Thunder Mountain Trail and Bryce Canyon

 This was a fantastic trail!  It was very unique and one of a kind I thought.  This trail is about ten miles northwest of Bryce Canyon National Park and located in Red Canyon.  I decided this trail is a must do for me while my family went to Bryce Canyon for a weekend getaway.

 The trees were awesome I thought, being in this forest reminded me a lot of Flagstaff, AZ.  The soil was an orangey color and looked cool.

 Great views and very high at the top, I say around 7,500 ft to 8,000 ft elevation which felt pretty cool compared to desert riding especially in the morning.

I started at the Thunder Mountain Trailhead and just decided to do the loop by going up the paved trail up to the Coyote Hollow Trailhead.  Just going up Thunder Mountain would be too steep so going down it would be more pleasant.  The climb up the paved trail was not bad at all and was very nice.  It was 5.5 miles on the paved trail and 2 miles on the dirt road so it took me around 45 mins.  The elevation gain was 1,200 ft.

 I thought all the climbing would be over going down the trail but nope, still a lot of short bursts of climbing on the trail and I was totally spent.  I was so spent I ended up walking on some of them.  I just didn't have energy anymore but anyways, I still had fun on most of the downhills.

 Hoo doo.

 Awesome wrap around trail around the hoo doos.

 The whole loop was 16 miles and was an awesome ride.  The best part was the scenery.  I also want to do the Cassidy/Lossee Loop next time which is on the other side of Red Canyon and goes through the Butch Cassidy Canyon.  It's supposed to be a world class ride so I'll try it sometime.

 During the rest time of the trip, I had a lot of fun spending time with my parents and little sister sightseeing Bryce Canyon.  I thought it was very awesome.  There were quite of few people in the park but no one at all at the Red Canyon/Thunder Mountain area.  Only saw two hikers in Thunder Mountain and there were people from all over the world at Bryce Canyon.  Will have to go down there again and I learned a lot.