Day 4 (August 10, 2023): Zion to Bryce - From One Paradise to Another

We left Springdale at 8 AM, sad to say goodbye to one of the most moving and beautiful places we’ve ever seen. The drive towards the east entry gate of Zion, proved to be surprisingly different, in terms of its mountains, but equally as impressive as the sites we saw on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive yesterday.

It took two hours to arrive at the Dixie National Forest, which is just west of Bryce Canyon National Park. Dixie is known for its vibrant, red rocks and soil.

From there, we continued on to Bryce Canyon. The ‘piece de resistance’ at Bryce is the Bryce Amphitheatre, as it’s called. It essentially comprises Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, Sunset Point and Sunrise Point. We spent the rest of our morning exploring these gems.

Then we stopped for lunch at the Bryce Canyon Lodge, an historic hotel dating back to the early 20th century. Our timing was great, because the skies opened up while we were there, to incredibly heavy, torrential rain and hail.

After lunch, we drove to the far south point of the park, which is at mile 18. We worked our way back to the Visitor Center from there, visiting eight additional vistas.

While the morning gave us sunny skies, the afternoon left us skirting rain showers. We did fairly well with that, but it wasn’t the bright blue sky that we had had in the morning.

At 3:30 PM, we stopped by the park’s Visitor Center to take in an excellent documentary about the park, and then we left at 4 PM to drive towards Panguitch, where our hotel for the evening is located. We stopped again at Red Rock Canyon in Dixie National Forest on the way.

Dinner was Mexican food at the Cowboy’s Smokehouse in Panguitch, population 1500.

It’ll be another early departure tomorrow, as we head to national park number three on this tour: Capitol Reef National Park.

Our departure route from Zion towards the eastern gateway to the park:

In 1930, a 1.1 mile long tunnel opened up in the east of Zion, which finally opened the park to a lot more transportation options — and a lot more tourists. The tunnel goes through the mountain shown above. There are five openings along the way, such as the ones on above, which let in natural light.

I love this photo, because it shows how tall pine trees in these parts grow on bare rock. It’s a mystery to me how they secure a root system that allows them to grow solidly.

Checkerboard Mesa

Red Rock Canyon in Dixie National Forest:

Bryce Canyon National Park: The world’s largest collection of hoodoos.

The following section depicts the star attraction of the park, called the Bryce Amphitheater. The overall “amphitheater” is in four parts: Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, Sunset Point and Sunrise Point.

Bryce Point: Stop 1 of the Bryce Amphitheater

Inspiration Point: Stop 2 of the Bryce Amphitheater

Sunset Point: Stop 3 of the Bryce Amphitheater

Notice the ant-size hikers down in the canyon.

Sunrise Point: Stop 4 of the Bryce Amphitheater

The following section shows the various vistas outside the Bryce Amphitheater. Bryce is a long narrow park. An 18-mile road runs the length of it. The Bryce Amphitheater is within the first 4 miles of the road. The sights below are all from the section of the road from mile 6 to mile 18. We started at mile 18 and worked our way backwards.

Yovimpa Point: First stop on the ‘Mile 18 to Mile 6’ tour