Day 94: Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

We left Zion National Park before the mid-morning heat arrived, heading back through the South Entrance toward Hurricane. We did some browsing at antique stores along our route, picking up a gorgeous robin’s egg blue speckled enamel stirring spoon and an antique glass bead necklace. We also scored a new to us L.L. Bean backpack for Alistair’s back to school in October for a whopping $4. It was a steal of a deal for a backpack that looks brand new.

Our afternoon was spent at the Cedar City Aquatic Centre swimming. This pool complex was amazing! There were three pools (indoor and outdoor), a splash pad worthy of Great Wolf Lodge, an aquatic ninja course, a rope swing, a climbing wall, a lazy river and a water slide - all in a city community pool complex. It was exceptional. We swam all afternoon and then showered - all for $5 per person. Another crazy good deal.

Ready to swim!

Ali making friends.

Squeaky clean and feeling good!

When we were finally complete prunes, we dragged ourselves out of the water and continued on to Bryce Canyon National Park. We passed through Red Canyon on the way and were shocked at the vibrant pumpkin orange coloured rocks. Wow! 

We drove through a few tunnels to get to Bryce Canyon.

It looked like the hills were made of pumpkin.

Upon arrival in Bryce Canyon, we checked out the Visitors Centre, picked up a trail map, and watched the park movie in the theatre. We then drove to Loop A Site 3 at the North Campground. We have already seen pronghorns grazing in the park and are excited to see the Utah prairie dogs tomorrow. We cooked up corn on the cob and hamburgers for supper while we waited for the sun to set. During our wait, we watched bats flying overhead!

At 9:45 pm we headed to Sunset Point for the Star Party, an astronomy ranger program hosted at the park. As per usual for us, it was mostly cloudy obscuring the stars. We did however get a brief break in the clouds allowing us to see the Big Dipper, Polaris and the Little Dipper and the International Space Station passing overhead. Very cool. It was a shame we couldn’t use the telescopes to see more. The rain started shortly after we returned to the campsite.

We got our first glimpse of the canyon tonight but it was in the dark. It looks incredible. We are very excited to explore this unique place tomorrow.