Allure of Bryce Canyon’s distinctive hoodoo formations just as strong in winter

Last month, a friend and I headed north to the snow country of Southern Utah to have some winter adventures in the unique surroundings of Bryce Canyon National Park. The park was established in the early 1900s to protect its scenic wonders, primarily its landscape of colorful hoodoos.

These formations lie below the rim in natural amphitheaters. Here, fins of rock have eroded into spires and pinnacles called hoodoos. They're called that because to some people, the upright shapes suggest living creatures, though some could exist only in the supernatural.

These shapes are formed by a geologic process called frost wedging. About 200 days a year, temperatures here drop below freezing only to rise enough to thaw on the same day. Thus moisture settles into cracks in the rock, freezes and expands the crack. When the ice thaws, the cracks fill up again with water, and the thaw-freeze cycle continues until flakes of the rock break away.

More than 1.7 million people visit the park yearly, but in winter, you almost have the place to yourself. Even the 18-mile-long scenic drive, the most popular way to visit the park, is sufficiently uncrowded in winter to retain all its natural pleasure.

There are numerous viewpoints and overlooks along this drive, but once a big snowstorm hits, the park service closes the road so you won't be able to drive its entire length. However, they keep the road plowed to three of the most popular viewpoints: Sunset, Sunrise and Inspiration Points, all overlooking Bryce Amphitheater, the largest one in the park.

My friend and I, however, usually prefer the more complete solitude of backcountry trails. After checking into our spacious room at Ruby's Inn, just minutes from the park boundary, we headed over to the inn's winter activity center to rent cross-country skis.

This was a quicker stop than at many rental shops I have visited, because nobody had to wait his or her turn. Boots were shelved by size so we picked our own and then chose skis and poles according to handy charts based on our heights, weights and experience. Next we grabbed a detailed trail map of the area and set out on snow 12 to 18 inches deep.

With only a few hours of daylight left, we headed directly east toward the rim, along a double-track trail through open meadows lined with ponderosa trees. When we reached the rim, we wanted to head south, so we had to break a new track ourselves.

On prior visits I had found the trail already set, but since it was fresh snow, we had the task -- or fun, depending on your viewpoint -- of being pioneers. Both skis and poles sank in pretty deep so there wasn't much skiing involved because the snow was heavy and each step was laborious.

We stopped dozens of times to look at animal tracks on the fresh snow. It was easy to see the mule deer and jackrabbit tracks heading in all directions. Other winter wildlife tracks you might see include gray fox, elk, antelope and snowshoe hare.

With the cold temperatures, I would have thought birds would be rare but learned that both bald eagles and golden eagles, as well as wild turkeys and even blue grouse, are seen this time of year.

Although the views from the rim stretch for more than 100 miles, it was what lay at our feet that took our breath away. Thousands of multicolored hoodoos filled the natural amphitheater below. Contrasted against the white snow made the orange, pink and red formations glow like fresh oil on a landscape painted by a master artist.

With no established trail and quickly losing daylight, we headed west away from the rim, breaking new trail and therefore not exactly sure where we were. Once we found the park boundary fence we felt more comfortable, yet we still had to do difficult route finding and use our overworked and sore muscles to find our way back. We made it there about a half-hour after nightfall.

After a soak in the inn's indoor swimming pool followed by a good, hearty meal, it was off to bed, feeling like we had accomplished our goals of the day and exhausted after such a great workout.

You can't ski or go snowboarding or sledding below the rim. It is not only dangerous but illegal. But you can hike or snowshoe down into the amphitheaters depending on the trail conditions. Generally, after a heavy new snowfall you will want to use snowshoes, but once the trails warm up and melt the snow, then hiking boots with some sort of traction device such as Yaktrax or STABILicers fastened over them work great.

The next morning, we were up at dawn and headed back toward the park and Sunrise Point. We donned our snowshoes and walked through the forest for awhile and then headed toward the rim itself. It was a cold, crisp morning as we waited for the sun to rise. It was worth the wait, for soon the morning flooded the hoodoo-filled Bryce Amphitheater with a golden glow, showing off this eerie yet lovely landscape at its best.

Besides hiking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, you can experience Bryce by sleigh, horseback or snowmobile. Ruby's Inn even has a new outdoor skating rink this year and rents skates.

People who frequent this area look forward to the Bryce Canyon Winter Festival, this year set for Feb. 18-20, President's Day weekend. It's mostly an all-around family event, but if you're a competitor by nature, you'll find serious competition in cross-country ski racing, archery, archery biathlon and other competitions.

Ruby's Inn has more than 30 kilometers of groomed ski trails, and they connect to the trails in the park and adjoining Dixie National Forest Service trails so you could spend days here and never ski the same trail.

When there is enough snow in the park, usually about 12 inches, the park offers full-moon snowshoe hikes as well as regular guided snowshoe hikes. Snowshoes are provided, but be sure to bring your own winter boots or waterproof hiking boots.

The next full-moon hikes are on Feb. 6 and March 8. Make a reservation at the visitor center the first thing in the morning of the day of the hike, or call the visitor center within 48 hours; the number of participants is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.

The guided snowshoe hikes, on weekends, teach proper snowshoe techniques as well as lore about the unique landscape and the park's plants and animals. These tours last about 90 minutes to 2½ hours.

Even if you're not trying to book a hike reservation, stopping at the Bryce Canyon Visitor Center is worth it. The rangers not only can provide you with up-to-date trail and weather information, the center also has excellent exhibits and a 22-minute film on the park's history.

The park offers astronomy programs every Saturday and on some holiday evenings through March 10. There are additional programs in the more-visited times of the year. A group of park rangers and volunteers -- playfully dubbed "The Dark Rangers" -- treat visitors to a look through their large telescope and then teach them about the night skies in the park. They're some of the best gazing skies in America.

In very rural areas of the United States you can see about 2,500 stars. Here at Bryce, where elevations in the park run from about 7,000 feet to more than 9,000, with excellent air quality and low humidity, it is said that, on a clear night, you can see more than 7,000. There's no better place to re-examine your priorities in life.