BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK (Day 19 - part 7)
Next came Natural Bridge, 8,627 feet. By this time, the weather had become quite overcast and the rocks no longer glowed as they had earlier. But every now and then, the sun shot a golden ray though the cloud cover.
Natural Bridge is not a bridge but rather an arch. Bridges are made by rushing streams. This is a window in a fin, formed by freezing & thawing, gravity and chemical weathering. Eventually it will collapse, leaving hoodoo pillars.
The fate of Natural Bridge
The last viewpoint was Farview Point (8,819 feet), with a short trail out to Piracy Point.
Another arch
Pigeons on a phoneline perhaps?
Again the pronghorn were out and about on the drive back.
All pronghorn have black horn sheaths, but those of the males are larger with side prongs. Horn sheaths are different from both deer antlers and true cow horns. Antlers are made of bone and shed annually; true horns are made of compressed hair and never shed. Horn sheaths are a bit of both... made of keratin growing on a bony core and shed annually.
I got back to the tent around 7:45 pm. There was a sign posted that the campground was now completely full. It was still quite overcast so I assumed the evening star program was probably going to be cancelled. Besides, I was rather tired and didn't mind getting to bed early.
The back section I was in was amazingly quiet. It was a tent-only loop, away from the giant RVs and campers; there were no loud generators or large groups of boisterous people.
Even though it was supposed to plummet into the 30's tonight, it wasn't biting cold yet. Time to try to get in a few good hours of warm sleep while I could.
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