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Revisiting Bryce canyon after 20+ years

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The previous post in this series is here..

The first plan was to start driving from Zion at 4 AM to see sunrise at Bryce. By majority vote (everyone except me that is), this plan was vetoed, torpedoed and buried faster than I could explain. So we left at 6:30 AM and drove to Bryce. It was a beautiful drive with the windows down for the most part.

We parked our car at the store and started hiking from there. The trail to sunrise point is close by. We went through sunrise point, the Navajo trail to Queen Victoria, then came back through the Two Bridges, a little steep but shorter. We ended up at sunset point. From there we walked to the Bryce lodge and had a nice lunch. We were the second group waiting in line to be seated. We had to wait for 15 minutes and they opened promptly at 11:30. We had finished lunch and were out of the gift store by 12:30. There was still time to add one more stop to our trip and still make it to Las Vegas airport in time. So we walked fast from the lodge to the store and I made a dash for the next stop.

This is is pretty much everything we got from the morning at Bryce.. the memories of the smiling faces.. priceless!

The nature galleries..

Portait format photos.. I clicked a lot more but these are the highlights.. as for why I am smiling so much, Angels landing. has been on the bucket list for a long long long time. So I was just feeling so happy!

A video highlight of the Bryce experience..

The pictures here do not do justice to the scenic beauty of Bryce canyon. If you go to Zion, don’t miss Bryce.

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Emerald Pools - a little extra to wrap up Zion

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The previous post in this series is here..

I was craving hot cocoa, but the Zion lodge cafe did not have any. Ate some Parle G, lemon rice and chips to more than make up for it. Then we decided to go to Emerald pools. Our knees were shaky to start with but all of us decided to go.

We made it to the waterfall area, but there was not much water. We walked behind the falls in red slushy mud and the ladies decided to call it a day. They wanted to go make tik tok reels in the lawns of the lodge. A brave man decided to be their reels photographer while two of us decided to go all the way to the Upper Emerald pool. Our local trail guides aka ladies said “it is only another 0.3 miles.. you two should be back in another 30 minutes”. Turned out it was much more than that and the last part was pretty steep. We slowed down and kept talking about random things and made it to the lower, middle and upper pools and took photos.

An unruly crowd greeted us again. So we stayed for maybe 5 mins tops at the upper pool and made our way back. The pools may not have a lot of water now but the reflections are still beautiful!

After making our way back we took the shuttle to the visitor center, and then drove back to our cabin. We were going to have some chai and biscuits in the porch. Then we changed and found dinner. There was a place called Thai Sapa which the ladies had an eye on… what with the big Ganesha greeting them… so we went there. Given my allergies I usually don’t go anywhere near Thai places and ended up eating a Pizza there.

Was still craving a hot cocoa and we finally found it in the Zion General store. Spent some time walking around with the group and made it back to the cabin. It was time to pack and get ready for an early morning drive to our next stop..

A short highlight video…

If you have a good two to two and a half hours to spare after doing Angels landing, definitely recommend the hike to the Upper Emerland pool. Take it nice and slow and enjoy the breathtaking scenery on the way.

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Angel's landing - aka adventures of a middle aged man

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The previous post in this series is here..

On our second day at Zion National park, we left our cabin at 6:30 when it was still dark, drove 10 minutes to the visitor center and boarded the Zion shuttle to the Grotto. The entire bus was going there or past that to narrows, so it was a 20 min ride. We were on the third bus. So a large crowd had already started up ahead of us.

Our permit to go from Scouts landing to Angels landing was 8:30-9:00 AM. So we walked as fast as we could to get to that point. Then it was pretty steep and a risky climb holding on to the chains.

We did make it to Angel’s landing and enjoyed the view. More than that it was a sense of accomplishment.

This is the best photo of me going to the highest point on the landing site. The top is around 2 feet by 2 feet. Wanted to stand on top. A few people did. I wasn’t afraid but there was a lot of screaming from the ladies and had to be happy with one foot on top.

Then we made our way back to Scout’s landing. By the time we almost made it back there was a huge crowd of folks going up. We were all down within 10 minutes of each other.

Ate a packed lunch.. tamarind rice tastes really good after a long hike like that as do idli’s with milagai podi. Our return from Scout’s landing to the shuttle stop was fast.

We decided to go get something to eat at Zion lodge after the hike, and get something to drink, use the restrooms and decide what to do next.. We had made it back to Zion lodge by Noon!

Angel’s landing has been a dream come true after so many years for me. Most of the photos are of me and Sangeetha. She does not like me to post more than two pics of her in any post but this one has to be an exception. Also I took the COVID and Flu shots yesterday and my hands and shoulders are sore.. so compressing all photos to two galleries.

A landscape one ..

and a portait one

A video highlight reel of our hiking (and at places climbing)..

This place is amazing. Needs some planning to do the hike. You are better off if in good shape and can hike steep rocks. Also not having a fear of heights helps. Definitely having hiking shoes, (poles for whose who need it till Scout’s landing) etc. help.

A totally amazing experience that will stay with us for a long time. We have been asked over and over again if this is harder than Half Dome. Nope. Half Dome last part on the chain is way harder than this.. but this one is riskier especially with a relatively undisciplined crowd. Still, a fantastic experience.

Angel’s landing - Check!

Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.