In 2017, as part of our quest to visit the many US National Parks, my wife and I embarked on 3 weeks in Utah to visit the "Mighty Five", Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches. For me the highlight was Bryce. There is no other place in the world with the vast expanse of towering sandstone hoodoos that you see there. I find the vista to be visually mesmerizing.

Bryce Canyon runs for miles along an escarpment facing east in the regional plateau. The distance along the road from the Visitor's Center to the south end of the park is 17 miles, or 27 km. There are lots of overlooks and trails which allow for plenty of views over and among the fields of hoodoo formations. It was named for Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer rancher who settled here in the late 1800's. He reportedly described his canyon as a "hell of a place to lose a cow".

There is a lot to see here, and we stayed for 3 days. Our room was in the park lodge within walking distance of the canyon rim so that we would not lose time getting to the locations that we wanted to visit. For the previous 3 days in Zion, there had been no clouds in the sky at all. That had been a disappointment, and I did not have high expectations the first morning at Bryce when I got up before sunrise.

I was quite pleasantly surprised when I could see clouds as I looked out over the canyon, but the sun had a clear patch to shine through. The colorful scene has ever since been one of my favorite photos.