Cedar Breaks to Bryce Canyon
It is seventy miles from Cedar Breaks to Bryce Canyon. Crossing the broad summit of the Markagunt Plateau the highway traverses fine coniferous forests that frequently open into charming “parks,” and passes great areas covered with lava from Hancock Peak and the adjacent extinct volcanoes. Navajo Lake, a beautiful mountain tarn encircled by pines and a noted fishing water, is about eight miles beyond Midway.
One of the Countless Castles of Bryce Canyon
Soon pretty Duck Creek, rising in full power from a fine spring and filled with trout, parallels the highway for several miles, then disappears under the volcanic rock. At the crossing of Strawberry Gulch a little used trail extends southward to Strawberry Point, a famous observation place on the Pink Cliffs. The main highway is alternately surfaced with white, pink and red rock, a painted road in a land of color.
At Cedar Breaks Junction, the route turns north, following the head waters of the Sevier River, one of the most important streams of the Great Basin; to the eastward, in the vicinity of Hatch, vistas of the Pink Cliffs appear. Then the road crosses the Sevier and enters Red Canyon.
The rich red turrets and towers at this canyon gateway are harmonious introductions to the greater glories of Bryce. Once within its narrow defile, the superb portal broadens into a little pine-dotted valley and its walls display hundreds of spires, windowed walls, bridges, columns and statue-like shapes of pink and ruby. The road, often running through arches in the red cliffs, is as smooth as a boulevard. Next, the route leads out upon the level, treeless surface of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, and comes with startling unexpectedness to one of the splendid amphitheatres of the Pahreah Basin.
Bryce Canyon National Monument