Tag 248: Bryce Canyon National Park

I am wide awake. Woken up by the relentless cold. I fight my way out of my sleeping bag and reach for my phone, trembling. 4:17 AM. I don't want to anymore. I can't anymore. All I know is: I want to get out of here and I want to turn on the heater. In a bad mood and unwilling to discuss, I convince Sabrina to leave. Where to? I don't care. It's 2°C. We turn on the heater and drive through the darkness to Bryce Canyon National Park. The booths are not manned yet, the visitor center is still closed. We position ourselves in the large parking lot and wait. After an hour, it slowly gets a little brighter. The first cars drive past us. We realize that now we have the opportunity to experience a beautiful sunrise. There must be a lookout point somewhere here. Completely exhausted, in a bad mood, and still freezing, we drive deeper into the national park. We follow a sign that says 'Sunrise'. It's dark and we have no idea where we're going. We find ourselves in a small parking lot that is already quite crowded. There is snow on the toilet buildings. We grab our camera, blanket, and walk through the dark forest towards the blue-yellow horizon. Past the last fir trees, a gigantic valley opens up in front of us. Orange rock formations rise like columns between the green firs. We find a suitable spot and watch the sun slowly rise behind a mountain range. The whole valley is bathed in a dark blue. Then purple, then orange. We enjoy the unique play of colors until the sun is fully visible and the valley is brightly illuminated. Bryce Canyon National Park consists of a long road with many breathtaking viewpoints of different canyons and valleys. If you are a well-trained hiker with a lot of time, endurance, and motivation, you can hike through the canyons here. Since we are not, and it is still unbelievably cold, we only drive to the viewpoints. After two hours, we leave the park again and head to Grand Canyon National Park. We cross the state border to lower Arizona, the landscape changes, and it gets warmer again. The sun shines into our car, I look out the window and only see endless expanse, desert framed by high mountain ranges. We come to a huge bridge and realize that this endless expanse hides a secret that is not immediately recognizable. The Colorado River snakes through this desert landscape in a deep gorge. We continue driving. Small Native American souvenir stands pass us by along the roadside. Around 5 PM, we reach Kaibab National Forest, just outside the gates of Grand Canyon National Park. This is where we will camp for the night. And we are not the only ones. We park our car next to a big tree and set up our tent. The weather looks good, it's pleasantly warm. We hope for a peaceful night.