Greetings From Dale and Roy

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos

Torrey, Utah -- just outside of Capitol Reef National Park

Yesterday, Thursday, we spent at Bryce Canyon National Park. Spectacular! The park exists because of its hoodoos. Hoodoos are sandstone spires that were caused by the erosion of the surrounding land. They are massive, weirdly shaped things that I don't have the words to describe adequately. We took several hikes in the park,including one to the canyon floor that I'm still catching my breath from. Walking down is so much easier than up. At night we attended an astronomy lecture given by a park ranger. After the talk they set up telescopes so we could see the night sky (which is so black you can't believe it!), but it was getting too late so we bypassed the viewing. We had to get some sleep for our horseback excursion on Friday.

We last rode horses more than 20 years ago in West Virginia. We rode on a generally flat trail through the forest, and it was a lot of fun. Today's ride was completely different. Instead of a flat path we climbed steep trails in Red Canyon (near Bryce). I felt like I was in a cowboy movie escaping from a posse. In fact, Red Canyon is where Butch Cassidy hung out when the law was after him. We climbed up the canyon and then down. Very steep and rocky. It's a wonder the horses don't fall. A great time.

After that we headed toward Capitol Reef NP on scenic Rt. 12 through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a 1.6 million acre area that, through a series of increasingly raised plateaus links the canyonland parks in Utah with the Grand Canyon in Arizona. This is one of the wildest areas in the lower 48 states, and contains the last areas to be mapped in the lower 48. From the various scenic overlooks you look out on an unending vista of mesas and canyons. Breathtaking.

Tomorrow we explore Capitol Reef. The scenery is already breathtaking near our motel--huge red mesas and unusual rock formations. (I need to  get myself a thesaurus. I'm running out of adjectives to describe this stuff.)

Almost forgot. Hiking in Zion we came across three young Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) women and their children. FLDS women are easily identified my the identical long dresses they wear
as well as their unusual hair style. If you watched "Big Love" on HBO you know what I mean. FLDS are into polygamy, and I'm pretty sure these were sister-wives.