Tour of Utah Day 6: Bryce hike wow

Today’s new adventure was to hike in Bryce Canyon National Park.  We had both been to the park before, but never laid tread to the trail. Showers were in the forecast for the afternoon so we tried to get on the trail early today.

The hike we planned was about a 6 mile lollipop down Navajo trail, around the Peekaboo loop before going back up Navajo. We tried to hike quickly, but I had to stop to take so many pictures!!  The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. Hiking at this elevation is a little breathtaking too.
We were nervous about the weather, but the forecast plus being a Monday in early May helped to keep the crowds away.  Now I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Navajo trail took us right by Thor’s Hammer, which was cool for me to see since Thor’s Hammer is the icon on the Utah Geological Survey logo.

The switchbacks down Navajo trail. Hikers and large trees below for scale.

The rain clouds mostly just threatened and made for interesting pictures until about a mile from the end of our hike, at which time we experienced tiny hail and then a shower. We made this into a chilly lunch break under an overhang …

before gearing up and pushing through to the end.

Thor’s Hammer again in the rain.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves even though we were not on our bikes all day Maybe we should do more hiking?
Onward to find espresso in Tropic and do some business in Escalante before bedding down at a crowded but otherwise wonderful Canyons of Escalante RV park in Escalante. Hot clean showers and camping gourmet dinner! 

The wine in the redneck stemware was hard to come by.  The only state liquor “store” for probably 50 miles is a padlocked closet inside an outdoor gear store. You have to pay with cash.  The beer selection consisted of 4 bottles of a Salt Lake microbrew. Not kidding!  This is why Utah gets a bad rap on the liquor story.

Oh well, a box of wine is easier to transport anyway. 
This might be my last post for a few days because we are going to try to go down the Burr Trail, through Capitol Reef National Park, and over to Natural Bridges National Monument. Both areas have primitive camping and few towns. Wi-Fi is unlikely. Not to worry, we have a full tank of gas, a full tank of water, escape bikes, and almost a box of wine left. Adventure awaits.