Bert Gildart: Writer and Photographer

©Bert Gildart: Saturday night all campgrounds in Bryce Canyon were full, meaning that we had to find a campground outside the park.  Fortunately, Dixie National Forest is contiguous with the park, and it provides a campground that may actually be more scenic than are those in Bryce National Park.

 

Campgrounds in Bryce are engulfed by forest, but Red Canyon Campground in the Dixie Forest offers an incredible backdrop for our Airstream.  As well, the actual sites offer more space.  That means if we want to explore Bryce (which we certainly do) then we must make an eight-mile, ten minute drive to the park entrance; but that’s no big deal.

We’re actually finding we prefer our location, as we like being as far from the madding crowd as possible.  All this is possible with a short drive, followed by hikes which start at the rim overlooking Bryce Canyon and then descend abruptly – leaving virtually every one behind.  (See yesterday’s post of the trail hikers.)

Fall, as we’ve just discovered, is the time when busloads engorged with thousands of tourists descend on the park.  Most saunter along the rim, which takes in some of the park’s best vistas, but certainly not all.  And that’s where the park’s well laid out trails come in.

L TO R: Geology in Bryce spans millions of years, with erosion writing the last chapter.  Views from the rim reinforce the notion that trails below still offer some degree of solitude, something for which parks were originally established.  Fall attracts the multitudes, most of whom saunter along the rim trail.

 

Yesterday, I hiked a trail which departed from Sunset Point and then descended to Queen’s Garden.  Tomorrow, Janie and I will depart from Bryce Point meeting up with a trail known as Peekaboo, a 5.5 mile loop.  From the rim we can see the trail below us, and it is comforting that the park still offers places that are far from the maddening crowds.

Though the park campground has cleared out following a busy weekend, Janie and I both agree that we’ll keep our Airstream parked right where it is.

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AIRSTREAM TRAVELS THIS TIME LAST YEAR:

*Airstream Travels to Montana’s Bear Paw Battlefield

ADS FROM AMAZON AND GOOGLE AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

(You can order our new books (shown below ) from Amazon — or you can order them directly from the Gildarts. Bert will knock a dollar off the list price of $16.95, but he must add the cost of book-rate mailing and the mailer, which are $2.25. The grand total then is $18.20. Please send checks to Bert Gildart at 1676 Riverside Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.)

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 at 7:05 am and is filed under National Lands, Photography, RV Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.