Bryce Canyon National Park

We stayed overnight at the Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel, one of the nicest Best Western hotels we've seen. It is just a five mile drive to the park entrance. Bryce Canyon National Park extends along another part of the Colorado Plateau and is at the upper level of the Grand Staircase. Once an area covered by lakes and rivers, silt and mud were deposited in layers. When the Utah part of the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, erosion of the relatively soft rock began, shaping the distinct landscape dotted with spires called "hoodoos".
Following more good advice, we drove the fifteen miles to the end of the auto route to Rainbow Point and worked backward, stopping at a total of eight viewpoints. Along the way we encountered deer and chipmunks and birds similar to the Eastern Nuthatch. As predicted, the viewing points became more crowded as we got closer to the beginning of the auto route, so we headed back to the hotel.
After lunch we rested, watched some football, and in the late afternoon returned to see Sunrise Point and Sunset Point, conveniently located a half mile from each other. Sunset Point was already getting crowded again, so we headed back, catching another group of deer having a late afternoon snack. Our grand total walking mileage, according to my pedometer, was 5.6 miles.
Our next stop will be Zion National Park.