Day 11: Exploring Bryce – Rolling Raccoons

Another rougher night for sleep with crazy coughing at 3 a.m. but they both slept soundly until then. Fingers crossed we are wrapping this cold up.
Rob had to work today, so the rest of us needed to get out of the RV so he could actually be productive.

I had the most popular hike in Bryce on the agenda before they got sick and decided to stick with the plan. I packed a ton of patience and promised to stop whenever they needed a break. The Sunrise to Sunset Point hike via Queens Garden and the Navajo Loop to Wall Street were breathtaking. We ended up doing 4.5 miles counting a Queens Garden and Two Bridges detours. The switchbacks at the end were tough for our congested kiddos, but they handled them like champs.

*Getting ready to head down to the base of the hoodoos behind us*

*There were a handful of arches to walk through on the trail*

*Queens Garden, our first detour and well worth it*

Lunch stop. I had read one pine tree smells like vanilla or cinnamon if you scratch between the bark, but we don’t think this was the right kind of tree. Also, we were fully representing Alabama this hike and Cooper got some “Roll Tides” when we hiked the switchbacks

*Second detour, Two Bridges, their energy was fading, but they rallied*

*Always on the lookout for caves to climb in*

*So many switchbacks to get back to the top; this was a hard climb*

We are detoxing from video games on this trip, and I am finding the rquests for video games have been replaced by requests for sweet treats. After a few rounds of asking, I said I wouldn’t have any more info until we were done hiking. It helped curb the repetitive asking and reminded me we all appreciate a timeline. We enjoyed tootsie roll pops on the last half-mile flat portion and then headed back to the RV.

*Tootsie Roll pops to celebrate making it back to the top*

The boys both read in their beds for an hour and then Cooper got up to work on his junior ranger packet. He finished it up and then we headed out for sweet treats as a family. Our destination was the General Store. Cooper picked out Watermelon Sour Patch Kids, Nicholas a bag of Cheetos, Rob Runts, and I picked sour gummy worms.

Next we went to show Rob our favorite parts of the hike. Cooper’s favorite was Sunrise Point, and Nicholas’ Sunset Point. It worked out perfect as we all walked to one and then I went back for the car to meet them again as they walked the half mile to the other one.

*Family time at Sunrise Point, where we had hiked earlier*

We then drove all the way to the south end of the park and checked out some viewpoints on the way back. It felt like we had done the whole park now, and Rob was able to see so much even after working a full day.

*Last Viewpoint/Stop in Bryce Canyon NP. It’s really high here.*

Ended with hotdogs and s’mores over the campfire, our first fire of the trip!

*A pretty sunset for our last night in Bryce*

2 Replies to “Day 11: Exploring Bryce”

Nicole says:

July 4, 2021 at 9:09 pm

Way to get those hikes done!! I loved that one too when we were there. Sorry to hear boys are still stuffy😥

1. Kelly says:
  
  July 10, 2021 at 3:26 am
  
  You are our inspiration, Nicole! I have always loved all of the hikes you take your boys on and we have been so impressed with how much our kids are willing and wanting to do this trip.

2 Replies to “Day 11: Exploring Bryce”

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