BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK, UT :: My company sent me on a business trip to Salt Lake City and I used the opportunity to visit Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Bryce Canyon is about five hours south of Salt Lake City, and Zion another two hours south from Bryce. After my meetings, I made the drive to Bryce and setup camp in the dark at around 9:00 PM. Nine hours later, I broke down camp, again in the dark, to catch the sun rising at Sunrise Point.

Wow, wow, wow... I kept thinking, "This is what Dorothy must have felt like when she stepped into Oz for the first time." Bryce Canyon in the morning light was otherworldly and amazingly beautiful. An orange and pink landscape of hoodoos, mesas, canyons, caves and dunes, sprinkled librally with ponderosa pines that made the air smell like fresh sugar cookies.

I hiked into the canyon from Sunrise Point, combining the Queen's Garden and Navajo Loop trails. The three mile trail descends nearly 600' to the canyon floor, passing through small arches and into a narrow canyon appropriately named, "Wall Street." I had a tight schedule for the day, and reluctantly had to leave Bryce Canyon after only a few hours. Next stop: the Zion Narrows.