Bryce Canyon part 1 of 2

     I had to break this into two parts because of the magnitude and breadth of beauty here.
We stayed at the Hitch-N-Post RV campground about 20 miles outside Bryce. The person running the campground turns out to be a rockhound. We asked because the campground has piles of agates and other lovely stones just laying around. There is a state park named Escalante Petrified Wood state park - don't go. It would be a beautiful place to camp since it has the reservoir with fish and ducks but it does not really have much petrified wood and what it has is not that outstanding - again, it would be a fine place to camp.
     The first day we decided to go to the most outer part of Bryce which is Mossy Cave. This is not really a cave but a deep overhang and has a thin trickle of water running from it. What is impressive is not so much the cave but the "Tropic Ditch". The ditch is diverted water that has run here for more than a century.
This is the ditch, still running well after all these years.

 This is the cave with a small trickle coming out. This is one of the steepest climbs we have done - short but very steep.

 Below is a wild blueberry bush blooming. These look a bit different than the ones back east but are obviously blueberries and very lovely.

Couple more near the Mossy Cave,

     Since we were on that end of the park, we decided to see a historic place called Hole in the Rock. If you are a history person, you are laughing because you know were this is. We did not know. Hole in the Rock is exactly that, a hole in rock structure that in 1879 on the Mormon San Juan Expedition, they came into Glen Canyon and the only way to get through it to the then river now Lake Powell was through a very narrow, steep passage through the rock. Here is the quote from Wikipedia:
"On January 26, 1880 the expedition (250 people, 83 full-sized wagons, and over 1000 head of livestock) began their descent to the river. Wagons were heavily roped, and teams of men and oxen used to lower them through the upper crevice, which has slopes approaching 45°. Further down, a wooden track had been constructed along a slickrock sandstone slope. Posts in drilled holes supported horizontal beams to allow passage of the wagons."
Here is the narrow passage:

The picture hardly does it justice. It is excessively steep and narrow. Now here is the part the history folks are chuckling about. Take a look at the sign,

Okay, I'm sure like us many of you still are not getting this. It is 54 miles - so what. Yeah well, it starts off pretty easy - for maybe just a few miles. Then it is the roughest washboard road you can imagine. It is 4WD passable but it is rough!  Here is a view from the top of the rocks to Lake Powell - unless you really like off roading, this is not one to do. Glad we did but wow not again please!

There are odd rock formations like this one Buddy called the Butt so of course he had to hop on in there!

This entire rock structure is just very interesting and I am sure has been used for various things over the years. It is free to go here by the way.

     On the way there is a memorial for these Scouts who lost their lives on this road...yes, it is that bad - still. I don't know why Utah does not pave their roads or at least widen and straighten them. Always sad to see something like this.

     If you have been brave enough to make it this far, you will be treated to seeing lovely flowers and wonderful views.

In the picture with the pink flowers, the ground really is that color - no enhancing, the ground is sandy pink.
     If you don't mind washboard roads with many cattleguards then by all means don't miss this adventure. It was really great. It has a look all its own and a place where people were braver than I would have been - the steep drop is amazing and with stagecoaches - those were some brave ladies!
I leave you with the picture we took coming back from the Hole in the Rock Utah.