Bryce Canyon

Ampitheaters of Fairyland

"That's a hell of a place to lose a cow," said Ebenezer Bryce.

Ebenezer had been out looking for lumber. This carpenter and veteran of the Great Mormon Trek lived in a tiny homestead in the Paria Valley of Southern Utah and would often climb to the high plateau above his home in his quest for wood.

What he had discovered on this particular day was the most stunning sight of his lifetime -- grander and more awesome than anything on the Great Trek westward. Ebenezer had come upon the fantastic rock formations that now bear his name: Bryce Canyon.

Bryce is not, in fact, a canyon at all. Rather it is a series of 14 huge amphitheaters that step down over a thousand feet.

Like giant stage players and audience, thousands of natural stone statues fill the arenas, begging your imagination to take flight when you try to describe them.

For one elderly couple that I took to Bryce while they were touring the United States from Europe, it was the highlight of their trip -- just like fairyland, better than the Grand Canyon, nicer than Zion, and almost as pretty as Disneyland!

The first human "visitors" came to Bryce nearly 12,000 years ago. It must have stirred their imagination, too, because they soon began telling their own stories about how this remarkable natural architecture came to be.

Ancient Indian legends describe the rock formations of Bryce as giants, guardians, super beings, ancestors who could change their physical form, and protectors of the people.

A later tale, reminiscent of the Biblical story of Lot's wife, tells how Bryce was going to be the home of the Legend People of Coyote. But the people were taking such a long time to build it that Coyote got fed up waiting, turned them all into stone, and spilled the paints they were using all over them, leaving them as the fantastic array of brightly colored spires, pinnacles, and pedestals known as the Hoodoos (meaning "created by a spell") of Bryce Canyon National Park.

For geologists, the story of Bryce is more natural, but no less remarkable. Sixty million years ago, the region was covered by a lake that dried up, leaving layer upon layer of different colored sediments. As time passed, the forces of water and wind, freeze and thaw, brought about the erosion of the Bryce Canyon amphitheaters.

Bryce Canyon was designated a National Monument in 1923 and a National Park in 1928. Today, the park is visited by more than 1.5 million people each year from all over the world.

While Bryce Canyon is most famous for its panoramic vistas and stone statues, it's a haven to plant and animal life, too. Bellflower, Sego lily, and manzanita blossoms grace the hiking trails. Mule deer, elk, and pronghorn antelope watch you from the pine, spruce, fir, and aspen forests that line the rim.

At night, the clear air and lack of city lights will give you a view of the starry night you've never seen before. And if you're quiet and listen closely, you might hear Coyote calling to his Legend People from far across time.

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