Bryce Canyon National Park puts the rest of Utah's parks to shame for two very excellent reasons. It's more than 8,000' elevation causes temperatures to drop into the 40s at night and it remains cool through mid-morning. Oh, also there are trees here which means Mother Nature actually intended for things to live here, unlike other places we've seen completely void of anything but sunburns and dehydration.
Started out at 9AM hiking the Navajo/Queens Garden/Peak-a-Boo figure-8 loop that provides a nice dosage of the Amphitheater Section of Bryce. 
We debated taking a mule ride through the canyon, but opted against it to save money (and we didn't have reservations). The trail was very crowded and the overwhelming amount of Germans made us feel like outsiders. Conveniently, the increased amount of German's was directly proportional to the decreased amount of obese Americans. Funny how that works. 
The views along the 5 hour hike were astounding with the orange-white canyon walls and hoodoos contrasting sharply with the crisp blue sky and deep green pines.
We debated taking a mule ride through the canyon, but opted against it to save money (and we didn't have reservations). The trail was very crowded and the overwhelming amount of Germans made us feel like outsiders. Conveniently, the increased amount of German's was directly proportional to the decreased amount of obese Americans. Funny how that works. 
The views along the 5 hour hike were astounding with the orange-white canyon walls and hoodoos contrasting sharply with the crisp blue sky and deep green pines.
The Wall Street portion of the trail was the most amazing place thus far on the trip. The trail cuts through the base of the canyon walls that tower a few hundred feet above with shear cliffs only a few feet apart. Directly in the middle of the cut, a cluster of pines shoots skyward, sandwiched by the bright orange cliffs. It's tacky and cliche, but words can't do it justice. Then the trail immediately rises from the floor to the top of the Amphitheater with 27 switch-backs along the cliff face, a delightfully tedious section of trial.
It was along these switch-backs where we found a man from Modesto, California who couldn't use his legs but walked a quarter of the way down the Amphitheater wall using his crutches. Liv offered to take his picture since his gloved hands were too awkward to set up the camera. He was more than gracious for her offer, 
then seeing him struggle to climb out of the canyon, I gave him an arm for support and the three of us very slowly made our way up. The rest of the hikers annoyingly looked on as our slow progress blocked the trail, but to hell with them. Getting to the last section of the trail where a railing began, he refused any more help and wanted to finish on his own. I protested, but he insisted and it was empowering watching him climb his way out.
then seeing him struggle to climb out of the canyon, I gave him an arm for support and the three of us very slowly made our way up. The rest of the hikers annoyingly looked on as our slow progress blocked the trail, but to hell with them. Getting to the last section of the trail where a railing began, he refused any more help and wanted to finish on his own. I protested, but he insisted and it was empowering watching him climb his way out.We rested back at the tent for a while before I headed out for a run to Bryce and Inspiration Points. The run was excellent along the rim of the Amphitheater and the 8,300' elevation wasn't as damaging as I had thought.
We ate dinner at Bryce Canyon Lodge (buffet salad bar where I overloaded on food to rationalize the expense) where the host was a Grade-A dip shit. He got a wag of the finger. The sunset was taken in at Inspiration Point and wasn't as inspiring as the map pointed out, then we hiked to the base of Wall Street as it got dark.
Today, was a stellar day. A tip of the hat to Bryce Canyon.
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