April 23, 2013 Bryce Canyon, Ut

It got down to 24 degrees last night.  The campground is around 8000 ft.  The high today was  49 degrees. But it was sunny, so it was not too bad.

We went to the visitors center and got our I hiked the HooDoos reward. A pin, here it is on my hat. We had to hike at least 3 miles and have photos to prove it. We hiked 7 and a half. Another 5 today. We are not used to the altitude, so it about killed us.

We hiked to the Hat Shop today. The hat shop is a bunch of hoodoos with large rocks on top. I loved this one with a tiny one on it’s side. The top rock is  more resistant to erosion that the bottom layer, so when the water washes away the lower layer the upper layer protects it.

Hat shop. John hiking back up the switch backs. All of these hikes you hike around 1000 feet down into the canyons, then 1000 feet back up.

The rocks in this canyon are more light pink, and lavender than the darker red ones in the other canyon we hiked yesterday.

My husband the fashion poodle. When it was hot hiking up he had his sleeves and pants rolled up, perfect layering.  These rocks are called grottos. I walked out to the view point to look at them and the canyon and it was packed with tourist. Most did not speak English. You can always tell when you are in a national park.

This is an over view of the canyon we hiked yesterday.  John is sitting by the fireplace in the historic  Bryce Canyon Lodge.  It was built in 1925 by the railroad to lure passengers into this area.

These cabins were also built by the railroad in 1925. They are still in use today. Prairie dog xing.

Sue at the Fairy land Canyon overlook. We were going to hike the Fairyland trail today, but it is 8 miles long and we are really feeling the altitude. It looked really pretty. Perhaps next time. The bus in the campground.

I walked over to the rim for sunset. The rocks were beautiful and the moon is almost full.

Sunset color on the rocks. I decided that if my shadow was going to be in the photo I would make it like a petroglyph.

Dried flower, pinon nuts in the cone, Manzanita blossoms, daisy like flowers, all these flowers are like the high altitude cushion plants, small and close to the ground. Forget me not's, yellow flowers and a white cluster.

A fossil I found, the cool colored rocks with crystals in them. A purple and yellow rock.