May 21 -- part 3: Bryce Canyon, Rainbow Point, continued

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Here is a link to the interactive expedition map.



There is a relatively short and easy trail at Rainbow Point -- Bristlecone Loop. 

(This is one of the VERY few pics from this day that required only a quick crop rather than a fussy "lightening this, darkening that, raising the contrast, etc, etc, etc".........)



I wonder how far you could see from here.  Far.

If you walked a few steps to the left of where we stood to take the above pic, and continued looking in the same direction as the above, you could see this.  Hoodoos in the making.

This is a closer crop of the above.  You can see how fins of rock stick out away from the bigger feature (do we call the whole big thing a bluff?  Something else?  I don't know).  Water seeps down into these fins of rock, and freezes and thaws, and eventually cuts a hoodoo loose from the fin.  You can see that this is happening near the right side of the image.  There's a cut between the end of the fin and the rest of the fin, almost all the way down.

I believe this is looking south from the south end of the road through Bryce Canyon National Park.

Tighter crop of the above -- more interesting stuff a ways farther south.  From looking at the 3D maps in the visitors' centers, it is clear that a lot of this country used to be a flat plain.  Over time, all of these astonishing landscapes were cut down into the plain, leaving some flat places, and a lot of not-at-all-flat places.

Bristlecone pine, living on the edge.....

Tighter crop.

Closer look at a twisted trunk.

Up close and personal -- an interesting twig.  I don't know whose.

Isn't this texture amazing?  Wow.

I think the holes are the work of a bird.

Tiny little twisted tree.  Less than a yard long, if I remember correctly.

Evergreen flowers.  (At least -- that's what I think these are.)

I think this is a path to the beginning of the Bristlecone Loop.  One of the paths to the beginning of the trail is paved, as is the beginning of the trail, so even if you can't walk, you can see part of this amazing national park.

Bench along the Bristlecone Loop.

Western national parks seem to have lots of activities for kids.  If you made a rubbing of this info, or had your pic taken with it, that would earn you part of a Junior Ranger badge.

Hoodoos beginning to appear at the bottom?

The sky!

I believe we saw this plant at Lake Tahoe last year in March.

Chunks of tree, working on returning to the earth.

Fungi working on tree reclamation.

Interesting textures....

I bet the bugs who did this damage caused the death of this tree.  I don't know for sure, but I bet they did.

The end of a different tree.

This is a side view of the tree in the previous.  Another case of infestation.  :-(

Here is a link to the next post about the Grand Canyon expedition.

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