Bryce Canyon

The day after Arches National Park we hit the road and made it to Bryce Canyon in the evening. We had enough time to set up camp and do a quick mile or two of hiking.
We didn't really have the time to explore the park like I had wanted, but we definitely got what we could. The next morning we got up early enough to catch the sunrise and do a few more miles of hiking before all the rest of the tourists hit the trails.

I've been thinking a lot lately about desert sunrises. You really can't beat them. I've seen some amazing sunrise and sunsets in my time, but nothing like in the desert.

Utah has such varied desert terrain and its amazingly how you can drive an hour or two and be in a completely different desert ecology with new formations.

The elevation at Bryce was a lot higher than that in Arches and it was much colder. It gets pretty unbelievable cold in the desert at night. Plus it was October and I had a 40 degree bag. I think it dropped into the teens the night we stayed here. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep.

This last picture is pretty deceptive. The trees grew so grand and majestic in these tight canyons. I wish I had a better picture to show just how tall these trees really are.