Saturday, October 25, 2014

Tropic Trail: The Back Door to Bryce Canyon

 

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Since we were so close to Bryce Canyon we decided to spend another night at Kodachrome to take a hike in the national park. Mark and Bobbie inquired at the coffee shop in Tropic and found if you head west on Bryce Way (right in town), at the end of the road is the trailhead for the Tropic Trail, which enters on the eastern border of the park. Interesting that there is no sign and no entrance fee. It almost felt like we were sneaking in the back door.

The trail is a gradual climb of 600’ through the Bryce Wilderness (we finally came to a sign), and along the way we were getting glimpses above the trees of what was to come. We were all alone on the trail except for large amounts of horse poop.

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After 1.8 miles we came to the junction of the 3 mile Peek-A-Boo trail and decided to go right. It really wouldn’t make any difference which way you do the loop, as we soon encountered others going both directions, and it was ups and downs the entire way.

Now this is what we came to see. Although we had all been here before, the scenery was just as fascinating as the first time.

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It took us about 4 hours to do this hike since we stopped frequently for photo-ops, and once for lunch.

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Even the outhouse was scenic.

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A short geology lesson.

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Besides windows, we thought we saw the shapes of faces, animals, chess pieces, ancient buildings, gnomes, lamp finials, and even electric toothbrushes in the rock formations. Maybe all this hiking is affecting our brains.

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Or is all this fresh air just stimulating our imaginations? Doesn’t matter, it was another fine day on the trail.

13 comments:

  1. What a delicious looking hike!

    I expect Mark will use the outhouse photo as his new blog header?

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    1. Kimbopolo,
      Jim has become an incorrigible prankster lately. We'd like to give him away but no one will take him…
      I wouldn't be surprised if he has another photo of me in the outhouse with my pants down…
      I guess we'll see.
      mark

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  2. Your pictures are just stunning. We loved Bryce, what an incredible natural wonder. So glad to see it again. Love that you snuck in the back door! Pays to know the area clearly.

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  3. I have no words....only an ache in the pit of my stomach for seeing what I missed!

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  4. I like the idea of getting into the park a different way. I'll have to remember this when we return. So glad you had that beautiful sky. Sure brightens the colors doesn't it:)

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  5. Didn't know you could access the park from Tropic, we'll grab that one next time we come through!

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  6. I think Bryce is the best from down below. Although the classic view is spectacular, it's just so cool to be down amongst all those hoodoos, looking up at that gorgeous sky. And I love finding the back doors of the national parks, like the other sides of Zion and Yosemite. Thanks for directing us to the back door of Bryce.

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  7. Gorgeous photos - the windows are awesome!

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  8. So, so glad you posted this...This area is so on our bucket list and I'll have to add this hike - looks like one we could do and the scenery is just amazing. Thank you!

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  9. Wonderful photos! Definitely will add this to our "must see" list.

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  10. You can't beat Bryce for colorful formations. That looks like a fantastic hike.

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  11. Bryce is my favorite park. We volunteered there in 2005 and fell in love. The picture of you cats on the blog reminds me of our two, who were still part of our life the. Partner, our black and white cat, loved chasing chipmunks there.

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