Bike Ride through Red Canyon & Navaho Loop Trail in Bryce Canyon

Rain was predicted today, so we decided to do two short(er) activities instead of one long one. The first was a bike ride on a trail that runs through Red Canyon.  We rode 17.5 miles, with quite a few hills.  It was tiring because of the altitude.  But was it ever beautiful.

 Ever seen a sign like this one on a bike trail? 

Along the side of the road we saw what we thought were antelope.  Turns out they are not antelope but instead are Pronghorns.  Their closest living relatives are Giraffes and Okapis of Africa.  Go figure.  They are the fastest land animal next to the Cheetah.  Can run in excess of 60 mph for 4 minutes.  Altitude must not bother them obviously. I'm glad we saw these before the Cheetahs got them:



 Then we drove to Bryce Canyon to scope it out.  Thought we'd do a short trail, which we did (about 2 miles).  It's very beautiful.  And packed!  While we are glad we saw the canyon, we are looking forward to returning to descend further and get to hikes that require a few hours to complete and where the crowds will be lighter. 

Bike Report:  Red Canyon bike trail

Hike Report:  Navaho Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

(Note that the elevation gain changes a bit when one disables the elevation correction.  Note also that, as is typical with both my hiking and biking Garmins, elevation gain does not always equal elevation loss, even though we always start and stop in the same exact location;  I basically take an average of all of these figures to arrive at what I believe to be the best estimate of elevation gain.  I also use data from two different Garmin computer programs, which usually provide slightly different estimates (one Garmin uses Google Maps and the other uses barometric pressure to estimate elevation).  The figure I arrive at is probably accurate to within 50 feet or so, which is pretty good.  Also, usually it is within a few feet of elevation gains provided on the occasional trail map that reports elevation gains of hikes, which makes us feel confident in what we estimate when this information is not provided by trail maps.)