BRYCE CANYON & GRAND STAIRCASE ESCALANTE – UTAH

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: Bryce Canyon & Grand Staircase Escalante

By: Jaycie Lillie, 4/22/23 – 4/23/23

We learned that Bryce Canyon isn’t a canyon at all. A canyon is a valley carved by a river, and there is no river at Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon is actually a gorge with a series of amphitheaters and thousands of Hoodoos!

Amphitheater example:

Hoodoos are irregularly shaped vertical spires (totem pole like) and are created by “canyon” walls eroding.

A window is first eroded, then through a process called “frost wedging” (and time) the hoodoos form breaking the wall into singular vertical hoodoos. Then eventually the hoodoos will be eroded into a pile of rocks and dust.

Window example:

Crack from "frost wedging" which is in process in this example (on right):

Lastly, the single hoodoo example:

We had so much fun walking through and looking at all the hoodoos trying to “see” shapes and faces. One looked like a pig face! I painted it. Here’s my video: https://youtube.com/shorts/dag27WHuu1A?feature=share

The next day we went to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument which was pretty much all wilderness.

All the trails were sand, and the roads were dirt. We did enjoy the Visitor Center first and earned a Junior Ranger badge.

It was different because it wasn’t through the National Park Service, but instead through the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). The badge was round!

We did one small, short hike and saw the Covered Wagon Arch and a Cave with a grotto behind it. That was cool, but we got lots of sand stuck in our shoes!

I didn’t end up going ATV’ing because I don’t enjoy that kind of stuff. I slept in at the camper and enjoyed some alone time. But Jett’s blog is about ATV’ing… so, go read it next!

Jett’s Wild Flight: Bryce Canyon ATV Tour

By: Jett Lillie, 4/22/23

We arrived at the Bryce Canyon ATV place, and for those who don’t know what an ATV is it’s an “All-Terrain Vehicle.”

The three of us…. (You: Wait, wait, wait, isn’t there supposed to be 4 of you? You’re named the 4 Js! Me: Yes, but Jaycie didn’t feel well, and she would’ve been miserable ATV’ing. So, it was just 3 of us this time.) The three of us bundled up (36 degrees outside) and all rode together in a Ranger bringing up the rear of the line. Daddy was our driver.

Here's the lookout from the rim:

We tried to avoid the mud, but in front of us there was a crazy Irish guy that hitting all the major puddles with speed and throwing mud everywhere!

We hung back to avoid his mess, but we did go super fast! We got up to 40 mph!

There were some prairie dogs we saw along with the Bryce Canyon Rim.

Here was our "after" photo. Not too muddy... just a little splattered.

It was freezing, but super fun!

Jules’ Journal: Hiking the Hoodoos!

By: Julianne Lillie, 4/22/23

After we had cleaned up from ATV’ing that morning, ate lunch, and picked up the sister, we headed out for a full afternoon of hiking! We had learned the previous day of the “Hike the Hoodoos” challenge where anyone can earn a special prize by hiking at least 3 miles of trails through the designated “Hoodoo trails.” The only catch is you must either take a pencil rubbing of the benchmark (for Jr Rangers) or take a selfie with the benchmark (for adults). So, we all decided to accept the challenge!

Our first trail was Mossy Cave (0.8 miles) trail which was just inside the park boundaries.

On our way to the cave we saw a rushing waterfall & river, and of course, lots of hoodoos!

When we got to the cave we saw the moss which is its namesake & thick icicles (only seen in winter).

We took a photo with the benchmark and headed back to the truck to head to our next trail!

Our next hike was the Rim trail from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point (1 mile). The views over the vast “canyon” filled with hoodoos was just spectacular!

Once we arrived to Sunrise Point this was the trailhead of our 3rd trail, Queen Garden’s Trail (1.5 miles in & 1.5 miles back). This by far was our favorite trail! It was so interesting and special because we got to hike down into the canyon and walk amongst the towering hoodoos.

And we even got to walk through 3 of them! It was the neatest trail ever!

When we made it all the way down, the kids did a pencil rubbing of the benchmark, we took our selfie, & then we headed back up.

It was a grueling hike back up! Especially since our lungs were functioning at 8,000+ feet elevation!

But we made it! And we even helped an elderly lady along the way who broke her ankle (compound fracture – bone was sticking out!). I called 911 and told them where she was so they could send an Ambulance and Ranger Medics to help her.

After our 4.8 miles hiking, we were whooped! So, we decided to drive the scenic byway along the Rim and stopped to take in the beautiful views at all the lookouts.

My favorite lookout was Bryce Point… it was utterly incredible! Just spectacular to see the many layers of rock, rows and rows of hoodoos at every level, and all the colors for miles & miles! Just awesome!

Then we headed back to the Visitor Center (thankfully they don’t close until 6pm!) for the kids to earn their #102 Jr Ranger Badges.

AND we proved we hiked the 3+ hoodoo trails so we all 4 earned the special prize: a “I hiked the Hoodoos” sticker!

We just had a fantastic day exploring Bryce Canyon and enjoying the unique beauty that God has carved here for us to see!

Total miles walked for the day: 7.12 miles

Total flights climbed: 53