Reflections From the Fence: Bryce Canyon National Park, Two Visits, What a Difference

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Bryce Canyon National Park, Two Visits, What a Difference :: Winter Sojourn 2014/15

Yesterday, (yes, this is rather timely, unlike many of my posts in the last couple of years), we went for a LONG drive, 252 miles to be exact. Whew.

We made a bit of a detour of about 80 miles so that Man could revisit, quickly, Bryce. He was driving, I was prisoner, err, passenger, he turned left and we were off to Bryce.

Our first visit to Bryce was almost 4 years ago, May 2011. If you go to the top left of Reflections, and type in Bryce you will find quite a few posts about our stay. The weather could not have been any more different, well, there was a bit of snow then. Really, go look around and then, come on back.

This is one of the photos I took 4 years ago, note earmuffs, many layers. Let me tell you, I was C*O*L*D!! It was windy and cold. Did I mention, it was C*O*L*D??

Here is this years photo, no heavy layers, that hoodie sweatshirt is so thin. We were not cold, we were totally comfy, the sun was warm and there was almost no wind.

We did not drive to the highest point in Bryce, as we were facing a deadline to get back to Zion to get through the tunnel. Here are just a few photos from the snowy warm visit. We estimate there was somewhere between 2 and 3 feet of snow on the ground.

This guy was the ONLY person we saw that was prepared to hike, safely:

Snow and hoodoos.

Closed:

Awesome:

Yes, it was 48 degrees, balmy. Really felt like 70-75.

There is a colony of prairie dogs at Bryce. Four years ago, I spent some fun minutes capturing photos of them. Man sighed and waited. This year I figured they would be hiding in their little warm homes, underground. I was quite surprised to find one out snooping around. Yea, he is looking the other way, but, Man managed to get one photo. He took it for me, wasn't that sweet, considering how he feels about my love of the little critters.