Bryce Canyon National Park

The weather at Zion has set in for the next few days, so we decided to abandon our Canyoneering ambitions and get on the road to our next stop, Bryce Canyon. Getting out of Zion National Park was pretty hairy - there's a really narrow tunnel that the rangers have to shut down especially for anyone in a large vehicle (us), fortunately there wasn't much traffic so we didn't annoy too many people. The drive to Bryce Canyon National Park took about three hours in a nasty snowstorm but we eventually got there and, after almost getting stuck in snow at one campsite, we found an RV park called 'Ruby's' which had a hot-tub and pool, and really good steaks.

I read in one of our books that all of the National Parks in this part of the States are 'Mountain Lion' country, but hadn't thought much of it, and assumed that this was just americans making their wildcats sound hard, much like a 'wolverine' is basically an otter, and 'prairie-dogs' are squirrels. Anyway, in the entrance to Ruby's they have a couple of stuffed mountain lions, and it turns out that they actually really are full-sized, proper lions. Apparently they're pretty rare and attacks on people are even rarer, but even so I'm glad we're staying in an RV rather than a tent. There are also rattlesnakes, scorpions, jaguar and bear - it's strange to be in a westernised country with so much stuff that can eat you. No wonder everyone has guns here.

Anyway, this morning we went for a walk around Bryce Canyon, and it is stunning. The rock formations are bizarre - the indiginous people apparently believed that they are the petrified remains of an elder civilisation that were turned to stone for being bad, and you can definitely see faces and figures in the rocks.

After lunch, we set out on towards the Escalante Canyons, about fifty miles east of Bryce. We really had a feeling of being on an American road-trip, with the tarmac stretching out in front of you all the way to the horizon. Escalante is at a lower altitude than Bryce so it's warmer, although being in the desert it's still very cold at night. We've found a really nice little campsite in the canyons, and hopefully should get some exploring done tomorrow.