At The Backroads

Bryce Canyon Amphitheater

First, let me point out one major change I made in this blog that may not be very obvious. The title is no longer “San Diego Backroads”, but instead, it is now, “At the Backroads”. It is not that I am tired of San Diego, I love this city that I now call home. San Diego is probably one of the very few places on Earth which offers a remarkable geological diversity for a given area. It is amazing to me that I do not have to leave the city to enjoy the wilderness a lot of the times, I just have to hide in its many rugged coastal canyons and mesas and boulder strewn foothills and I felt like I have escaped civilization in a matter of minutes. In as much as I love San Diego’s sparkling blue waters in the Pacific Ocean, yet I still go to its oak and pine clad mountains, and spend time with the surreal beauty of its desert. I am glad to be experiencing all these 3 environments within San Diego County. However, talking about the desert, I must say my favorite part of the desert region of the West lies outside of San Diego, and outside of California. I am a big fan of the desert landscape in Utah and Arizona. And this is why I decide to change my title. To be able to share the wonders of other places. And for my first post outside of San Diego, I am sharing the magical hoodos of Bryce Canyon National Park, in Utah.

Hiker Gazing at the Hoodos Lining the Trail to Queen’s Garden

The hoodoos are pillars of rock left by erosion. Hoodoo means to cast a spell. The fantastic shapes of these rocks are accurately known to cast a spell on every visitor, drawing them to come back, to hunger for more discovery of hoodoos. Seeing these magical hoodos for the first time transformed this poor lady to a giddy little girl. For me, Utah rocks rock, the hoodos rock me with their spells.

Hoodos @ Queen’s Garden Trail

There are very few hotels nearby Bryce Canyon National Park. When planning to visit, try to make some reservations first especially during summer, or you may end up 20 to 30 miles away from the park. One of the very few places near Bryce Canyon National Park to have a comfortable stay is at Bryce Canyon Lodge.

Bryce Canyon Lodge is the only hotel inside Bryce Canyon National Park and is also 18 miles from Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, another amazing natural park that Utah offers.  

Though a lot of tourists are already amazed looking down at the hoodos from the rim of Bryce Canyon, saying “aahs” and “oohs”, but I must say the experience is different when you experience the hoodos much closer when you hike down the canyon. And there are several easy to moderate hikes in Bryce Canyon. One of these hikes is the Queen’s Garden/Navajo Loop Trail. It is only an approximate 3 miles loop hike with approximately 600 ft elevation loss/gain. Since this is a loop, one can start at Sunrise Point going down to Queen’s Garden and climbed up at Navajo Trail to Sunset Point or vice versa. We started our hike at Sunrise Point taking the Queen’s Garden trail first. The trail winds down through colored pinnacles and sculpted spires,

Queen’s Garden Trail

Amongst the Hoodos at Queen’s Garden Trail

Hiker @ Queen’s Garden Trail

Hiker Looking Down at Queen’s Garden Trail

passing through tunnels,

Hiker Passing through the Arch Tunnel @ Queen’s Garden Trail

where each step seemed to bring another set of amazingly sculpted magical hoodos. It is hard to walk fast in this trail, as I kept on gazing at each hoodo in front of me. It was hard to leave a spot, but I just kept on telling myself to move for there are more hoodos to reward me.

The end of the Queen’s Garden Trail is of course, the Queen’s Garden. There is a short trail that leads to the formation known as Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria in Her Natural Majesty

It is amazing that this lightly colored rock, sculpted by the forces of nature, has some resemblance to the many statues of Queen Victoria found in Europe. From Queen’s Victoria Garden, instead of returning to Sunrise Point, we continued on the trail that will bring us to Navajo Loop. This part of trail follows the Bryce Creek where the trail is now lined with bristlecone pines. Interesting to find a lot of pines down the canyon after the hoodos. But this trail is not all pines, mixed with the pines are still some intresting rock formations of various colors.

A Colorful Hoodoo down the Bryce Creek

The trail comes to a junction with Peek-a-Boo trail, but we chose the one going to Navajo Loop trail. Some of the popular hoodoo formations in the Navajo Trail are: 1. The Silent City ,

The Silent City @ Navajo Trail

Hikers at The Silent City

2. The Wall Street, these narrow canyon was named after Wall Street due its resemblance of NYC streets and skyscrapers.

Navajo Loop Trail to Wall Street

3. The Thor’s Hammer.

Thor’s Hammer

The trail from Wall Street to Sunset Point at the rim ascends 521 ft on steep switchbacks.

Hikers traversing the Switchbacks on Navajo Loop Trail

What is amazing about this hike is that for a short 3 mile distance, you get to see a lot of different characters. It seems to me that Bryce Canyon National Park is a community of stone characters, and what character they represent depends on one’s imagination. What is magical about this is that they were carved and shaped by the natural forces of the Earth. Millions of years of wind, water and geologic mayhem shaped and etched the pink cliffs at Bryce, which isn’t actually a canyon but the eastern slope of the Paunsaguant Plateau. Water erodes rock mechanically and chemically. Scouring, abrading, and gullying occur at these iron-rich reddish-pink rocks from which the hoodoos are carved making it so uniquely and fancifully Bryce Canyon National Park. I really could not think of any right word to describe the enchantedness of this park, truly, this is one of the world’s geologic masterpieces. It is a place where we can be giddy as a child again, and marvel at the magical hoodos which seem to bring ENCHANTMENT!

We are making plans to spend spring vacation at Utah again, I am not sure if we will visit this Park again, as Utah’s sculpted and painted desert really has so much to offer. It is nice to take a break once a while from the blue waters of the ocean and the woods in the mountains to experience the amazing works of nature in the desert.

For more information about Bryce Canyon National Park,  please visit http://www.nps.gov/brca/

I went to La Jolla for a walk last Wednesday after work thinking I would be missing the sun for several days. I was thinking there would be a lot of clouds rolling in that day since Thursday was forecasted to have rain. However, when I got there, the sky was still so blue with only a thin wall of marine layer at the far horizon.

California Brown Pelicans

 I started my walk a little bit disappointed because I was imagining rolling clouds that were not there. However, it seemed the wildlife covered up for what I was missing. California brown pelicans and gulls kept on flying above me,

Gull in Flight

some of them resting on bluffs,

Brown Pelica’s Red Pouch, Winter Breeding Color

 some sea gulls sharing the rocks with the seals,

Gulls and Harbor Seals

that in time I was entertained by what I was seeing while walking and not minding anymore the clouds that I was missing. What surprised me most are the presence of wildflowers on the slopes of the coastal hills already.

La Jolla Wildflowers

The sight of these wildflowers put joy into my heart, I love flowers and I always look forward for spring to see a lot more flowers in the trails. I am not seeing a lot yet in the trails, but a little bloom here and there, and seeing a carpeting yellow on the slopes made me excited for the coming spring, which for San Diego standard comes late February or early March, that is the time I usually see a lot more flowers in the trail.

Carpeting Flowers on the Slopes

Looking at the flowers makes it an almost spring now, and the presence of wildflowers seem like a smile to me beyond compare.

The Smile of Spring

Anyway, these sights just make me dreamy hoping to see more colors in the next weeks to come, especially we had been enjoying rain since Thursday. Today is a nice day with very little rain, and we managed to hike to Woodson Mountain, which I will make a post sometime this week.  I had all my wished clouds today, no sunset though since the West is filled with dark clouds.

Here are some more pictures from my leisurely walk last Wednesday at La Jolla.

Moon Over Dragon Trees

The Dragon Tree is a succulent type of tree-size species with stout trunks and dense umbrella-shaped canopy of thick leaves. The tree got its name from its red sap, which was thought to be dragon’s blood by early inhabitants of the tree’s native Canary Islands.

Cormorants on La Jolla Caves

Sea Lions

Pelican Bluff (the bluff is where you can view best the pelicans and the sea lions)