Today we took Matey and a lunch and went to Bryce Canyon National Park. Since we had Matey we didn’t intend to do any hiking, instead we wanted to go to the overlooks. Bryce is a long, narrow park running from the north to the south. We drove all the way to the end of the road for our picnic. Although we stopped at a couple of overlooks on the way, I’m putting the photos in the blog in geographical order, from south to north. This is Yovimpa Point, and these are the pink cliffs running out towards the end of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.
From here you can see south with no obstructions. That’s because the land drops away all the way to the Grand Canyon. The youngest rocks and highest elevation is at Bryce. The bottom of Bryce Canyon is at the level of the top of Zion. And the bottom of Zion is at the level of the top of the Grand Canyon. And as the rocks get lower, they get older.
There was a sign there showing this, and from this illustration you can see why the land south of Bryce is called the Grand Staircase.
Adjacent to Yovimpa Point, and looking north is Rainbow Point, where you begin to see the hoodoo formations and stripes in the rock layers that Bryce is famous for.
Looking past the hoodoos of Rainbow Point you could see the country we drove through yesterday.
A bit further north is Ponderosa Point.
Agua Canyon,
I think that’s the canyon on the right.
Here I noticed that the stone caps on the fence posts were made from the local pink striped rock.
Next Natural Bridge.
This is Fairview Point, looking a bit towards the south. That’s Rainbow Point in the distance.
This is Swamp Canyon, and is trailhead parking. Imagine hiking through that! There are trails all along below the cliffs.
Next you come to what’s called the Bryce Amphitheater, and on the southeast side is Bryce Point.
Bryce Canyon National Park has the largest concentration of hoodoos in the world, and here they are. And they’re pink and white striped.
Our northernmost stop today was Inspiration Point. This is a photo from Lower Inspiration Point.
And this video is from Upper Inspiration Point. If you’ve ever ridden The Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls you know that when the boat is so close to the bottom of the falls that all you see is mist and all you hear is thundering water the announcer says, “Ladies and gentlemen, Niagara Falls.” I thought of that. Ladies and Gentlemen, Bryce Canyon. Spectacular hardly covers it.
On the Roam Again 
Your last comment is so true – “Spectacular hardly covers it.”
I looked up “hoodoo”. It does say it is “a column or pinnacle of weathered rock”, but part of the first definition says: “a person or thing that brings or causes bad luck”. Maybe there’s a connection somehow???
Anyway, I’m so glad you’re getting to see all of this spectacular geography and are sharing your pictures!!
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I read that Paiute lore says that the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon were legend people who lived there before humans but took human form. They did some unknown bad things and the all powerful Coyote spirit turned them to stone. So maybe Indian lore is the basis for that definition. The Paiute name for the hoodoos means red painted faces.
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IInteresting!
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