May 24, part 2 -- tearing ourselves away from Bryce Canyon

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Here is a link to the interactive expedition map.



We went back to our room to finish packing, and to check out.

Some of the "sand" in the southwest is much more like "dust" than like "sand."  Here's what my jeans looked like after hiking down into Bryce "Canyon" on the 23rd.  This pair became my "dirty" pair, and I kept the other pair for less dusty excursions.

You know we had to look at this amazing place some more before we moved on.

Nearly all of the views we looked at were looking east.  This one looks west.

Looking over the edge at hoodoos below.

This little plant (shrub?  tree?) is visible in the lower left corner above.

We stopped in the visitor's center on our way out of the park.

The visitor's center has this interesting book showing what the Earth looked like when various parts of the landscape in this part of the world were formed.  I wish I'd had time to look at it more closely....

How I wish we could all shut up, quit burning fossil fuels to make noise, and stop throwing trash everywhere. 

There weren't that many times on this trip when we couldn't hear other people......



Fairyland Point is on the way back to the "outside the park" roads.  We stopped for one last look.

Flowers.

We stood on Sunrise Point in the previous post.

Our daughter walked the rim trail toward Sunrise Point on the 21st.

This is a closer look at the tree behind the sign.

In the upper left corner of the next image you can see the trail down into Fairyland "Canyon."  Our daughter walked down there on the 23rd.

You can see this sign in the upper right corner of the above.  (Note Aquarius Plateau on the horizon, at left.)

Moving back toward the south.

A closer look at part of the tree seen at the top of the previous image.  Note "canyon" behind the tree....

This one has long needles.

I don't know if these are incipient pine cones, or maybe flowers?

The shadow of the tree we've been examining is at the bottom of this next image.

We saw lots of junipers in various parks.

A last look at Fairyland.

As we leave Bryce, I want to share one last thing.   Another little tree on the edge.

And part of the way I think about all of this.  This image shows the same little tree as the previous pic, and part of the fence between us and and the tree and the abyss.  Someone has written on the fence in silver magic marker.

While I am not down with people writing their names or other stupid things on public property, this seems to me to be a beautiful and appropriate sentiment embellishing the fence.  If only everyone could approach these amazing and irreplaceable landscapes with an attitude of wonder and reverence..............

These places belong to everyone.  And no one.  Every one of us should take care of them for the future.  Not trash them now.

Amen.



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

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