Katie's Outdoor Adventures: Spring Break 2015: Day 3 (Bryce Canyon NP)

On Monday I woke up at 5:50am without my alarm, which is good because my watch alarm never went off (I'm not sure why it did not work, but it randomly worked and didn't work throughout the trip). We had a quick breakfast of yoghurt, granola and bagels.

We were in the cars to drive to Bryce Canyon National Park at 7:15am. I drove for the 75 minute drive to the park's visitor center. I was mesmerized and surprised by the snow around Bryce, although it makes sense since Bryce is at a higher elevation than out camp.

We stopped at the visitor's center, where I was shocked to find that most trails were closed (or required gear we did not have, like snowshoes). I had never even thought that trails might be closed due to snow when I was planning our Bryce Canyon National Park hikes! With all the plans becoming useless due to the closed trails, we got two trail suggestions from a ranger and went with those.

Before lunch, we hiked from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point on the Rim trail, then hiked down into the canyon before taking the 'two bridges' Navajo trail back to sunset point. This hike was relatively easy, and surprisingly not icy or snowy in most sections. The last climb out of the canyon did leave me out of breath.

After the hike we ate a picnic lunch of peanut butter and jelly tacos before heading to the visitor's center again to buy souvenirs and watch the park video. The video was informative as would be expected, although it did tell us that Bryce Canyon National Park is more of a plateau than a canyon.

After finishing up at the visitor's center, we drove to sunrise point to begin a 3 mile hike on the Tower Bridge trail. This trail was much more difficult than the morning trail, mainly due to deeper snow on most of the trail, some of which had become slushy. I was really enjoying my new waterproof boots on this hike. We rested for 30-45 minutes near the tower bridge before turning back. The hike back was much rougher than the way down, due to the elevation gain, deep snow, and slippery surfaces. I was pretty tired by the time we reached the Rim trail again.

The snow in Bryce was beautiful, and everyone seemed up for taking the scenic drive to a variety of the scenic overlooks. We drove about 20 miles to Rainbow Point, as I had read that it is best to drive all the way to the last viewpoint (Rainbow Point) and then stop at viewpoints on the way back. Apparently participants in Tommy/Cole's car really wanted to get back to camp though, so we did not stop at any other viewpoints. The drive was pretty, but it seemed somewhat pointless without stopping at more viewpoints. I do not see what the hurry to get back to camp was - we'll have plenty of time at camp after volunteering tomorrow. Let's enjoy the amazing views while we are here! And if they were hungry or tired, they could snack or sleep in the car. I'm not sure that wanting to go back to camp instead of enjoying the viewpoints was a group decision - I think there were just a few particularly vocal and insistent participants. As guides, we really failed this trip at making a plan and vocalizing it, or making multiple plans and letting the entire group vote on what they prefer. Communication was a big issue this trip.

Emily had a pretty bad migraine, so I kept driving. It was not a terribly driving intensive day, and the snow in Bryce was beautiful, so I really did not mind driving all day.

We had a chicken, vegetables, and rice stir fry for dinner. Emily and Tommy manned the grill, I cut up most of the vegetables, and Cole manned the fire. It ended up being a really good meal with perfect proportions. I cleaned up the dinner, did dishes using our three bucket method, and then retired to our tent. Once in the tent, I blogged for a short time before falling asleep.