What goes down must come up
“You can’t blame gravity for falling in love.”
We decided that today will be quad day.
We awoke to a brisk 48 degrees in Bryce Canyon this morning. Today, our plan was to hike two trails - starting with the Queen’s Garden Trail dovetailing into the Navajo Loop. Our hikes on our journey thus far have begun with a climb. But hiking a canyon meant that we began with a descent. Ahh, the easy part first.
We started at Sunrise Point at an elevation of 8118 feet, ultimately descending 693 feet over a course of 5.1 miles.
Before descending, I was able to capture one Blue Hour shot of the smoky / hazy horizon.
As the sun came over the eastern horizon, I was able to swing around, leverage the Golden Hour sun and capture some shots of the canyon walls and the depths into which we were about to descend.
Yep, we’re headed down there …
A haze hung over us, which provided a nice filtered light for the formations below.
Swinging around one last time, to capture the rising sun …
And then it was time to begin our descent …
One quick portrait while Lisa is still smiling …
The hoodoos rose around us …
The day before we drove along the canyon rim, but the harsh midday light was not friendly to photography. But at this time of the morning, it was hard to pass up these shots …
We reached our first arch, which Lisa passed first …
And I found provided a nice frame for the canyon wall …
We continued our descent …
… with Lisa constantly slowing us down due to her obsession with taking photographs.
The light continually changing as we entered the depths of the canyon …
For a moment, I passed Lisa to capture her coming down …
… and through another arch …
Another Kodak moment …
… a view through another arch …
… and a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.
We found a bit of shade on the trail …
As we reached the bottom of the trail, Lisa decided it was time to play hide-and-seek …
We had to squeeze through a few slots in the canyon walls …
The point at which LIsa realized we still had a long way to go to reach the rim of the canyon …
We paused after these switchbacks …
Up and up we went …
Lisa gladly honored my request for another portrait - since both she and I needed a rest!
As we approached the summit, we looked back over our shoulder with a sense of accomplishment …
… and I captured a couple of more shots from this higher elevation …
Reaching the canyon rim, Lisa declares victory!
As we prepare to travel to Zion National Park, we leave Bryce Canyon in our shadows …
