In the east, on a headland of the Table Cliffs, an outlier of the vast Aquarius Plateau, the mesa rises by ramps and colonnades of pink and buff to a level esplanade where stand a dozen glorified Acropolises,—façades, friezes, pillars and porticoes, in ruins of rosy marble. There, as everywhere, the marionettes of the sun continually perform their evanescent dances. And this is but a vista chosen at random from a hundred glorious panoramas.
Farther in the east, the amphitheatre opens out to make way for the headstreams of the Pahreah River; the green fields surrounding the village of Tropic may be seen and the ramparts of the Kaiparowitz Plateau.
Bryce should be seen from the west rim in the morning, from the east rim in the afternoon. The exquisite pageant of shimmering tints begins when dawn thrusts the first spears of light into the abysses. The best effects are obtained when the formations are between the beholder and the sun; it is then that the mysterious, lambent flames flicker in the distant temples and play upon altars and columns, warming them into living, glowing color. Trails extend in both directions along the rim of the Canyon from Bryce Lodge and the vistas change with almost every step taken.
Sunset upon Bryce Canyon is another breath-taking manifestation of Nature’s magic, followed by a solemn twilight of the innumerable gods that dwell there in pomp and splendor. The visitor should see both dawn and dusk transform the great amphitheatre, and should see it sleeping in the noonday light.
Every visitor should take the trail into the depths of Bryce Canyon, either on foot or horseback. Lacy designs and dainty figures, seen from the rim, assume huge proportions when one is amongst them; there are sunless grottoes and shadowed crypts, wafer walls pierced by many windows, artists’ studios filled with half-finished models and figurines, innumerable fantastic forms in bronze, jasper, ruby amethyst, topaz and alabaster. Each turn in every innumerable aisle, alley and corridor on Bryce’s intricate floor has its charming revelations of unimagined contour and color.
Trail into Bryce Canyon
Pillars of Pegasus, Bryce Canyon