Weekend Adventures

Three of us headed up to Bryce Canyon for a backpacking trip one weekend. Here are me and Neil at an overlook on the Under the Rim Trail.


The park ranger told us that the trail we planned to take was "boring and not that scenic because you're in the trees all the time." Bah. He was wrong. Trees are very scenic, particularly turning maples, and we still got plenty of views of hoodoos and rock formations. Apparently, most of the visitors thought the same as the ranger, and we had the trail to ourselves, which was excellent.


It was ridiculously cold. Karen and I were hoping for snow so we ripped snowflakes out of our trail maps and hung them on the tent window. Sadly, it did not work.

And... to red rocks Nevada to go rock climbing! Even before we reached the crags we had to find our way through a crazy landscape of carved sandstone and deep gullies and washes. We got lost a few times.

More red rocks, Karen leading a route on the Magic Bus Wall. After the sun went down (we got caught in the dark without headlamps hiking back to the car) we went back to our campsite and grilled steak, asparagus, and garlic bread. I had forgotten this glorious part of car camping, the ability to bring vast amounts of food too heavy to carry in a backpack.


And last weekend, the Grand Canyon. The best thing about the canyon was how the Colorado River cut through layers of rock laid down over time, and walking down it you travel through the different ages of the earth, from recent times at the top all the way down to bottom rock layers formed when only bacteria lived on the planet.



The ponderosa pines that line the North Rim smell like butterscotch. Kaibab squirrels with huge rabbit ears and white fluffy tails run around the forests too.