Bryce Canyon : Snow and Red Rock

The night before “Bryce Canyon Day” I heard horror stories of lorries not being able to make it up the hills on the “Interstates” (ie. roads) due to snow. I was really worried that we wouldn’t make it to Bryce Canyon, just like we didn’t make it to the Grand Canyon.  So the next morning we set out tentatively, unsure if we’d get there or not but determined to have a good go anyway!

After a couple of hours of beautiful countryside and weather forecasts confirming that The Snow Is Coming, we made it to Bryce Canyon. On approach to the National Park, we stopped briefly to gawp at the red rock sculptures next to the road, called Red Canyon. The road (route 12, north east of Bryce Canyon) goes through some tunnels carved out of the red rock, so we had a really special journey, admiring the red rock landscape in the snow.

Although we reached Bryce safely, I was still stressing in case we couldn’t leave before the snow came and we got stuck there! We decided to see Bryce as quickly as we could, so we parked and rushed to the rim of the canyon, more concerned with timings and snow than why we were there. We were not prepared for the sight before us. I literally gasped. The sight of the unusual red rock “hoodoos”, set off by the crisp whiteness of the snow, was breathtaking.

We spent the rest of the day driving from viewpoint to viewpoint – there are 3 main views – Sunset point, Inspiration point, and Bryce point. At each viewpoint we parked and had a wander around, taking in the view.

We could have stayed longer and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the National Park, but we hustled out of there, conscious of the impending doom snow. And due to our diligence, we made it out safely and stayed the night in Beaver with no problems.

The next morning however the snow was back. The drive north to Salt Lake City was “challenging”! I can only describe it as a screen-saver. You know that screen-saver with a black night sky and little white dots rushing towards your face? Maybe entertaining when I was in primary school and I’d never seen a computer before. But not so entertaining when you’re driving. Snow rushing towards the car made it look as if we weren’t moving, and I started to feel motion sickness. I’ve never had that while driving before!

More entertaining were the place names we went past – Spanish Fork, American Fork, and previously we’d seen Mexican Fork. We saw a lot of cutlery this trip 😉  My BF promptly fell asleep and left me to drive and navigate us in to SLC singlehandedly. I mean, it was one straight road, but still!!

Next blog: Salt Lake City

Previous blog: Arches National Park

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