Bryce & Ruby

There are two things you need to know if you visit Bryce Canyon: the Bryce Amphitheater is the place to see, and Ruby is the man to see.

Ruby & Minnie, 1940s

Ruby first. In 1913 Ruby and his wife Minnie came down to settle in this area, bought a ranch, and soon thereafter started hosting tourists to "Bryce's Canyon" at an inn and restaurant. One thing lead to another, and now Ruby's family runs Ruby's Inn, Ruby's Diner, the Best Western Grand Hotel, the gas station, the horseback rides, the ATV rentals, Ruby's Campground & RV Park, Ruby's General Store, Ruby's Art Gallery, Ebenezer's Cowboy Show & Dinner, the Hertz outlet, the Photo shop, the Rock Store, ... . You get the picture.

They actually do a fine job. They also, as befitting any good monopolist, have a very good pricing structure. For Ruby.

Now for the Bryce Amphitheater. This is the main and most beautiful section of the park, and is a large bowl-shaped area filled with hoodoos, canyons, cliffs and other wonders - all in the red rock that makes Bryce Canyon, Bryce Canyon. I took three outings there today.

At 5:00 I awoke and headed to Bryce Point to watch and shoot sunrise. It was about 28F, but I was wearing all the clothing I packed, so I was pretty warm.

View from Bryce Point @ 6:30am, May 2012

After breakfast, the wife and I took a hike into the Amphitheater, following the Navajo and Queen's trails. About 3.5 miles round trip, and about 600 of vertical climbing to get out. The big difference between mountain and canyon hiking is that you usually climb up the mountain, then come down when you're more tired. With canyons, you often climb down from the rim then have to climb back out after you've been hiking for a while.

Hoodoo watching, and being watched, May 2012

After lunch, I returned to the Amphitheater for a longer hike around the Peekaboo Loop. It's a 3 mile loop, which means it returns to where you pick it up. Unfortunately you pick it up after climbing down into the canyon. So you climb down, do the loop which involves about 1,100 feet of ups and downs, then climb the 600 feet back out. A lot of effort, but well worth it. It seems like every 10 feet you look up and there's another unique feature to wonder at and/or photograph.

Guitar Man after 2,300 vertical feet, May 2012

Befitting the general tenor of Bryce Canyon City (not much of a city - it consists mainly of Ruby's establishments), we had lunch at Ruby's Buffet & Steak Room, dinner at Ruby's Canyon Diner, gassed up the car at Ruby's American Car Care Center, and bought a few odds and ends at Ruby's General Store. We're now relaxing in our room at the Best Western Grand Hotel (owned and operated by Ruby's), which is also where we had breakfast.

So it was truly a Bryce & Ruby day.