“Utah 🇺🇸 ~Fifth and Final Stop in Bryce City for Bryce Canyon National Park and Horseback Riding in Dixie National Forest”
Fifth Stop of Five for Bryce Canyon National Park
…..Thus Completing Our Grand Circle of National Park Visits in Utah!!
We have thoroughly enjoyed exploring so many National Parks in Utah, during this month of June. All five National Park are worth a visit, but if I were to rate them, in order of my favorites, here is how that would go:
1. Capitol Reef National Park
2. Zion National Park
3. Bryce Canyon National Park
4. Arches National Park
5. Canyonlands National Park
We visited Bryce Canyon National Park as our final Park visit, because we have been before, but during the winter months; a few years ago. For that reason, we arranged something different to do …. horseback riding for a half day. I’ve been looking forward to this all month!
I can honestly say, we are filled-up on all things Rock Cliff and Canyons, so we leave Utah, feeling very satisfied, as well as very proud of ourselves for completing such an adventure!
Ruby’s Inn and RV Campground
Rubys is located one mile from Bryce Canyon National Park
Sadly, there was a fire, 9 miles from us. We were told it happened due to an irresponsible fire by somebody camping.
We will enjoy very cool nights in the high 30’s, and daytime temperatures in the 70’s. PERFECT!
Bryce Canyon National Park ✅
This Park is named for pioneer Ebenezer Bryce who came to the Paria Valley with his family in 1875. He was sent by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because his skill as a carpenter would be useful in settling this area.
Bryce built a road to the plateau top to retrieve firewood and timber. He also built an irrigation canal to raise crops and animals. Local people called the canyon with the strange rock formations near Ebenezer’s home “Bryce’s Canyon.” The Bryces moved to Arizona in 1880, the name remained.
As southern Utah developed, Reuben and Minnie Syrett, who homesteaded just outside the present park boundaries, brought their friends to see the intricately eroded stone formations. By popular demand, they developed sleeping and eating facilities on the canyon rim. They called their establishment, “Tourist’s Rest.” When the area was set aside as a national monument in 1923, the Union Pacific Railroad bought out the Syrett’s interests and began to construct Bryce Canyon Lodge, intending to make the Bryce Canyon area part of their new “Loop Tour” of the southwest. The Syrett’s then built “Ruby’s Inn” on their own land, just north of the park.
• Bryce Canyon National Park covers a total area of 35,835 acres
•The number of people visiting Bryce Canyon in 2019 was 2,594,904
•Bryce Canyon was made a national park on September 15, 1928
•Home to the greatest number of Hoodoos on Earth
Hoodoos formed over thousands of years by the same processes that form the features of surrounding parks. Water, ice (at varying intervals) and gravity are the forces that form Bryce Canyon. These three erosive forces coupled with the differential erosion of the four rock types of the Claron Formation produced a different morphology than that of other parks. 10-15 million years ago the Paunsaugunt Plateau was caught and uplifted by the Colorado Plateau. Breaks called joints formed in the plateau during the uplift. Joints allowed water to flow into the rock. As water flowed through joints erosion widened them into rivulets and gullies. Over time, deep slot canyons formed in the sides of the plateau.
Horseback Riding in Dixie National Forest on Thunder Mountain
WOWZA! We enjoyed a beautiful, half-day horseback ride. The weather was gorgeous and so was the scenery.
This National Forest includes almost two million acres and is the largest national forest in Utah. The forest is adjacent to three national parks and two national monuments, and includes areas of similar natural beauty.
The red sandstone formations in Red Canyon rival those of Bryce Canyon National Park. It occupies almost two million acres and stretches for about 170 miles across southern Utah, and it straddles the divide, between the Great Basin and the Colorado River.
We joined four other riders, piled into a van, after checking in, and were driven to the spot where the horses were waiting for us in the Dixie National Forest.
Half-day ride for two, cost $220. There are full day options, too.
Daryl rode “Mellow Yellow”
I rode “Hondo”
Tyree ~Wrangler Guide
Where are we taking The Whale to, next?
We will make our way to Southwest Colorado for a nice, lengthy stay in Montrose, near the Black Canyon National Park.
At some point in our few months there, we want to visit Mesa Verde National Park, Whete Daryl can visit Cliff Dwellings for the first time, but have since learned some main roads are closed, due to construction, and another closure, due to an unstable rock; which engineers are trying to figure out how to stabilize. (it’s an Arch)
Me: 2006 in Mesa Verde National Park
I’ve been wanting to take Daryl to see this amazing National Park. Bummer, but we will have to “wait it out,” for perhaps, towards the end of summer; at least, since there is road construction, which is suppose to be complete mid-July.
Regardless, we love Colorado and we will always find things to do! Mostly, now that we are done moving around Utah, we want to park The Whale and also try to wait-out these ridiculous fuel prices!
HEADING FOR COLORADO
This was a beautiful drive via Utah Rte 24 to Hwy 72 to I-70
Bonus Photos from our first visit to Bryce Canyon National Park, in 2/2016
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The actual drive to Bryce Canyon, from Sandcreek, took about 2.5 hours.
If you missed Part One of this Five Part Blog Series, here is the link:
Archive Blog Posts of Our Country Visits
About Us
About Us
Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More