Mossy Cave Trail – Bryce Canyon National Park ~ Part 3 – We Arrived at Mossy Cave

Here we are! We arrived at Mossy Cave! Yes, ukuleles are allowed on the trail. Haha! That's one of our sons there with a ukulele.  This photo shows us arriving at Mossy Cave.


There was a helpful informational sign that told us about Mossy Cave.


Here's a closer look at the writing on the sign.


To make it easier to read, I've transcribed the information on the sign.

"This grotto forms as an underground spring permeates the bedrock and water slowly dissolves the calcite that bonds the silts and muds of the Claron Formation. During the short spring and summer season, in this otherwise arid landscape, a cool, moist environment becomes a perfect place for mosses to grow. By late fall, icicles begin to form as water continues to seep through the rock. Sheltered from the sun, even as the days are growing warmer and longer, these icicles sometimes last until June!"

It's interesting that icicles can sometimes last until June. We visited Mossy Cave in June, but as you can see from my photos, there were no icicles when we visited. I guess they didn't last until June in 2013.


Instead of icicles, there was moss on the walls of the cave.


See the trees growing on top of the cave?


Our adventures along Mossy Cave Trail were not done once we arrived at Mossy Cave. I'll be sharing more photos from our trip to Mossy Cave Trail in a future post.

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© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Mossy Cave Trail – Bryce Canyon National Park ~ Part 2

In June of 2013, our family visited Bryce Canyon National Park. We had such a wonderful time! After our visit to Bryce Canyon, we went to Mossy Cave Trail.

Last year, I shared photos from our visit to Mossy Cave Trail. It's time to share more photos of this beautiful place.

Along this trail there was stunning scenery to enjoy.



Aren't these rock formations amazing?



Here's a look at the creek along the trail.



I love this photo with the bridge in the foreground. Isn't it beautiful there?



Overcast skies.



More photos from our trip to Mossy Cave Trail in a future post.

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© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Precarious

It was so interesting to see these trees precariously perched on the sides of cliffs when we visited Bryce Canyon National Park last summer.








I am left to wonder how these trees ended up on the edges of cliffs. Could erosion have played a part? What do you think?

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© 2013 - 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Mossy Cave Trail – Bryce Canyon National Park ~ Part 1

In June of this year, we spent a couple of days enjoying beautiful Bryce Canyon National Park.

While we were at dinner on one of those days, we found out about Mossy Cave Trail. It sounded interesting, so we decided to go there. After visiting Bryce Canyon, we went a few miles east on Highway 12 and arrived at Mossy Cave Trail. As you can see from the map below (thank you Google Maps), there's a small parking lot at the trailhead.



The sign at the trailhead told us the distance to Mossy Cave.



As we walked along the trail we saw some stunning rock formations similar to what we saw at Bryce Canyon.



There was a creek along the trail which led to a waterfall.



Here's part of our group walking along the trail.



And here's another view of the creek along the trail.



More from our visit to Mossy Cave Trail in future posts.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

A Steller's Jay at Bryce Point

As my regular readers may remember from previous photos I've shared on this blog, our family visited Bryce Canyon National Park last month. Today, I'm sharing a few more photos from our visit.

After enjoying the magnificent views at Bryce Point, we passed by this beautiful Steller's Jay on our way back to our car. The Jay apparently was ready for its photo to be taken, as it stayed perched on this branch for a surprising amount of time while several people (myself included) gathered around to take its picture.







After a few moments of the attention however, the Jay hopped further into the branches of the tree.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

Afternoon Skies Over Inspiration Point–Bryce Canyon

While our family was on vacation, we visited Bryce Canyon National Park. During the two days we were there, the skies clouded over and storms threatened in the afternoons. These cloudy conditions really provided me with some wonderful photography opportunities.

This photo was taken from Inspiration Point at Bryce Canyon.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

Sunrise Point – Bryce Canyon National Park

On a recent family vacation to Utah, our family visited Bryce Canyon National Park. What a spectacularly beautiful place! The views were awe-inspiring. It really was a photographer's paradise.

On one of the days we were there, we decided to wake up before dawn so we could go to Sunrise Point and take photos as the sun rose and lit up the rock formations at that beautiful spot in Bryce Canyon.

The photo below was taken before sunrise.



It was so cool to see the rock formations change color as the sun came up.






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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last