We welcomed summer yesterday in Bryce Canyon, fortunately at 7,700 – 9,100 feet in altitude. They’re having a bit of a heat wave around here, so it was very pleasant at that altitude. It was over 90 degrees when we got back to our hotel, so 70’s and low 80’s at the higher altitudes were wonderful. No more trouble with the ankle, so we’re hopeful that I just overdid it on Sunday. We’ll continue to keep an eye on that over the coming weeks.
We ignored the advice yesterday to take the shuttle and were able to see all of the rest of the park that we hadn’t seen on Sunday. We had no trouble finding parking and we made it all of the way down to the southern end of the park at Rainbow Point (about 18 miles into the park). We worked our way back north, stopping at each of the pull-outs as we went. It was a great way to see the park and it worked well without requiring a real workout of the ankle. Here are some shots as we traveled north from the south end. We especially enjoyed the Natural Bridge and the Fairyland Canyon (which is a younger canyon at the north end of the park just before the exit).
Yes, that’s a lady’s hat in the last picture about 50 feet below the viewpoint at Sunrise Point. Don’t know the story but that area is strictly off limits in a slide area, so there the hat will stay until a wind or rainstorm takes it further down the canyon or it becomes part of the landscape embedded in the eroding soil. Maybe it will form a hoodoo with a hat on it! Could be a first for the park.
These are the pictures from Laura’s favorite part of the park:
It’s time to drive further north to our next hotel and national park today. Off we go!
evertstouring 
Loving the updates and photos. Thanks for sharing your trip!
Thanks for the comment. We are enjoying ourselves immensely. The colors and scale of these places just aren’t fully captured by the pictures unfortunately.