Stage 4: Mystic Hot Springs to Bryce Canyon National Park

On Thursday, April 25, after another nice long coffee walk, I packed up and headed to Bryce Canyon via the back way. It was a spectacular two-hour drive via Highway 15. Happily, there were plenty of campsites when I arrived. The campground was very much like Lake Tahoe – high desert forest, dry and pungent with the aroma of dirt and trees. I took a moment to settle into an awesome spot, pop a beer, relax for a hot minute, then take Luna for a walk on the one trail that allowed dogs. It was a short but spectacular portion of the Rim Train from Sunset to Sunrise Points. I then put her in the car, drove over to hike The Queen’s Garden and Thor’s Hammer loop. It was 1 ½ hours of the most spectacular scenery imaginable. One of the odd things about Bryce Canyon, unless you are on the lip of the canyon you would never know it existed!

I was happy to see a group of three boys from Colorado (Ed, Max, and Alex) had pulled in across the way from my site. They had both bikes and dogs so I figured they were my type of peeps. Luna was stoked to have friends to play with, and Sheila was stoked to have friends to hang with. We stayed up talking stories and drinking beer around the campfire until the wee hours. I got a great big goodbye hug from Ed, a golf pro with a beautiful and genuine smile. It was a full moon so I was obliged to howl at the moon. Luna joined me a hot minute later, another camper howled back, then all the dogs in the campground joined the chorus and a beautiful cacophony ensued.

The next morning, I awoke early to watch the sunrise over the rim of the canyon. It was pretty spectacular, but I felt a bit cheated by the one cloud in the sky which hid the sun. And it was cold – I was freezing my titties off! Because we were the early birds, we caught the scofflaw worm and hiked the 4.5-mile trail from Sunset to Bryce Point and back. I learned on that early morning trek that the nicest people get up early to hike. I met a bunch of really friendly people on the trail. The afternoon before it was mostly fat and out of shape RV’ers and French Canadians. They weren’t nearly as friendly as the early morning crew.

After our hike we returned to camp, cooked and ate breakfast, packed up, and headed to Zion National Park.

Lesson of the Day: I was a bit flabbergasted to find a woman in the bathroom of the campground armed with a blow dryer and curling iron. As it turned out, she was a lovely woman from Gig Harbor WA, and she was getting dolled up for her birthday. Being judgmental only cuts you off from learning about our fellow human beings.

Click here to learn more about Bryce Canyon National Park.