The rim of Bryce Canyon is at an altitude of about 8,000 feet and the overnight temperature at the hotel fell to 17°F (-8°C) so there was a heavy frost to scrape off the car this morning. After breakfast I drove into the park and stopped at Sunset Point to take a hike into the canyon. By that time the temperature was still at the freezing point but there was a clear blue sky and bright sunshine and, once I started walking, I soon warmed up.

Bryce is mainly known for its large number of column rock formations called hoodoosThe canyon is not very deep, about 600 feet, but the descent and ascent are very steep and the hoodoos look pretty impressive from the bottom.The word hoodoo is another name for goblin and, looking at the columns close up, you can imagine why.Once again, the color of the red sandstone is very vivid.

Since I had a fairly long drive and another National Park to visit I left Bryce and headed north-east towards Green River, Utah. As far as I know, Bryce Canyon is not visible from any nearby road so there is nothing to see of it on today’s video. The same cannot be said for Capitol Reef National Park which was the highlight of the drive. The Reef is a line of rocks, almost 100 miles long, that rise up to 5,000 feet above the surrounding area and the Capitol comes from the white domes that look similar to the dome on Washington’s capitol building.. I took a few photos but the video shows the park far better than any number of photos would.

The map and video for today’s journey are here. Due to the length of time spent driving through Capitol Reef I had to speed up the video more than usual. You can use YouTube’s speed control (accessed from the gearwheel icon) to slow it back down again.

A small section of the reef and a distant capitol in Capitol Reef National Park.