is now the United States in two. As that sea receded as tectonic movement caused the Colorado Plateau to rise, there were freshwater lakes which put down millions of years of sandstone. The various colors are due to the relative amounts of various minerals, obviously iron being a predominant one causing the red color. These particular formations are due to a unique interaction of climate. Due to the altitude, this area has about 200 days per year where the daytime temperature is above freezing and the nighttime temperature is below freezing. Given the amount of rain and snow the area receives, the rather fragile sandstone is subjected to freezing and thawing of water in the cracks many days of the year, so little bits of it chip off. The beautiful Hoodoos are caused by this erosion, which doesn't happen at either much higher or lower elevations due to the lack of the temperature shift from freezing to above freezing. It's either too consistently warm or too consistently cold. The bad news is that this erosion is fairly rapid in geological terms, so the Hoodoos change fairly quickly. It is estimated that within a mere 3 million years, they will be reduced to rubble. I suggest you make a plan to visit soon.

I loved Jan's talk of about 50 minutes, though the last 10 minutes were difficult simply because I was getting quite cold. I left the park at about 3 pm, and went back to the motel to warm up and eat leftovers. That night it snowed about 3 inches. When I looked out my window at about 6:30 am, I decided it was time to go back to bed for awhile, so the roads had some time to get clear. As you know, for me to stay in bed beyond 6:30 is pretty much against my religion, but it felt very nice. The forecast was for temps in the mid-60's that day. Sure enough, by 8 am, while everything else was still covered with snow there was a thick band of steam over the roads where the water was evaporating rapidly. I went back to the park and took more pictures. As with Zion National Park, this is an area I'd love to come back to for some backpacking.