We had a long weekend in August and decided to use the opportunity to visit the North Rim and Bryce Canyon. Steve ran to the North Rim Thursday morning (in 4:20 - whoa!) and Norah and I drove to the North Rim after school (driving very carefully after dark because there were so.many.deer). We were lucky that on our way out of the park we spotted a rainbow and stopped at Yaki Point for fabulous views of the rainbow in the Grand Canyon. At the North Rim we stayed in a cabin for the night then were off the next morning to Bryce Canyon, stopping of course at Jacob Lake Inn for a few cookies. We arrived at Bryce around noon and easily got a campsite at Sunset Campground - we were actually surprised at how empty the campground was for a weekend - there were empty spots each night. Sunset Campground had nice campsites and we loved the convenience of being a ten minute walk from the rim.

After a bite to eat Steve and I set out on a "just a little walk", which naturally turned into an eight mile hike. I'm glad we did though because the clouds and lighting were terrific and it was an awesome afternoon. We walked along the rim trail to Bryce Point and decided to return through the canyon via the Peekaboo and Navajo trails. By the time we descended below the rim it was later in the day and there were very few people - again we were surprised at how a national park in summer wasn't very busy, but weren't complaining about it - it was nice to find some quiet among the hoodoos. We ate dinner at camp and walked back over to the rim for sunset, which was a dud due to the clouds. The clouds cleared up by morning however and sunrise was beautiful the next day.

On Saturday morning Steve was up early to go on a 15 mile run and I was up early for sunrise along the rim. There were a lot more people out for sunrise than I had expected and I avoided the main overlooks where a lot of people were clustered. It would have been nice to have some clouds, but the clear skies didn't diminish the ethereal glow of the hoodoos in the first light of day. Once we were all back at camp we took a drive over to Tropic to eat at the BBQ place. When we returned to Bryce Canyon in the afternoon the skies had clouded over. We were lucky to miss any rain as we set out to hike the Queen's Garden and Navajo loop (3 miles). We had a leisurely late afternoon and evening at camp (rain and clouds thwarted sunset again).

We had one last morning at Bryce before heading home and Steve and I were both up early again. This time I walked down the Navajo Trail a little ways so I could photograph Thor's Hammer in the early morning light. It was another beautiful morning and a nice end to our weekend at Bryce.