It has been awhile but today I added a new park, Cedar Breaks the 377th park, to the long list of National Park Service sites I have visited and photographed. This was my third attempt to get here. I forget the reason why the first try did not succeed but the last one was because the park did not open until August (I was here late May when they still had 8 feet of snow on the ground.) Third time charm is how the saying goes. The park is a little over an hour north of Zion at over 10,000 feet. It is a huge 2500 feet deep and 3 mile across “amphitheater.” Jill and I also saw our first Bristlecone Pine, a relatively young one about 1600 years old, less than half the oldest of its kind. This tree started about the time the Romans left Britannia. We enjoyed the view, a hike on the upper Alpine Lake trail and the fact that the rest rooms opened on May 22nd for the season. The drive here from Kanab was really pretty but the drive to the next park, Bryce, was spectacular as we descended into a canyon from 11,000 feet about 2 miles out of the park, to 5100 feet in less than 10 miles. Steep 18% grade in places, winding, windy and raining. A great combo. Also made more interesting because I made a wrong turn and we missed the short way to Bryce and added 45 minutes to our trip.. Oops. If only someone told me (Jill did!) but off I went anyway.

We did finally arrive at Bryce with the residual crowds from Memorial Day Weekend lessoned but many people were still here. We did find a parking space, there were several by 1:30 when we got here. We hiked along the rim trail and then did 1/2 mile of the under the rim trail. Just enough to get a feel for the size and colors of the Hoodoos. We took a long way back to the car, my day for misdirection and headed toward Torrey, Utah. We settled in at a sort of okay hotel and had a good but very overpriced meal at a nearby Mexican restaurant. Tomorrow we will start the day with a visit to Capital Reef National Park Stay tuned for the PIE.

NUMBER 377, a new park! /May 28, 2026 by Dave Hileman