It was still dark outside as I approached Bryce Canyon National Park. I had left Hurricane, UT incredibly early in the morning so that I could get to the park before sunrise. I was carefully watching the clouds, as it appeared the sun was going to be blocked, and indeed it was at sunrise!

Although it was the middle of summer, Bryce is at a higher elevation, above 8,000 feet, and it was a brisk 52° that morning! I had not really packed for cooler weather, although I did have a light jacket with me. In spite of that, I was wearing shorts and flip flops, so it was a bit chilly!

The clouds did block the sun initially, but as I found out later on, I don’t think the sunlight would have hit many of the hoodoos early on. Even after it peaked the clouds, I had to wait several more minutes before it really started to light up the whole amphitheater.

Bryce is a magical place, and seems like another planet! How do these crazy rock formations even happen?! The hoodoos are formed by a couple of environmental factors. One is a process known as frost wedging. This area has over 200 freezing/thawing cycles each year. Snow melts, resulting in water seeping into the cracks, and then re-freezing overnight. As we all know (or should know if we paid attention in science class), water expands when it freezes. This slowly erodes the sedimentary rock, forming holes, and later these individual spires.

Rain also plays a role in the hoodoo formation. Its slightly acidic nature slowly dissolves the limestone. Different mineral deposits in the layers of the rock result in the different colors, appearing as stripes, as well as the shapes, as some layers are formed of harder rock than others. New hoodoos continue to form as old ones crumble to the ground, so it’s likely this area will look like this for many, many years to come.

The above photo (probably my favorite, and hanging on my wall!) was taken from Inspiration Point. This is the area in the park with the most dense concentration of hoodoos, and is probably one of the most photographed. Another popular spot is around one particular hoodoo that has been named Thor’s Hammer. That was my next stop.

The sunlight bouncing off the orange walls was creating this incredible glow in this area! This is a must if you visit Bryce. You have to get out of bed early, because the morning light is the best this place looks all day!

It was here that I blew a golden opportunity that shows you why I’m still single! I had a very attractive young lady approach me and ask me to take her picture. Based on her accent, she was not American, and based on the lack of anyone else with her, she was traveling alone. Of course I’m not a one-night-stand guy, and this likely would not have led to any long-term relationship, but hey you never know. Regardless, I had wished I would have kept her in my presence at least a few minutes longer and struck up a conversation, but instead I just went back to shooting pictures of my own. Idiot.

As the sun got higher, the pictures were not as great, so I decided to grab some lunch. When I got back to the park I decided to drive further in and check out some of the other overlooks.

Man… that drive was awesome. It was beautiful out there, with temps in the mid-70’s and no humidity to speak of! I put the windows down and opened up the sunroof and enjoyed the fresh air as I cruised through the pine forest. It may be a bit odd, but this was one of those moments that truly stuck out to me. The feeling at that time of not a care in the world, no worries about work, or bills, or anything. Just enjoying the present. I need more moments like that in my life!

This is definitely when I’m at my happiest. They do not lie when they tell you that travel changes you. It sure has changed me. There’s no place I’d rather be than any place I’ve never been before!

I did have to battle with some rain showers passing over the park, as you can see a little in the top left corner of the photo above. Out of the frame there’s a big dark cloud there! In fact there was even some tiny pieces of hail falling! I imagine that’s mostly due to the elevation, not the strength of the updraft for this little storm.

One of the stops I had to make was another often photographed feature of the park called Natural Bridge. This is a huge arch, and I didn’t realize that there’s a parking lot and overlook right there at it! I initially thought it would be a bit of a hike based on the park map. I bet this would be a great place to be in the morning as well, with some of the light bouncing off the cliff and back onto the arch.

After that I got some ice cream (I’m on vacation, I do what I want), checked into my room in the nearby town of Panguitch, and came back to the park after dinner. I didn’t know if there would be much of an opportunity for any good photos at sunset since the cliffs face east, and the sun is pretty much completely blocked from this area in the evening.

Of course I had to do my signature selfie first…

I had some indecision on where to set up for the sunset, as I was watching some high clouds rolling in, and thought they just might light up after the sun went down. No such luck, but this shot turned out pretty good!

I stayed at the park after dark, and went back to Thor’s Hammer for some milky way shots! This is the time that is pretty boring, between sunset and the milky way becoming visible. It was about an hour and a half with literally nothing to do. I just stood there by my camera. Ha! I don’t know the stars very well, but I’ve come to recognize a triangle of bright stars that show me where the milky way will be. Of course you have to account for the rotation of the Earth, but it gives me a pretty good idea of how to set up well before it’s dark out.

I decided to try something I’ve never done successfully… take a panorama of the entire milky way. It is quite a challenge, because the Earth’s rotation means those stars are not stagnant, you’re shooting long exposures, and it took 9 vertical shots to complete the entire pano. What helps tremendously is the degree markings on my tripod. I know that if I turn it 15° (or was it 10°?) I’ll have enough overlap between pictures for it to stitch together in Lightroom. And finally, I got it to work!

I actually tried to do longer exposures for the foreground and make a composite, but for some reason it would never line up. Something may have been off with the lens correction, though I tried making the pano before and after applying a lens correction, and it still didn’t line up. Oh well, this shot works. If you’re in a dark room, you can see the details and see Thor’s Hammer in the middle of the photo.

That wasn’t the only milky way shot I had planned, however! The park entrance faces south, so the sign has the milky way behind it! I’m not sure if this is possible at any other National Park. I know this is the only park I’ve seen photos of it done.

That shot proved to be difficult simply because of all of the traffic going by as people exited the park! The headlights were way too bright, and ruined the photo repeatedly. I finally got a shot where the car was still well off in the distance, and it lit up some of the trees nicely along the road. I used two exposures here so that I could use a low ISO on the sign, and not have any noise at all! That was very simple to blend using layers in Photoshop and setting that layer to “lighten”.

Even though Bryce Canyon is a relatively small park, there is still a lot of it that I didn’t have time to explore! I didn’t do any hiking at all, so that is one thing I’d like to do if I ever return. What am I saying… WHEN I return! I’d also like to come back in the winter and get some shots of the hoodoos draped in a bed of fresh snow!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures, and I hope you’re now considering a visit to Bryce Canyon! You definitely won’t regret it!