Bryce Canyon - Day 3 - Fairyland

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8:05 am -  Monday - October 23rd - Bryce Canyon - 36º F, humidity 45%, wind 6 mph out of the north by northeast......looks CALM to me.  Forecast high is 65º F!

Sunday's hike into Fairyland Canyon so far exceeded my expectations that adjectives fail me today.  After our first two days of seeing one amazing 'hoodoos' formation after another I thought Sunday's hike would just be a longer repetition of our first two days, but was I ever wrong.  According to all the literature we read about this trail our hiking distance would be somewhere in the vicinity of 8+miles, and a number of our friends recommended this hike, so we set off to the Fairyland Canyon parking lot about 10:30 am.  The parking lot for this trailhead is not inside the Bryce Canyon gate, but within a few hundred feet of hiking you are notified that you are entering the Bryce Canyon Wilderness.....

.....as we made our way down the Fairyland Trail both TLE and I began to 'oooh' and 'ahhh'....I found myself stopping every 100 feet, or so to take another picture.....

......as I was taking the above picture I saw that there was a pine tree growing in a most unlikely spot....right on top of a 'hoodoo'......

Just one example of the many 'windows' we observed in one 'hoodoo' after another

TLE entitled this 'hoodoo' formation 'The Conversation'

......there were places where you could see the Fairyland trail wending its way amongst the 'hoodoos' a mile, or so in the distance.....the trail condition was magnificent, and the views were incredible!  I came to the point where I was grateful that our hike was going to be over 8 miles.....I did not want it to end......

The Fairyland trail is visible for a mile, or more in the distance

Another pine tree growing in a most unlikely place

.....at the 4 mile mark we came to the 'Tower Bridge'......WOW....just WOW!

 Tower Bridge

 Up close and personal with 'Tower Bridge'

At last we came to the connecting 'Rim Trail', which would take us back to Fairyland Canyon Vista point.....some 2.5 miles distant.  At the time we thought this would be similar to Saturday's 'Rim Trail'.....mostly flat....but that was not to be.  We had to gain some 500' in elevation before we began our final descent to our car at the Fairyland Canyon parking lot, but the views continued to amaze......

.....around 2:20 pm we arrived back at the Fairyland Canyon parking lot where I took one last video......

.....so, once again we averaged just over 21 minute miles for the entire hike gaining 1,735' of elevation over the course of the hike with a total moving time just under 3 hours....that elevation gain was way more than I expected!  The distance came in at exactly 8.2 miles......nice when the mileage markers are accurate, right?  So far all the mileage markers have been quite accurate in contrast to what we experienced in Yellowstone.

We were back at the Newell a little before 3 pm with big smiles on our faces.  Sunday's hike was definitely not a repeat of what we had already seen.  Monday we will embark upon another ambitious hike.....stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

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