Our first backroads adventure, part seven: Bryce Canyon.

The ground drops off quickly here to each side of Utah 12.

For the most part, the remainder of our trip was on main roads, but often the “main roads” were two-lane paved roads that would be considered back roads in most of the country.

For instance, Utah 12 from Capitol Reef National Park to Bryce National Park is that way.  One crosses through a pass 9400 feet high near Boulder, the last town to get mail by pack mule.

A little further along, the road runs along a ridge barely wide enough to hold it before plunging down a canyon on each side. 

But the worldwide-known views of Bryce are spectacular.  Rainbow Point (9105 ft.) gives a great view of the cliffs.  Bryce Point and Sunset Point come closer to the “hoodoos,” the narrow knobs of rock left by erosion. 

I walked down a path with 30 switchbacks to get in among the hoodoos.  We were surprised that the trees could grow in the loose red shale.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Date of our visit: 15 May 97