Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Alphabet Soup
Well, it's the second week of this new feature and we are therefore on the "B"s. There are quite a few B's that I enjoy -- Brown County, Indiana comes immediately to mind, as does Buena Vista, Colorado.But when it comes to sheer beauty, I am not sure there is any B better than Bryce Canyon National Park. Unlike other national parks on the Colorado plateau Bryce is comphrehensible. You are able to take it in with a sweep of your head, but this accessibility does nothing to take away from it's wonder, beauty, or granduer.
I've been to Bryce three times in my life. Twice in summer and once in the glorious fall of the first snowfall. Summer in Bryce is hot, as it is accross the whole plateau, and because it is one of the most visited national parks in the country, it is crowded. In summer, one must park outside the park and bus your way in because of a lack of parking and to control the crowds.Ah, but that fall visit, the place was nearly abandoned. We could stand and stare for as long as we wanted without fear of being jostled, shoved, or otherwise prodded. It was glorious.
What make Bryce so unique are the "hoodoos." Those are columns of rock formed by the forces of weather and erosion on rock formations of this certain compositon, they are strange and wonderful.Hoodoos are actually fairly common -- I've seen them all over the mountain west from the Canadian Rockies to the Mexican border, but nowhere are they as heavily concentrated or as colorful as Bryce.
In the summer they are great, but the glare and intense sun hides much of the detail. In the dull gray light of a storm, when capped by a dusting of snow, they are just outstanding.
If you are ever anywhere near southern Utah -- Bryce Canyon National Park is a must see.
