Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon is named for Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer who came from Scotland at the sweet age of 17.  Ebenezer and Mary Bryce had a homestead just south of Bryce Canyon, and the area came to be known as Bryce's Canyon.  

It was, Ebenezer said, a

"hell of a place to lose a cow."

It is also a must-see if you are on a roadschooling trip!  It is a Utah landmark that will WOW even the youngest in your family.  Bryce was our first stop of four Utah National Parks and, next to Zion, the park that the kids enjoyed the most.

Having said that, I do recall a fairly large meltdown on a three-and-a-half mile hike.  Something about it being a flat uninteresting trail that just went downhill, then uphill, that it was hot, and 'you don't even know whether to turn right or left!'

It was a minor blip on the screen that lasted until the hike was done.  At that time, all the stormy memory clouds were replaced with rosie, fond memories of accomplishment.   (Parenting on the road, like parenting at home, is a lot like poker -- knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em has as much to do with who's holding the cards as the cards they're holding.)

Everyone carries their own backpack, water, and snack mix on hikes.  Hiking is always easier when the kids get to create their own snack mix with nuts, m&m's, granola, and things.  The kids' mixes are a bit heavy on the m&m's, but I'd given in to whatever it takes to get them to the other side. 

We continually discover that attitudes and energy vary from hike to hike -- and that sometimes a hike sparks a virtual cascade of positivity and ambition!

  

Have you ever sat on the beach digging in the wet sand, dripping the wet sand into globs on top of each other.  It is fun.  It is mesmerizing.  And, in time, you've created a 'drip' sand castle.  

The hoodoos of Bryce Canyon look like giant towers of dripped sand.  Walking through them made me feel I was walking through a giant drip sand castle.   And they're just as fragile.

Three Sisters

Thor's Hammer

A Window

Hoodoos are towers of soft rock, made from sedimentary rock -- mostly limestone, but including mudstone, and siltstones, deposited in a lake which covered much of western Utah 40 million years ago.  The hoodoos are formed by weathering from frosts and rains.  

The very process that made Bryce Canyon will, someday, erase it from the earth.  Erosion takes away 2-4 feet per 100 years, and we passed signs which pointed out that in 100 years the path we walked on would not exist.

Like so many of our planet's wonders, their existence is fragile and limited.  That said, I do think they'll still be here if you plan a trip sometime soon and treat them like you would any other masterpiece, with love and care.

Finally, we can't help noticing the precipitous cliffs on one or both sides of the paths in the Grand Canyon and Utah National Parks.  We are continually reminded that  'Your Safety is Your Responsibility.'  And it is why you see us huddled a little closer to the camera than you might otherwise. :-)

Think we're having fun visiting some National Parks?  Take a look at this this awe-inspiring family of Junior Rangers that visited Bryce Canyon!