"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime"-MARK TWAIN

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Pink Ledges Trail

   Took a short hike of about ½ mile behind the NFS visitor center here in Red Canyon. It is called the Pink Ledges Trail. It started with a couple of Hoodoo's overlooking the trail head. Hoodoo's are columns or pinnacles which began as solid rock 10's of millions years ago and weathered into the shapes we see today.


   As the trail began, you were faced with gigantic red walls made up of sedimentary rock from eons ago.

   Life is slow here. It takes many years for a tree to grow to this size, and then many more for it to return to the earth from which it came.

   The spiral growth on this dead log comes from it's many (hundreds)? of years of following the suns cycle each year. As it seeks to follow the sun, it wraps itself around and around.


There are many beautiful vista's from the trail. This is looking West back toward the same hoodoo's at the beginning of the trail.

It is hard to see in the photo, but this is a seep spring up in a small canyon. This is the lifeblood for many of the plants that grow here.

A view down canyon from the seep spring site.


.As we continue down the trail, we see many more examples of Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, along with scrub cedar which grows here.





 We also get some fantastic views of the Cedar mountains in the distance.

   Next will be a hike down into Bryce Canyon. Have what I hope are some great pictures of the inn Bryce Canyon.....................jc











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