The sunrise revealed Lake Powell in all it's glory. The sky was blue, a colour which matched the lake perfectly and the desert sand rose up from the lake into towers of rock, one of which apparently was where Jay Z and Beyonce helicoptered their guests after their wedding randomly.
It.made me wish that I had my bike because I could trace the trails meandering through the desert towards the pillars of rock. But it was not to be. We packed up the tents once again, all now experts at this particular task and once again got into the buses for our transfer to Bryce Canyon. Bryce had been on my bucket list for a long time and I was way more excited about this part of the trip. I had heard stories of.it's beauty, of the towering spires known as Hoodoos and couldn't wait to not only see them, but walk amidst them.
We arrived and walked to the rim. And there all my words ran out because the sight of Bryce literally took my breath away. I'm glad I saved the most American of all superlatives for this one. Super Awesome... just about does what we were seeing justice, for stretched out ahead and below us were thousands if spires of rock, carved out in the most intriguing ways by mother nature. The fact that some of these spires were dusted with snow added to the effect and we stood there transfixed.
The rock is sandstone and is weathered by wind and rain but mainly ice that freezes and thaws to form the magnificent structures that we could see. In 10 000 years time they will be no more... which is a sad fact as I like to see the permanence in things of nature but the changes that are wrought here mean that the hoodoos will gradually be ground down into dust. (Alarm fans... see what I did there?)
We had lunch before setting off down the steep path into the canyon... every turn of the trail led to another jaw dropping view, picture postcard perfect as we wound our way round and in some cases, through the hoodoos.
We saw faves in the rock... queen victoria sitting on a camel (well according to mike P... the camel bit) and I saw a bjnch of meercats standing tall. The imagination ran riot!
We eventually reached a disection of the path and a place where 'Two Rivers Meet', though thsse were dry river beds, conveniently co inciding with an Alarm song!
Here, mike picked up his guitar and spoke about how when we lose skmeone we love, like these river beds run dry, the rivers are still there... I got what he was saying and his words brought comfort, not to just me, but everyone who sat quiet and still in reflection and memory. The minutes silence echoed around the hoodoos, which cast a watchful eye over us, their charges, a protectiveness in their solidity. Then the guitar cords echoed around the canyon with such beauty and warmth in that place of quiet and stillness. A true tribute to those we carry along with us on our journeys.
Then the group split and those of us who had opted for the extra loop, headed on up.... and up.... and up..
Each person at their own pace.
It wasn't too long before we encountered more snow... a fair bit of it, hard pack and slippery so we took great care and the pace slowed more. After a while the guides informed us of the late time, and hoe much longer it would take, and pointed out that tents would be set up in the dark, suggesting that we just do the 1 mile bit straight up to the top, whilst they went ahead to get the buses. Frankly they sold us at... 'tents up in the dark'.
As they raced ahead, Andy shouted out to hear it echo back which gave me an idea... we all stood on the edge of the trail, high up in the canyon and shouted 'Love... Hope...Strength' as loud as we could. The words which we all carry along with us echoed delightfully around and after we shouted we could see Mike and Jules waving to us below. It was just one of those moments!
We crawled up the last little bit, puffing with the exertion ... to once again stand at the top and have the full wonder of Bryce revealled to us. I speak for myself when I say I was knackered and as we piled back in the buses, it was with a fervant hope that those who had left earlier had kindly put up the tents. We weren't disappointed. We arrived at Zion Campground to most of the tents up and dinner nearly ready... to sag we were grateful was a huge understatement! Having arrived in the dark, our group had to listen to how beautiful the journey in had been but we judged it adequate compensation for those who had not seen as much of Bryce as we had, therefore all were happy.
I hopped into my sleeping bag pretty fast that night in order to catch up on sleep prior to our last trekking day... warm, cosy... and soon fast asleep!
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