Travel Destination: Bryce Canyon, USA
Bryce Canyon is not a canyon. It is the spectacular edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, a place where intricately carved towers and archways of stone shimmer in a dazzling array of colour under the bright sun.
The state of Utah in the United States is home to many beautiful National Parks, and Bryce Canyon National Park ranks as one of the most magnificent and awe inspiring.
15 million years ago the earth in this region began to shift, forming a series of plateaus. The Paunsaugunt is an extensive plateau, with the Paria River gradually eroding away the edge to form Bryce Canyon.
Lonely Planet Zion & Bryce Canyon: National Parks
The rock in Bryce Canyon is composed of layer after layer of sediment deposits, deposited millions of years ago when the area was at the bottom of a lake. Now the Paria River has exposed the layers, allowing a detailed history of the lake to be determined.
The Park itself was established in 1924, and was named after an early settler in the area, Ebenezer Bryce. He emigrated from Scotland, married a local girl then moved southwards in stages, building sawmills as he went.
In the mid 1870s he reached the Paria River, where he and his family settled for a number of years. It was at this time that Bryce made his immortal comment about Bryce Canyon - he called it “one hell of a place to lose a cow”.
The area remained basically undiscovered by European tourists, the first guest houses only being constructed around the time when the park was officially established.
Luckily this has led to Bryce Canyon being an area of largely unspoiled beauty, as well as the enormous scientific value of the historic information trapped in its pinnacles and spires.
The canyon is by no means a stagnant place - the rim recedes by an average of about a foot every 50 years, and in this ever changing scene it is water that plays the most vital role in the shaping and eventual destruction of the magnificent scenery.
Hiking Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks
Because the rock was laid down in layers, there is a variation in the hardness of the rock formed. When water runoff trickles across the rock, some areas erode rapidly whereas others hold firm.