Back from the West: Part I

We have returned to "normal" life after having ventured into the realm of sun drenched rocks, steep cliffs, and spectacular views, which was followed by time spent trying not to be ripped off in the haven of habitual hedonism, just in time to make my first post to the Tales of the Bearded Toad. That's me, of course, whom I have now so deemed for lack of cooler nickname. I have long been in want of a good username for things such as this and my webpage. To create this one I, for obvious reasons for those who have seen me in the past couple of years, took from my fiery red beard and from an old name that some used to mock me as a youngster on the cruel playgrounds, horny toad--the horny part coming from the old world spelling of my last name.

The realm to which I refer was Zion National Park and Bryce National Park, which are both in the odd but beautiful state of Utah, one of the four corners states...also the Mormon state. Zion was brutally hot but absolutely amazing in the rock formations carved out over such a nearly incomprehensible period of time. We took a recommended hike up the Angel's Landing trail, which is a winding, switchback riddled 2.5 mile (one-way) paved path up about 1,500 feet from the canyon floor. The path runs along the canyon wall in such a way that anyone who is agoraphobic in the least may get a little woozy when they look down, which was the case with the Self Evolved. She had to grip the wall and not look up or down for a time about half way up. Needless to say, she would not attempt to traverse the narrow ridge guided by a chain to the point of Angel's Landing, so named as it is a heavenly place to take in the beauty of the canyon.

Bryce was far more pleasant than Zion in terms of climate as it was double digits cooler, and it was also dramatic in a much different way. The canyon has a maze of formations called hoodoos that are tall, slender finger-like remnants that make it seem as though you are surrounded by very still, very tall aliens. These provide for very interesting photographs as you can position the camera from different angles creating varying effects. The last picture that I wanted to take, but did not, was of one ridge with a series of bumps and a lone hoodoo that appeared as though the canyon were giving me the finger as I was leaving.