Bryce Canyon and Kodachrome State Park

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11 April, Saturday - We woke up to a couple of inches of snow and realized we had lucked into a chance to see the Bryce colors against a white background. After picking up some not-too-fresh pastries from the bakery next door, we signed up for another night here, had breakfast and headed for the park entrance. Let's hear it for my "golden geezer pass" (!) otherwise it would cost $25 to get through the gate. We stopped first at Bryce Point, then drove to the far south end of the scenic drive, Rainbow Point. C.J. was shooting pictures right and left, and exulting in the joys of digital cameras. On the way out we stopped at the visitor center and checked with the ranger about roads in GSENM and he thought they would be fine because there was only a little moisture. C.J. found the jigsaw puzzle she wanted so we got that and a calendar that was reduced 80%. Then we headed down to Cannonville, the nearest GSENM visitor center, filling up the gas tank on the way at Tropic. The visitor center was nicely done but the ranger (?) on duty said the roads were too muddy for regular cars, probably. So we went to Kodachrome Basin State Park instead of trying the Hole-in-the-Rock road to Devil's Garden and other hikable places. We'll have to come back to try those places and the Cottonwood Road along the Cockscomb. But Kodachrome was a good choice for the day with a paved road and only five miles from Cannonville. We paid our $6 day use fee and drove the few roads before choosing one of the suggested day hikes - Panorama Trail. We packed up our day packs with rain gear and lunch and headed off into the maze of red rock spires and canyons around 1400. We took short detours to see "petrified lightning", "old Indian cave" (good lunch spot), "the hat shop" (columns with cap rocks), and "secret passage" where we got to walk on some slickrock rather the usual sand. About halfway through the 4-mile loop, we decided to take the Big Bear Geyser Loop for an additional two miles (and that was after we missed a turn and wandered up and onto a somewhat shaky ledge way off the route). We saw the "geysers", actually petrified-sand geysers with no hot water involved anymore, and went way up a slot canyon. Shortly after we got out of the canyon the weather finally turned bad on us and it started to rain. Fortunately it didn't last long and hardly got our rain parkas wet. We were glad to reach the Panorama Trail again and be making progress toward the car, which we reached around 1730. Just as we were pulling out of Kodachrome, it started to rain hard - phew! just made it. It was just a shower, again, but back up on the Paunsaugant Plateau near the entrance to Bryce we ran into a real snowstorm. But by the time we picked up some Subway sandwiches for dinner and got back to the motel, it had stopped. Great day! Glad we stayed here for the extra night.