Day 27: Wednesday 21-Jul-1999

Base Camp: Duck Creek, Utah

Excursion: Bryce National Park (Utah)

Distance : 120mi (192 km)

Isabella and Erik slept outside in the tent. We suspected when we went to bed that it would be cold and indeed it turned out to be. Karl slept with us in the trailer. The plan was that he was supposed to sleep in the couch where Izzy and Erik usually slept. It did not take long before he wanted to move over into our bed. By that time it had started to get quite cold, even in the trailer. We decided to let him sleep with us. That turned out to be a bit of a mistake. He kept turning around and around and kicking. He kept us both awake. Finally, Per told him to go back to the sofa. He cried, of course. But we needed the sleep. A few hours later he crawled back into our bed, but we were so tired that we did not argue. When we finally woke up we were really cold. Inside the trailer we had 48F (9C) and outside it was 40F (4.5C). We got dressed and Per hoped the kids were still alive out there in the tent. Karl went out and checked and they were both alive! In fact, it had probably been warmer in the tent than in the trailer. We later realized that we had forgot to close one of our roof vents on the trailer.

	Izzy stumbles out of the tent. Lillemor served hot chocolate in the trailer after this.

It warmed up quickly, once the sun came up. We then got ready for our excursion. Today we were going to Bryce Canyon, which is about 45 miles (72km) from the campground. We made a quick stop to get gasoline before starting the climb up into the canyon., along route 12. We then took route 63, which is the main road through Bryce. It cost $10 for a seven day visit to enter the park. The end of route 63 is at Rainbow Point in Bryce. We decided to drive out there and make a few stops along the way. This is also at about 9000ft. We parked at Rainbow Point and walked out to the paths by the rim. Indeed very nice. Weather was blue sky with a few white puffy clouds and a slight breeze. As long as you stayed in the sun, you felt nice and warm. The moment you walked into the shade you got a bit colder. We now wanted to take a smaller hike. We took the Bristlecone loop trail. It was 1 mile (1.6km). Karl did not want to walk. Per took his hand and dragged him along. Karl kept crying and whining about wanting to be carried and the trail being dumb. Lillemor walked ahead with Erik and Karl while Per took Karl and quickly got behind Lillemor. Lillemor thought Per had dragged Karl back to the truck, so she hurried through the trail with the other kids. Per did not give up and dragged Karl along, who halfway through the trail completely changed his mood and definitely thought the trail was nice. The trail was very nice and not very difficult, even for kids. The colors were amazing.

	Bristlecone trail in Bryce from Rainbow Point

	Karl trying to keep his eyes open against the sun. Along Bristlecone trail.

Once Per and Karl returned back along the trail to Rainbow Point, Lillemor was waiting with the other kids, somewhat worried what may have happened. By now we were a bit hungry. We took out our picnic and ate what was left; some had already been consumed by the kids along the way. There is a picnic area by Rainbow Point, a bit towards the trail head. Next to us was a picnic table that had been crushed by a fallen tree. It seemed the like it had been there for a while. Once we had eaten a bit we started thinking about doing another hike. We looked at the map we received at the park entrance and our guide book. We decided to go back towards Sunrise Point, which is near the park entrance. We walked out to the rim by Queen's Garden, which is the area most often pictured when you see information about Bryce. The view was just spectacular. We wanted to take a hike, but the boys whined and did not want to go anywhere. Per stayed behind and looked after the kids while Lillemor walked the rim trail on her own. She got back after a while and said it was very nice. Per managed to convince Isabella to join him for a hike up that same trail, while Lillemor stayed back with the boys by the truck.

	Part of Queen's Garden. The "3rd" lookout is the highest cliff in the background. It is about one mile (1.6km) to that point from where this picture is taken. You can see tall pine trees on the rim over there.

	Izzy at the third lookout. Our truck is in the forest about one mile in the background. Per and Isabella walked around the rim to get to this point. It was hot.

We stopped on our way down from Bryce at the local souvenir shop. Per got himself a new T-shirt and Lillemor bought an Indian bracelet. We hurried home, as Per wanted to visit the Duck Creek visitors center before they closed at 5pm. He dropped off Lillemor down at Duck Creek Village on the way and then took the kids with him to the visitor center. Karl got a new "Smokey" T-shirt, Izzy a bird book and Erik some nature cards. We made dinner outside on the fireplace provided on our site. It tasted good. We made sure to close up the trailer long before it started to get cold, hoping to conserve at least a little bit of heat. It helped a bit. We went to bed a bit earlier this evening because we were tired from our walks and we wanted to leave early in the morning for our next camping stop. Erik and Isabella slept in the tent while Karl stayed with us in the trailer.

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