January 18, 2021

Bryce Canyon National Park - and the Bristlecone Pine Adventure (National Parks Trip #2)

This post represents another installment in the series detailing the second of our three cross-country National Parks camping trips with travel trailer in tow.  At the time of this trip in 2010, our son, Ryan, was 16 and our daughter, Kyra, was 11.

It was during our first National Parks trip in 2007 that our family initially ventured off the path of camping in private RV parks by spending a few nights at the Madison Campground inside Yellowstone National Park.  Waking up in such a gorgeous and serene location immediately changed our perspective on camping, and a love affair with State and National Park campgrounds was born.

Madison Campground ~ Yellowstone National Park

On this, our second National Parks trip with the kids, we left our campsite in Zion National Park’s Watchman Campground and continued our journey toward the North Campground in Bryce Canyon National Park.  Along the way, we made a brief stop at Cedar Breaks National Monument.  Sadly, we cut our visit short due to parental concerns for our kids’ safety – a result of a sketchy-looking character hanging around at one of the viewpoints.  We'd welcome a return trip to Cedar Breaks when we're in a better frame of mind.  North Campground (not to be confused with the North Rim Campground at Grand Canyon National Park) did not disappoint.  The campground is located across and just a short way down the road from the Park’s Visitor Center.  It has 99 sites which are available on a first come, first served basis.  (At the time of our trip in 2010, reservable sites were available – you all know that I’m too particular about my campsites and too much of a chicken to take a chance on first come, first served.)  There are no hookups, but a dump station is operational during the summer months (a small fee is charged) and potable water is available.  Our campsite was large and wooded, and staying inside the Park allowed easy access to its highlights and trails.

North Campground ~ Bryce Canyon National Park

With geological features so unlike the mountains of the northeast, Bryce Canyon was a National Park we had been itching to explore.  Photographs of intriguing and colorful hoodoos had aroused our curiosity and we were eager to hit the trails.  After poring over the Park maps, we decided that combining the Navajo Trail with the Queen’s Garden Trail would not only give us great views of the Canyon, but would also allow us to get down into it to investigate nature’s grand designs in depth - no pun intended.

A sailing ship on the sea of geological history

Allow me to digress for just a moment.  Since my birthday is in July and I’m the family vacation planner, I can usually manage to schedule some type of glorious adventure as a way to celebrate my birthday.  Having a November birthday, Alan is not so fortunate; however, he has the advantage of celebrating both his birthday and Thanksgiving together on some years, and that’s pretty special, too.  Borrowing one of my sister-in-law’s favorite expressions, “it was quite delightful” to spend my birthday exploring Bryce Canyon National Park.  It was a beautiful weather day, too – the icing on the proverbial (and birthday) cake.

A few of the many intriguing features of Bryce Canyon

It doesn’t take much to make our family happy, and we spent our time at Bryce Canyon visiting all the viewpoints, taking advantage of the trails and relaxing in the solitude of the campground.  I would love to see the Canyon with a dusting of snow – I imagine it would be a magnificent scene and a memorable experience.  I appreciate the fact that each National Park has its own attributes and personality accompanied by a wide variety of outdoor activities and opportunities for sightseeing.  At Bryce, it was all about the colorful rock formations that fill the vast Canyon and the ever changing views as we hiked or traveled in the Park.

I'd love to gaze out over Bryce Canyon after the Snow Fairies have worked their magic.

Having done my research (of course!), I told Alan, Ryan and Kyra that our plans included hiking the Bristlecone Loop so that we could see what was believed to be the oldest Bristlecone Pine tree in the Park.  The Bristlecone Pines in Bryce Canyon National Park are estimated to be up to 1,800 years old.  There is more than one kind of Bristlecone Pine, and all of the different types have exceptionally long life spans.  One tree, in the White Mountains of California, is allegedly estimated to be more than 5,000 years old.  That just boggles my mind!  Naturally, I was talking up this adventure and the incredibly magnificent tree we’d be seeing on our hike - because I was thinking about the pine trees on our property that tower hundreds of feet into the sky and are nowhere near 1,800 years old.

Well, as it turns out, had I been thinking instead about the location of Bryce Canyon and this Bristlecone Pine tree, I would have realized that the challenges to plant life on an exposed ridge at an elevation of over 9,000 feet were much greater than for our pine trees at a much lower elevation and in a more protected location.  As embarrassed as I am to admit this, when we first gazed at the oldest Bristlecone Pine tree in Bryce Canyon National Park, I couldn’t help but think, “This is it?”  It was, indeed, a stately old tree but, honestly, it didn’t even look like it was still alive to those of us used to greener and more vibrant plant life.

Oh.

All three family members turned to me, asking if that tree was really what we hiked out to see.  Although we were treated to a spectacular view of the Grand Escalante Staircase and we all enjoyed the hike, my family has never let me live down the dubious adventure of locating the oldest Bristlecone Pine in Bryce Canyon.

A magnificent view from the Bristlecone Loop

Bryce Canyon was one of the National Parks near the top of our bucket list, and for good reason.  It offers stunning vistas, extraordinary hiking opportunities and, for our family, the chance to get up close and personal to an impressive and almost unimaginable landscape.  I’d return to Bryce Canyon in a heartbeat, and I do believe that everyone in the family would happily tag along, too - if only for another opportunity to recount the Bristlecone Pine Adventure.

 

14 comments:

  1. Ah, yes; I remember it well. Aren't we fortunate to have these memories and photos tucked away for the time when our bodies outlive their intended shelf life? (Ours seem to be getting there.) We'll be glad when our overhauls are complete, so we can get back out there until (hopefully) we will know when to quit. Always a good read, Mary.

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    1. Reliving our travel adventures is such a heartwarming pleasure; we do it often and in as many ways as possible. In addition to documenting our travels in the blog, I've created a couple of DVDs of photos set to music, decorated our travel trailer with WPA style National Parks prints and tacked a National Parks calendar to the bulletin board in the kitchen at home every year for as long as I can remember. At some point, Alan and I know we won't want to or won't be able to travel extensively any longer. Like you and Sandy, we're delighted that we've collected so many happy memories and precious photos of gorgeous places. By the way, it was a joyful moment when I saw your comment; I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss you!

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  2. I love Bryce Canyon. It's such a perplexing sight to see. I hear ya on the Bristlecone. For those of us from the eastern half of the U.S., we're accustomed to lush dense foliage. I'm in the process of stepping back in time and writing a post about my daughter's fascination with the forests in northern Michigan ... lush, green and dense.

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    1. It's so interesting that you'd mention your daughter, Ingrid. Just this past week, our daughter Kyra started drawing a map of the U.S. to make a memory board with sketches of her favorite National Parks. (The list is long.) It makes my heart happy to see our kids enjoying and appreciating the great outdoors, our memorable travel experiences and the incredibly magnificent places they've visited.

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  3. I love the stories and the photos Mary you take me along on so many adventures!

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    1. We are ALWAYS happy to have you along for the ride!!!

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  4. I love Bryce and Zion and hope to return soon. That's a funny story about the Bristlecone tree! I had a similar reaction when I first visited Joshua Tree National Park. Although I was familiar with the shape of the trees, seeing a bunch of them scattered over the desert just didn't pack the same punch as, say, a large stand of old growth redwoods. Then, I learned to appreciate them for their own beauty. The architectural limbs of the bristlecone are actually quite lovely... you did good to bring your family there to observe its ancient majesty.

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    1. It's all about perspective, isn't it? I grew up in an area with plenty of water resources - small streams, large rivers, lakes, reservoirs and some really excellent fly fishing creeks. I can count on one hand, probably, the number of times we've had drought conditions since I was a kid. On this trip, we were passing through a small town in Utah and I'm guessing it was shortly after a rainstorm. As we traveled along the main road through town, we came upon a number of little tykes in their bathing suits, splashing around in the flowing water of a small drainage ditch. They were being supervised by maybe a half dozen adults, old and young, who were sitting around the ditch in lawn chairs and chatting. That scene felt almost surreal to me, but it's probably a commonplace event in the dessert southwest. That's one of the reasons I love traveling - it's educational on so many levels.

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    2. I laughed out loud at the tree story, Mary! Great post, as always!

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    3. I'll bet you laughed because you could imagine EXACTLY the kind of looks I got from the other three members of the family and the sarcastic comments that followed! Happy to hear you enjoyed the post, Peg!

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  5. Hi Mary. I don't know if you know this, but I LOVE trees. My favorites at this time of life are the Live Oak trees here in Florida. But I haven't seen any I don't love. I'm wondering about that tree you all hiked so far to see. I guess I "might" have been a bit disappointed, but I still love it. And that view would have sealed the deal for me. I hope that someday Tom and I could do some of that traveling you have done. Even if it's just for the trees! Brings to mind a poem I have always adored...Trees by Joyce Kilmer..."I think that I shall never see. A poem lovely as a tree..." Love ya.

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    1. Well, I knew that you loved owls and puppies (and Tom!), but I didn't know you were a huge fan of trees, too! I can still recall the first palm tree I ever saw (South Carolina, circa late 70's) and I'm always guilty of stopping on the walk back to the house from the boat garage to look up at the tall pines on and around our property. It wasn't until we started traveling that I realized the tremendous variety of trees that can be found throughout our grand and glorious country.

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  6. Bryce Canyon, and nearby neighbor, Zion National Park, are such stunning examples of nature's beauty. We stayed at a private campground just a few miles from the entrance to Zion which made for beautiful views at all times of the day and a 10 minute drive to the entrance.

    The southern part of Utah has some of the most gorgeous, easily accessible natural wonders of any place in the country. And, less than five hours away is the Grand Canyon on the Utah-Arizona border.

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    1. Bob, I agree that southern Utah is blessed with an abundance of absolutely spectacular places - the Mighty Five National Parks, two National Monuments, a National Recreation Area and a handful of beautiful State Parks. And those are just the protected public lands. The region offers so much to see and do that I'd love to visit again but for an extended period of time. It sounds like you and Betty had one of the best seats in the house.

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