From Bryce to Zion, with a stop at Cedar Breaks

Thursday was another travel day. We left Bryce around noon after a much needed shower and some internet time, heading towards Zion National Park, which Google Maps estimated would take about 2 hours.

However, en route we decided to turn off on UT-14 towards Cedar Breaks National Monument, which we’d seen described in some geologic diagrams as pretty awesome.

It was above 10,000 feet in elevation and very windy that afternoon. Imagine standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, without a railing. We took a 1 mile hike along the rim to another overlook—of course the whole trail was something of an overlook. At some point I felt the need to walk in a crouched position because the trail was eroded and slanting into the canyon.

After that diversion, we got back on the road towards I-15, had lunch in Cedar City, and then headed south to the north entrance of Zion to check out the Kolob Canyon. After a quick driveby, we continued on our way to Zion proper, only to discover most of the hotels in Springdale (just outside the park) were booked. So we turned into the first bed and breakfast we saw had vacancy, a very cute place called Under the Eaves run by a British couple. Highly recommended.

The sun was setting, and we were pretty tired, so we decided to just chill at the B&B, drinking a bottle of wine outside in the surprisingly warm desert air.

The road out of Bryce