Now no one can remember who was the first to see the pictures of Bryce Canyon hoodos covered with white snow. But once you see this beauty all you can think about is to go there and see it yourself... So we planned the trip for the end of February (2010) and were waiting for the day to come. We were really nervous the week before because of the forecast. Weather in February is unpredictable all the time but this time Mother Nature has outdone itself - the light snow every day and heavy snowfall over the weekend. But we decided to go just weren't sure about our destination. The car was booked and Friday around 8PM we started on I-70...
We expected the hardest part would be driving to Gleenwood Springs, going up and down on the mountain highway. And we were right. During five and a half hours (compare to regular four!) we saw a lot of snow, ice and wind. And it was dark... Finally we got there, filled the tank with gas and changed the driver. While waiting at the gas station we looked around and were mesmerized by an amazing picture of the night and snow covering everything...
We didn't expect what came next actually, we were under the impression
the stretch between Gleenwood Canyon and Grand Junction would be easier, flatter, less
"mountain", but... but the weather changed and prepared a surprise for
us - a heavy snowfall. So now I was driving through it. Literally...
Visibility was about 15-30 feet at the most and the snowflakes were
flying towards the windshield. Don't know how to describe that, but I
guess everyone with an experience of driving through the thick snow
doesn't need the explanation. But there was one good thing about this -
there weren't any cars on the road. We were alone and swimming through
the thick and heavy snowfall for hours...
It was about 4AM when we reached the
point of no return. Driving forward meant going to Bryce Canyon, turning
left meant going to the closest locations - Canyonlands and Arches. We
didn't feel good about driving 4-5 more hours through the snow and
decided on the left turn. Soon we stopped at the parking lot at the Dead
Horse viewpoint and took a nap.
When at 6AM we stepped off
the car and started plowing through the snow we were stunned - everything looked
absolutely magic... Combination of the red rocks, dark trees and thick
layer of snow was unimaginable...
We were moving closer and closer to the cliff edge and absolutely
unable to see anything across the valley - the fog covered everything
and revealed only small pieces here and there...
We were staying at the fence and couldn't look away - the canyon
bed was there but we couldn't see it! The fog (or clouds, I am still not
sure what it was) was moving non stop but never opened the view... not even for a short second...
No one of us saw something like that in our life. This was so new
for us and we just stayed glued to the place unable to move... We spent
close to one hour there and hoped to see the bottom of the canyon or
bend of the river without a blanket of fog... but gave up and decided to
go...
Once
on the road we were driving across the white valley, and the far end of
the road just blended with the horizon line... It was an absolutely fairytale feeling and we loved it!
...but not for long... 15 minutes on the road and spilled milk
reached our car, poured over and since that we were swimming again...
with no road to see... no direction to follow... no destination to
reach... there was only fog, snow and our car slowly flowing
somewhere...
To read the next part click here - Gray mantle of fog...
Pictures were taken on February 20, 2010.
Wow! The rolling fog is so beautiful! We’ve never seen the canyons filled with boiling milk!
ReplyDeleteSo cool. Never saw these places in a snow style
ReplyDelete