Today I started out my morning on the rim of Bryce Canyon watching the sun slowly surmount the hoodoos and cliffs of Bryce in an amazing sunrise.

After that we headed next door to Grand Staircase Escalante National Park for some amazing views and hikes. So we went outbacking in our lovely Outback.

Our first hike of the day was at Willis Creek Trail, this turned out to be an amazing hike along a river that cuts through a slot like canyon. It was awe inspiring and I have never seen anything quite like it.

The lines and shapes created by the wave like stone were extraordinary. The colors were so vivid and bright that you became enveloped in the canyon walls. Even the river was dyed a deep orange red color.

There were three separate slot canyons on our hike each slightly different and uniquely beautiful.

One canyon had a surprise of its own, a rattlesnake. Fortunately the people ahead of us spotted it but it was extremely agitated. Coiled against one side of the walls, hidden half in and half out of the shadows it sat rattling its tail and hissing at us. Needless to say it was scary and we worried about him alot on our way back, wondering where he might now be located.

The third and final canyon was the most spectacular and was a great finale to an amazing hike. The walls were marvelously sculpted and the color was out of this world.