Thursday, March 24, 2011

Snow and Bryce Canyon

Wednesday when I looked at the weather forecast for Bryce, Utah on Thursday it said "snow showers in am." It was cold when we arrived in the afternoon and then this morning, yes, snow. Lots of snow. Probably around 2-3 inches. In the hotel parking lot a gigantic bulldozer with a snow shovel attached started clearing out the snow.

We loaded up and to Bryce Canyon we went. During one of our little stops it started snowing. Really snowing. We weren't really sure how much of Bryce Canyon National Park we would see. Having never been to Bryce, I wasn't sure what to expect. At the first stop the surroundings looked like what I would term a snow fog. Just a little bit of Bryce Canyon peeked through.

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Words cannot express what my first impression was. Astounding, breathtaking, magnificent! And I could only see a bit through the snow fog. It was cold. It was windy. It was wet. It was worth all of the uncomfortable elements! Bryce Canyon is truly a unique form of mother nature.

As we drove to our next stop, the snow stopped. The colors of Bryce began to emerge.
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By the time we reached our last stop in Bryce, the sun appeared and performed it's magic on the striking red rock walls.
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Speechless. Truly speechless.
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After leaving Bryce and following lunch we drove to the visitors center at Escalante and drove through Grand Staircase Escalante  on Highway 12. This held some of the most spectacular scenery of Ponderosa Pines, Aspen Trees and Pinyon Trees. This is the stuff that make movies out of! We drove over Bolder Mountain and are resting for the next two days in Torrey. Tomorrow we will visit Capitol Reef National Park. Our geology guide, Darryl, promises a few surprises will be in store for us. As far as the weather, well, more snow is expected tonight after midnight with thunderstorms possible in the afternoon. If tomorrow is anything like today......it will be amazing, regardless of the weather!

If you want to see a few more pictures from today, just click here

 



   

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