Upper Calf Creek Falls, GSENM & Mossy Cave, Bryce Canyon NP

April 30, 2021

Thanks for braving this one with me.  I thought it was great.

⇔

Starting down the steep slab

The task ahead

Normally I love to be on the rock, but here it is nice to reach the sand for a time

Calf Creek is down there

Getting close

There's the brink of the falls

Just above the brink is a beautiful pool.

They even carried lawn chairs down here

But I know that there is more to see.

Exquisite Pool #2

Snack time

She jumps in and finds out how cold the water is

If you are going to sit there for hours, you do need the chairs

Paintbrush

There is more to do, because of course I have saved the best for last.  Dave and his sore leg opt not to suffer the final downhill scramble to the canyon bottom; and that's just as well, because one place necessitates a seat-of-the-pants scramble.

The falls appear

Another little trail descends to the creek itself.

Upper Calf Creek Falls, 87'

⇔    Hanging gardens    ⇔

I once wrote up the neighboring Lower Calf Creek Falls as being possibly the prettiest spot in Utah, but this one gives it a good run for its money.

Monkeyflower

Where else can one view stuff like this?

Starting back

Having declined to wait for us, Dave is up there somewhere

Plugging away in the heat

Back to the steep part

Where we were
Where they still are

"I think they can, I think they can..."

• Trailhead: 7 miles south of Boulder on SR-12, at Milestone 81
• Distance: 3½ miles
• Elevation loss: 700'
• Hikers: 12
• Rating: 7

Scenery
Difficulty
Personality
Flowers

The amazing hoodoos of Bryce Canyon

Water Canyon has water in it

The only waterfall in the park

And it is semi-artificial, because the water was diverted here long ago by Mormon settlers to support the little nearby communities.

There is some ice in the cave today

I have seen the stalagmite-like formation as high as eight feet

Everyone is interested in the waterfall today

Standing behind the cascade

I understand that others in the group, who showed up somewhat later, walked up to the falls.  Good for them.

'Back side' of a wall of windows

The wall has five windows

• Trailhead: SR-12 just inside the park's eastern entrance
• Distance: 1 mile
• Elevation gain: 100'
• Hikers: several dozen
• Rating: 4

Scenery
Difficulty

ADDENDUM

This was the Mossy Cave icicle in April 2014:

One has to be here at the right time

The Wall of Windows now is missing what was its most striking feature.  Here is what it looked like before its westernmost section collapsed sometime before April 2018:

I called it the Doggie in the Window, until its snout fell off