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This week I am going to finish my report on Glacier Trip 2005 with details and photos from Day 8, the ride through Bryce Canyon and back to Phoenix. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for allowing me to share this trip with you through the newsletter. We are humbled by your kind comments both via email and in person when we see you at events. Mrs. C. and I feel blessed to be able to safely complete these trips and then share the pictures, stories and anecdotes with all of you, fellow motorcycle enthusiasts. We hope to encourage you to get out and enjoy some of these same experiences for yourself.

Day 8 took us from Richfield, Utah through Bryce Canyon National Park as part of our 585 mile ride back to Phoenix. Our travel to Bryce took us through a small town by the name of Panguitch, UT, located on Hwy. 89 that impressed us similar to that of Paris, Idaho. Panguitch was founded in 1864 by a group of 54 pioneer families. It was abandoned in 1866 due to a conflict with Indians and then resettled in 1870 by Brigham Young. As you can see by the link above, Panguitch has a lot of history and a lot of the old buildings are still standing in the small town which were begging to be photographed. The old Courthouse from 1903 is still intact, an old log cabin from the late 1800's, as well as most of the downtown area and several old houses as you meander throughout the city.

Seven miles South of Panguitch is Hwy. 12, a Utah Scenic Byway that takes you to Bryce Canyon National park as well as Bryce Canyon Country. This All-American Road takes you through 2 National Parks, 3 State Parks, America's largest National Monument and one red rock arch. Bryce was one stop that I had been looking forward to the entire trip. I had seen pictures, heard lots of good things about the park and was looking for this visit to be the grand finish to a great ride. Bryce Canyon delivered all of my expectations and more.

Your first view of Bryce Canyon National Park once you enter the park is of rows of pine trees that line the road. But these are only here to veil the grandeur of the canyon until you reach the rim where the beauty of Bryce comes alive. In fact, Bryce is not really a canyon at all, it is a series of horseshoe shaped amphitheaters carved along the Paunsaugunt Plateau that you can enjoy from 13 viewing points along the way. It is almost hard to explain the 3D visual landscape that Bryce has to offer. After seeing Bryce in person, photos don't really do it justice. The best way for me to explain it is that it looks like someone took the top off of a cave, like Kartchner Caverns, allowing you to stand on a ledge and look at all of the stalagmites from above.

The different formations that the wind, water, freezing and thawing have formed over the years are endless and the rich red, green and tan colors are vivid and alive. As the sun peeks from behind a cloud it can light up the valley in a dramatically colorful way that will mesmerize you. You can let your imagination run wild as you look at the hoodoos and start to visualize faces in the rocks, see spires and what looks like the tops of castles in the rocks as you look across millions of years of erosion. Look at the left side of this photo, you can see 3 rock formations that look like faces of man or beast. Or possibly resemble exotic chess pieces. That is what I saw through my eyes, I'm sure you will come up with a few of your own as you make your way through the park.

Bryce Canyon National Park is seen from one 18 mile road that will take you to an elevation of over 9100 feet at Rainbow Point where you will turn around to experience the view from the opposite direction. It is a 36 mile round trip that will take you past 13 viewpoints, including the most famous stops of Rainbow, Natural Bridge, Inspiration, Agua Canyon and Bryce Points. Be prepared to spend about 3-4 hours in the park to really digest all that Bryce has to offer. You can also plan a relaxing lunch at the Bryce Canyon Lodge inside the park. Click Here for a map of the park. On your way out of the park you can go East about 12 miles to Bryce Valley and the town of Tropic where Ebenezer Bryce lived.

We finally pulled ourselves away from Bryce at about 1:30pm for our 8 hour ride back to the valley. With our sense of vision maxed out by the brilliant colors and images, it gave us something to reflect on the way home. The ride back down Hwy. 89 through Kanab is really very nice. In fact, just North of Kanab they have a sign that really sums it all up. It says: "The Greatest Earth On Show - Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell". An appropriate statement for this area. Click Here to view the sign. We arrived home at about 9:15pm after a 585 mile, 13 hour day to stop for a milkshake at 5 and Diner to reminisce our day.

In my opinion, Glacier Trip 2005 was a 5 star trip. If you are looking for a Summer trip for yourselves in 2006 I would highly recommend all or any part of this route. Shipping the bike to Seattle to start the trip is a great way to go if you are limited on time. Hog Haulers, Inc. did a great job. This was 2800 miles of beautiful and exciting riding. I would go back and do the exact same route again tomorrow. I will be compiling all of the trip reports into one page complete with maps for you to review in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for riding along. I would highly recommend you view the pictures from this day. I think they are some of the best of the trip. Click Here for pictures from Day 8 and Bryce Canyon National Park. I will back in the next couple of weeks with a report on our "Four Canyon Ride".

Click Here For Photos of Day 8

Here are some useful links:
Bryce Canyon National Park - http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/bryce.htm
Bryce Canyon National Park Virtual Tour - http://www.nps.gov/brca/virtual_tour.html
Regional Map of the Area - http://www.nps.gov/brca/regional.html