Monday, August 20, 2012

Thursday, August 16th: Bryce Canyon, UT or … 17150



Wake up, woman … we are in Bryce! You are supposed to be on the move! There are so many options for my boss – I wonder which one she will choose: a bicycle ride to the south end of the park? (No, Sweet Machine is tired!) A hike across the bottom of the amphitheatre? No, another day! We will walk along the rim to the Fairyland trailhead. Last year we started out on this trail, but returned about a quarter of the way. As soon as we leave the Sunrise viewpoint behind us, there is hardly anyone to be seen on the trail. It’s a silent walk along hoodoo’s 



and bristlecone pine trees.  


The path rolls up and down, giving us a view of the “Chinese Wall”.

 As my woman is walking she suddenly realizes she did leave a message in her room where she was walking to (you never know in case she would not return!) but she had no cell phone with her! (Who cares – there is no reception here anyways – but wait doesn’t 911 works everywhere?) Then she thinks about the whistle and the bear spray (this could be used against anyone in case of an emergency!) still hanging on her handle bar bag … up in the room. She also suddenly notices a man ahead of her – waiting and waiting and waiting. What to do… she thinks! A couple comes up from behind! Let’s hang around them! Now we can easily pass the strange man (he’s is making a phone call…) and head on with our walk. She climbs until she reaches a plateau: grass and flowers – no hoodoos here – and tracks of wildlife in the muddy earth. Time to start singing again since the German couple is somewhat slower than my boss. At a viewpoint my human notices the sign of the quest for healthy living. 

Here my boss waits for the couple and then has a talk with them: they are going to do the whole Fairyland loop. Wow! That’s a hike my boss wants to do  - but not all by herself. Now my boss chooses to return to the more populated places on the rim. She starts out on the trail to the Tower Bridge but suddenly remembers what she wrote on the note in the room and returns again. Time for lunch at Sunrise point general store: a hot dog (yeah - dogs do get hot here!) and a visit to the rest room where some good advice is hanging! 

In the afternoon she hangs out at the Sunset Point – goes down a while on the Navajo Loop. 




Sitting on a bench along the rim is also one of her activities – just absorbing it all or those days in Belgium when the weather is grey again and things do not work out the way we want it to go. Later that evening, as my boss sets out for the sunset, some raindrops sent her back to the room. Listening to Carlos Nakai is also a great way to spent the evening!

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