More Bryce!

Yesterday (6/28) I started the day by doing 5 loads of laundry.  Was going to work on the blog while I waited, but for some reason the wi-fi was even worse in the laundromat, which is right next to the campground office.  So, I got to read my book some.  When I got back to the camper, the boys were all watching World Cup (exciting Brazil/Chile game).  The game went to extra time and then penalty kicks, so we got a little later start to our day than we meant to.

Chuck wanted to do a hike in Red Canyon, where he had been mountain biking.  It's about a 15 min. drive from us, in the Dixie National Forest.  Why is there a Dixie National Forest in Utah?  We stopped in at the Red Canyon Visitor Center and Chuck talked to the guy working there about the trails.  He was a little annoyed that the guy hadn't hiked the trails there, so he wasn't sure how it would be.

The trail was much more narrow and rocky than the ones in Bryce NP, but we didn't see a single other person the entire time, which Chuck liked.  I stayed busy looking out for rattlesnakes and mountain lions.  I figure if there's no one out there making a racket, they may not know we're coming. ;-)  The trail was marked in spots with cairns (yes, I just looked up piles of rocks marking trails so I could appear smart), and Zack kicked over the first one he saw.  Then we had to explain what it was doing there and why it was important.  Later on the trail went in a dry riverbed and there were 2 cairns there which led us to where the trail came out.  At least that's what I thought.  The boys said they didn't even see those 2 piles of rocks in the middle of a riverbed - they just kept walking until they saw the trail.  It was a nice little hour hike, but I preferred the one in the park.

Similar, but less spectacular views

Zack unintentionally recreating the iconic Bigfoot pose

After some rest, we played a little soccer on the lawn.  I think the boys beat me & Chuck.  Not unusual these days.  Then they rode their bikes to get ice cream.  After dinner, we went to try and see a sunset in the park.  All the viewpoints would make great sunrise spots, but we are not morning people, so that hasn't happened yet.  I read on the NPS website the 2 best spots to see the sunset, so we picked one and went to it.  There were some incredible (I really need to get a thesaurus for here) hoodoo formations, but we could tell the sun was going to just drop behind a hill before we saw it set.  So, we moved on to the other one.   That was even more spectacular than the last.  We had to climb pretty high to the top of the viewpoint, so there were no trees or hills blocking the sunset.  The sunset itself wasn't anything special, but the colors in the sky across the canyon were really pretty.

What are they looking at?

Oh, just that.

Those were the actual real colors in the sky.

At 10:30, the boys and I went back to the Astronomy Festival and left Chuck behind.  The lines were shorter and we got to see some cool some things we didn't see the night before.  We left about midnight.  Zack is really getting into astronomy.  I enjoyed it, too. I think Ben did as well, but he just likes it in shorter stretches.  

This morning (6/29) was more World Cup watching and laziness.  It's a little hotter today.  We're planning on doing the scenic drive through the park to see all the viewpoints we haven't yet and maybe do another short hike.  

Tomorrow we will hit the road for Salt Lake City!