May 24 -- a last look at Bryce Canyon from the rim near the lodge

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Here is a link to the interactive expedition map.


I am sorry it is taking me so long to get through our magnificent southwest trip.  We have been out of state yet again, and the editing...........  Oh my.  The editing.

Let's not discuss how long it took me to stitch this

and this

into the next one.  Ok?  Ok.

Some members of our party got up to watch the sunrise on May 24.

One of the sub-headings for this post is "Life in precarious places."  You can see these are not all baby plants.  Some of them have managed to survive for many years with just a toe-hold on the ground below them.  Or at least that's how it looks to me..........

Our daughter got up before I did, so I knew she was out there. 

And she wears a distinctive gold coat.  I was pretty sure I'd seen her, but she didn't know I was out there (in my very non-distinctive black garb).  (This is a close crop of the above.)

Sunrise lights up the hoodoos.

Close crop of the right edge of the above -- people are down there on the trail, as the sun rises over the rim of the "canyon."  We were down there, on the 23rd.

We won't talk about the time spent on making this one out of two, either.

Some of the trail I believe we walked on the 23rd, at sunrise on the 24th.

Walking back toward the lodge.  Flowers.

Here's something we really need to discuss.  Trash EVERYWHERE.  I mean everywhere.  I am boggled that people treat my neighborhood, and my town, as ok places to toss trash.

BUT OUR NATIONAL PARKS???????????????????????????????????

Really, people?????????????????????????????  REALLY?????????????????????????

NO.  NO NO NO NO NO ****NO****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you can carry it in, you can carry it out!  If you can't find a trash can, hold onto it until you find one!  If you have held it in your hand, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to see that it is properly disposed of.

PERIOD.

I filled this plastic grocery bag full in 5 or 10 minutes, walking back from the "canyon" rim to our room.

Shame on every single person who is responsible for this.  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Deep breath.....................


Breakfast on the balcony.

Coffee in the lodge restaurant.  (Reflections of light fixtures with pine-tree embellishment.)

Walking on the rim near the lodge one last time.

This extremely photogenic little tree.  Long may it survive, here on the edge.  (Aquarius Plateau, on the horizon.)

Daughter, appreciating tree.

Holding on...........

I don't know if this is the same kind of tree as the little one.  Maybe, someday, it will be big like this one?

Closer crop of the above, making the two tree-trunk benches more visible.

More trees on the edge.

I believe this is Sunrise Point, on a very bright morning.  Aquarius Plateau on the horizon.

Yet another little tree in a precarious situation.  With a nice view of hoodoos.

Another little tree on the edge.

Same tree; different vantage point.

People down in the canyon.  Not sure if we walked this particular piece of trail or not.

Closer crop of the above.  Looking at those sandy-looking ridges.......

Pretty sure we were on some of those trails you can see in the lower right quadrant.

Closer crop, showing trails.

There is fence barely visible under the trees, top right corner.  I believe that is Sunset Point (or getting near it, anyway).

Some of the rim trail is a ways from the edge.  Some of it *is* the edge.

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

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