After the awesome adventure that was our hike into the canyon the previous day, even I was able to sleep in. This is saying something. Whether business or pleasure, my ability to sleep in while traveling is limited.
We decided to take it a bit easier today, so that we could actually *finish* a trail that we started. (Crazy, I know.)
We went through our typical routine to prep for the day and hit the trail. (Queen’s Garden to be specific).
Since we weren’t doing a full campaign hike like the previous day, I had some of the extra gear along for us to test, like the audio recorder. This time, we captured the sound of our footsteps in the mud for posterity. (Check out the promo video for an example).
As we progressed on, the weather just got better and better. By the time we reached the base of the canyon, it was basically t-shirt and shorts weather.
Once there, we made an attempt at recording some of the promotional video for the Indiegogo project, but let me tell you something: Taking a mildly strenuous hike before attempting to appear upbeat in front of a camera when you aren’t practiced at it? Not the best plan. Solution? Practice more.
(We’ll post outtakes from the videos later on for humor value.)
After we finished the hike, it was time to head back to camp (or as Cynthia points out, we were calling it home by this point) and take some downtime. In my case, downtime meant dumping all the photos to the laptop to start processing work in Lightroom.
Warren’s mobile editing setup.
During the course of the day, the humidity had gone up with the heat, meaning the snow was melting. Unfortunately, that significantly dropped the clarity of the night sky that evening, although it gave the stars a more ethereal feel.
Misty night in Bryce Canyon
The other effect it had was diffusing the lasers i’d brought along to draw on the hoodoos with, so we didn’t get nearly the range I was hoping for. (And the trails were still too icy and treacherous after dark for us to get more creative. Next time we’ll do the trip in warmer weather and get some good shots.)
But, hey, I did get to write GFG on the landscape. And Cynthia drew a cat. I think that should make the photo go viral, by the Rules of the Internet, but laser cat without a real cat involved may not be the same thing.
Laser. Cat.
Knowing morning was going to come all to early, we did a bit of preparatory packing and opted to sleep in the back of Tank so that the tent could dry overnight and we could just re-situate and go first thing in the morning.
Sadly, the Bryce part of the trip was at an end, but we still had a bit of exploring to do on the way out. See to our next posts for Zion National Park.