When the road on the map isn't numbered.....

We said: Headed for Bryce-it was sort of chilly-not like the weather we have been traveling through. The high was supposed to be in the low 50's, but it was sunny, so we donned our jackets and made our way to the Visitor's Center. We passed the Red Canyon on the way, and got a small sampling of what we would see for the day. Saw an informative film about the park (we saw one in Zion, too) which was very good and set the tone for us for the day. Started hiking from the Sunrise Point-went on the Queen's Garden Trail-Navajo Loop-Rim Trail-to Sunset Point. It is advertised as the "Best 3 mile hike anywhere"-it was pretty terrific. Started above the canyon walls looking down on Hoodoos and Spires and walked down into the canyon-then came to the slot canyon-walked through the canyon and up the switchback trail at the other side of the slot-quite a beautiful sight. After the hike we rode to the South end of the park road and headed north, stopping at the overlooks. We checked out our Atlas and found what we thought was the best route to head Southeast and on to New Mexico via Arizona. Well-when a road on your Atlas is just a small line with no number or name.....it might not be such a great short cut. It could end up to be a dirt road only suitable for 4 wheel drive vehicles! We left Bryce around 6 under sunny skies and got to Route 89-a paved road under a full moon about 8:45. Total distance on the dirt road 45 miles. There were a few places we weren't sure the Mini would be able to traverse, but Paul was an ace driver and got us through. At the end of the road, Paul saw a sandwich board sign with orange cones for people coming from the other direction, it said "High Clearance Roadway-4 wheel drive vehicles only-highly recommended". Now they tell us-thanks-we could have used a sign like that at the other end. Hopefully the undercarriage of the Mini didn't sustain too much damage. It was dark when we got to Page and Lake Powell-I guess we'll see it tomorrow.

Red Canyon

Hoodoos on the Queen's Garden Trail

A spire on the Trail

Pretty backdrop-it was a terrific hiking trail

The spires and hoodoos were amazing

Walked through many of these tunnels on the trail

Trees grow throught the slot canyon

At the bottom of the slot canyon

Near the top-looking down on other hikers doing the switchbacks up the canyon

Some spires that looked like they were ready to topple

This was named the Natural Bridge, but it really an arch

The view from Inspiration Point

This was a good spot on the dirt road

The sun went down and the moon came up-we still had about 20 miles to go. Paul said this was lesson 425 on our trip, but it really wasn't that bad. We only had to worry about wrecking the car or getting stuck out there. We would have been OK though-had 2 bottles of water, some breakfast bars, a granola bar, some stale bread and peanut butter and jelly. We did see other cars on the path so someone would have found us when the sun came up.