Thenaturalmedic Adventures
Hello there, and thanks so much for joining us here! You are probably wondering what this podcast is all about? In this podcast, we will talk about all sorts of outdoor adventures, but primarily, for now, we will focus on hiking and backpacking. No other outdoor adventure is so accessible to so many people! So please join us as we talk about how to hike/backpack and learn how to hike any length trail from your local neighborhood parks to those long trails such as the Appalachian and others worldwide! Remember... "in every walk with nature; one receives far more than he seeks... - John Muir " See you on the trail!
Thenaturalmedic Adventures
From Rainbow Point To Hoodoos: A Scenic Drive Through Bryce Canyon
Video Version: https://youtu.be/uEX6Wi7xinc
We road-trip from Rainbow Point to the entrance, pairing quick geology lessons with practical driving tips, forest zones, and stops at Black Birch, Ponderosa, Natural Bridge, Paria View, Bryce Point, and Inspiration Point. We weave in Southern Paiute stories, acoustic ecology, and route planning for hikes like Mossy Cave and the Navajo Loop–Queens Garden.
• starting at Rainbow Point for right-side pullouts
• Bryce’s deep-time timeline and hoodoo formation
• elevation-based forest zones and what to notice
• Natural Bridge as an arch shaped by freeze–thaw
• viewpoint highlights from Farview to Bryce Point
• Southern Paiute myths behind the hoodoos
• natural soundscapes and wildlife communication
• short, steep climb to Upper Inspiration Point
• planning next-day trails and trip pacing
If you're listening on the podcast, drop me an email and let me know your thoughts.
This is Craig the Natural Medic, and we're going to do this drive through Bryce Canyon, stopping at the cool wayside points. If you look at the map here, right now I'm at Rainbow Point. Next stop's gonna be Ponderosa Canyon, and then natural bridge after that. Let's check out those two. Follow me down the road as we go back out of the park. Slowly checking in all the scenery. Just looking at this overall map here. The area that is now Bryce Canyon National Park was once a lake. About 50 million years ago. Then there was an uplift about 70 million years ago. Then you have weathering about 6 million years ago to today, and creation of the hoodoos and different things that you're seeing, the colorful layers in the park. Pretty wild. The plateau that we're standing on is called the Ponsongat Plateau, which was near sea level at one time, but then rose up to about 8,000 feet to the east of it. The Parai River, Paria River, I'm not sure how to pronounce it exactly, I've heard it different ways. Over six million years, made up broad valley. And then, of course, you know, your normal weathering and erosion of wind, rain, ice, snow, one of these beautiful hoodoos. And while you're hiking on different areas of rice, you will see different forest types. On this particular trail, you will see mixed conifer, which is found at the highest elevations, which is white fir, Douglas fir, Engelman spruce, bristle cone limber pines. Ponderosa pine is kind of at the mid-level, which can get very tall and they can grow a long time. Not as long as the bristle cones. The lowest levels you have the regular pinion juniper forest. Pretty cool. Doing the scenic drive. And this is Rainbow Point, which is the highest elevation. I recommend that you start at the very end and then drive back. That way all of your viewpoints are on the right side of the road. That's what I'm gonna do. A great lunch, in my opinion, for times like these. Little bumblebee lunch on the run. Tuna salad, already mixed, fruit cup, cookie, crackers, fork. Yum. This is the first marked one with a walkway from the road. It's called Black Birch Canyon. I'm assuming that's because of the trees there. Those are probably black birches. Amazing how the rock just makes these little weird-looking hoodoo things. There's more on this side. Crazy. Okay, I'm now stopped at Ponderosa Canyon. If you see there's a good map here, you are here. Here's where I started from was from Rainbow. Under the rim actually starts at Rainbow. You can get off of the Bristle Cone Loop Trail and take it off the entire length of the park. This one connects down to the trail. It's 1.6 down to the under the rim trail. Oh awesome. Oh amazing. But this waypoint we see the natural bridge. Really cool. It technically is not a bridge, it's an arch. Worn by years and years of erosional and weathering processes. Ice, snow, wind, rain. Like somebody opened the drain. Farview Point is over there where I parked. I had to walk to where I'm at now, which is called Piracy Point. Not sure why it's called that, there's no explanation. But it's a beautiful view here. I don't see any Jolly Rogers. I don't see any X Marks to Spot Treasures. I don't see any other things that would make it a Pirate Point. But it's a cool name, so I had to come check it out. Alright, Bryce Point. One of the famous spots here in Bryce Canyon. You can see why.
unknown:Wow. Just a beautiful pen.
SPEAKER_00:This place is named by the native people. And I'm probably gonna butcher this, but it's Unka Kova Wangwins, which means red face standing, which is now what we call the amphitheater here at Bryce Canyon. And this is Bryce Point that I was just at, a little bit further to my north. Named for Ebenezer Bryce, who settled here in the valley to the east, with access to timber and other resources that were here. Started calling it Bryce Canyon. The Southern Paiute, they believed that these rocks, which they called Udus, was a mistranslation and became hoodoos in English. They believed that the trickster god, who was a coyote, made people that were bad into these different spires, which are now the Udus or the Hoodoos. People are, in their belief, imprisoned in those things for doing bad things. Isn't that crazy to think about? There's a lot of them out there, so must have been a lot of bad people. I'm now down at Pariah Viewpoint, which is the Pariah River. There is a very interesting panel about Nature's Symphony talking about natural sounds. Those non-natural ones that can disturb vehicles, aircraft, other technologies. Animals rely on natural sounds in order to communicate, find mates, avoid dangers, and so on forth. Let's just take a moment and take in the sound. I might film a little bit up top as well. But this panel gives you some orientation to the area. Straight ahead you have what's called Powell Point. And Canaan Peak. Powell Point, I believe, is going to be over here. Kind of the end of that little plateau there. Tablecliff Plateau. Moving to the left. Then behind that we have Aquarius. And then the Severe Plateau is going to be way back there. Probably can zoom in a bit. Right in that area. Let's zoom out. Then right straight ahead. We have Bristle Cone Point. It's this little deal right there. Rice Creek goes down. Canaan Peak over here to the right. And then the Kapowerwitz Plateau. Way off in the distance, you may not be able to see. Navajo Mountain, which I believe is in Glen Canyon. Bryce Point where I was standing earlier is over there. And they call this area over here the Silent City. Interesting names, and no explanation is given as to what or how they name these places, but they're very interesting. Steep slope coming from that way from inspiration point down below. There's a middle inspiration, an upper, and of course the lower which I came from. Earlier is reachable via the rim trail. 1.3 miles. That way. Yeah, I think that's it maybe over there. Zoom in. Take a look. Yeah. Maybe my guess. Not very long hike up this guy, but definitely steep. I was a little out of breath because I am at elevation. About 8,000 feet up. Give or take. Going to go up here and see what's going on with Upper Inspiration Point. Okay, it's a little late in the day, but this is Upper Inspiration Point. Beautiful view. I hope you enjoyed them. If you like this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Think about subscribing to the channel for more great content. Tomorrow I think I'm gonna do Mossy Cave and Queen's Garden Navajo Loop, which are some popular trails here. There's a lot more to do, but there's no way I could do them all. Have to do another trip another time. If you have any questions or comments for me about Bryce Canyon or this trip, drop them in the deal below. If you're listening on the podcast, drop me an email and let me know your thoughts. I appreciate you watching. Thanks always for that. And we'll see you next time on the trail. Bye bye for now.
