Bryce Canyon National Park

The second stop on our Road Scholar tour last September was Bryce Canyon National Park.  (It's worth noting that Bryce Canyon is not a canyon, whereas the west half of Zion National Park is a canyon, carved by the Virgin River.)  

Bryce is a series of vast amphitheaters filled with fins and hoodoos caused by the erosion of the east side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau in southwestern Utah.

You can see an amphitheater in the photo at the top of this post.  And you can read more about hoodoo formation in Bryce by clicking here. 

The fins and hoodoos are enormous and majestic:

And when the light is right -- in the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset -- the natural drama of the hoodoos and fins is enhanced by the reflection of sunlight off of one formation onto another.  The reflection creates a "glow" on the rocks facing away from the sun, and it's beautiful.  Here are some examples, made in the late afternoon from a location called "Sunset Point":

And as the sun descended, the glow faded, leaving only the tops of a few hoodoos illuminated:

The next morning, we rose early to catch the sunrise.  We were rewarded with a sky filled with clouds . . . a rare and, for photographers, happy occurrence.

Indeed, on this day the sky was the show instead of the hoodoos:

And there were dozens of people there to see it.  This is "Sunrise Point" at dawn:

Wisely, one of our number took the opportunity to stop shooting, sit down, and simply enjoy the peaceful view:

If you would like to see these images (and more) in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!