Walkin West is sponsored by the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort in historic Jamestown, California, home to the great outdoors of the Mother Lode Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, owned by the Chicken Rancheria of Miwok Indians of California.

Walkin West is brought to you in part by Visit El Dorado, visit Tuolumne and visit Calaveras County visitors bureaus.

Discover the history of the gold rush, pristine mountain lakes and the waterfalls of Yosemite, all here in California's Gold Country.

Walkin West is brought to you by Ironstone Vineyards, home to a 44 pound gold leaf crystaline specimen, and where we've been producing red and white wines in the historic gold country since 1989.

Ironstone vineyards Murphy's, California.

Walkin West is brought to you by the Big Sur River Inn on the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur, California.

The Big Sur River Inn, where you can hike and explore the rugged coastal trails of the West in a respectful, responsible way.

Big Sur River Inn.

I'm Steve Welden and boy, do I love adventure.

Whether it's a good long hike, climbing a big old rock or checking out that secret swimming hole I'm raring to go!

Join me as we hike for the crest of the Rockies to the beautiful Pacific coast.

Right here on Walkin West.

MUSIC Hi, I'm Steve Weldon.

Welcome to Walkin West.

And, you know, I've always had this habit of every time I go to a national park or a national forest or a beautiful seashore, I'm always saying this may be the prettiest place I've ever been.

Well, guess what?

I've still got that habit.

And this may be the prettiest place I've ever been.

I've hiked mountains.

I've hiked streams, I've hiked forest, and I've hiked seashores.

But I've never hiked the hoodoos.

But you know what?

We're going to do it today, right here at Bryce Canyon National Park.

Bryce Canyon National Park is located in rugged southwest Utah, 75 miles north of the Arizona border.

It's one of five national parks in the state.

It became Utah's second national park in 1928.

And these salmon-pink colored rock formations they are magical.

And you know what?

I get to hike here.

Yay!

God!

We're here at the trailhead for the Navajo Loop Trail.

Now this is a beautiful trail, and we're going to see a ton of hoodoos here.

We're going to come around and we're going to go counterclockwise, and we're going to come past Wall Street and back up to Two Bridges and right back where we came from.

It's only 1.2 miles, and it's loaded with beauty right here at Bryce Canyon.

What's so cool about Bryce Canyon is you're in the forest one minute and among the hoodoos the next.

I have to stop every few feet and take in all this beauty.

And all I can say is.

Whoa!

We're here at an iconic landmark here on the Navajo Loop Trail.

We're here at Thor's Hammer.

This hoodoo is something else.

It looks like a hammer.

Now, my son Zack, who's with me on the trail said, “Dad that looks more to me like a marshmallow.” Well, it looked a little bit more to me like maybe a judge's gavel.

Not that I've spent that much time in court, but we know there was that day in small claims.

<Laugh> This is great.

Boy, I love this place.

Nothing's the same.

And the colors of the rock, they change depending on the time of the day.

And there's no pollution here.

Just clean air, clear blue skies and happy hikers.

The geology here at Bryce Canyon is something else.

Now, what we're in front of here is an amphitheater.

Now, these were formed 30 to 50 million years ago by a combination of wind, rain and time.

The limestone, the dolomite, everything here all came together by a combination of what's called frost wedging.

What happens is when the water comes down on the rock and it freezes, then it expands, and then it begins to thaw.

And when it begins to thaw, the rocks break down.

Mother nature.

You knocked a home run this time right here at Bryce Canyon.

MUSIC Some things happen overnight, but this all happened over 50 million years.

MUSIC These trails are really family friendly.

You gotta love it.

This place is one big slice of heaven.

I've been in to quite a few dives in my life, but I haven't ever been into a real hole in the wall.

MUSIC We're down here on the Navajo Trail, and we're here among all the amphitheaters.

And I ran into this nice couple, and I depicted a southern accent and me being a South Texas boy originally, I had to talk with these people.

How are you doing?

Good.

Real good.

Good.

What's your name?

Mike Rosa.

Hi, Mike.

What's your name?

Debbie Brown.

Nice to meet you guys.

Now, where do you live now?

I live, we live in Halfway, Missouri.

Halfway, Missouri.

And you're here at beautiful Bryce Canyon National Park.

And is this your first hike at Bryce?

It is.

Yes, it is, and it's something else.

Something very beautiful.

Incredible.

It's spectacular.

Mother nature done good didn't she?

Yeah.

You can't put your camera away, that's for sure.

That's right.

Well, you guys have a safe hike.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for being on Walkin West.

You bet.

Thank you.

Look at that view looking up beautiful!

Nothing like a day in the park.

And these trails are the bomb!

MUSIC I'm in my happy place.

Can you tell?

MUSIC I'm glad these conifers can coexist in this climate.

They get just enough rain and snow to make it happen.

All right we're taking a little break here along the hike, and we're almost through walking the Navajo Trail.

And we're here during a government shutdown, and we don't know how long this government shutdown is going to last.

And all I can say is, God bless the state of Utah for keeping all these parks open like they have.

And they're partially staffed.

A lot of the national parks around the country are not staffed at all right now.

And you know what happens when that happens?

A lot of times people get a little bit careless and aren't quite as tidy, not quite as need as they should be.

And they leave our parks in a bad condition.

And these parks are our national treasures, and we need to treat them as such every single day.

And I'm taking a break with some hikers.

We're on our way and we're having a beautiful hike.

Aren't we having fun?

Yes!

Good.

Well, I want to ask you all something.

Are you being responsible hikers and leaving it better than you found it?

Yeah!

Are we going to make it better for the next guy?

Yeah!

I like the way you think Thanks for being on Walkin West.

Whoo!

Thank you.

There is so much variety in this park, unbelievable.

And the hoodoos are absolutely unreal.

Our next stop, Rainbow Point.

MUSIC It's amazing when you get up above 6600ft up to the 9000ft mark.

And the aspens are amazing, and they're popping like crazy.

Wow.

Take a look at that natural bridge.

All done by wind, rain, snow erosion and good old Father Time.

MUSIC Wow, what a view.

I wonder if I could get squatter's rights.

Oh, man.

MUSIC We're out here at Rainbow Point.

And I met a real nice couple, Scott and Lisa.

How are you guys doing?

Really great.

Really great.

We're super awesome.

Oh, this is wonderful.

Where are you guys from?

San Diego.

San Diego?

Yeah.

So you made the trip up here.

You drove up here?

Yes.

Yeah, we went, stopped off at Zion.

We came, we ah we stayed in Zion at the Holiday Inn.

Then we had we drove through Zion this morning along the way.

And just it's just spectacular.

Zion is just amazing.

Interesting thing though.

It's like Zion.

We were talking about this in the car.

Zion is one of the parks that you look up at, and Bryce is one of the parks you kind of look down in at.

And then you can also see way out there, way out there, Like I said, 60 or 70, 70 miles is amazing.

It's so clear.

It's it's clear as a bell.

The air is amazing.

Oh, it is amazing.

And what I'm impressed with and so far we're here in the middle, as you know, of a government shutdown.

And I thought there wouldn't be anybody here at the park.

This park is packed.

There's a ton of people here, but it's not obnoxiously packed.

It's really it's actually it's good, it's really nice.

And everything is kept clean and everything is, the park is amazingly clean well organized despite not having a complete staff.

Exactly.

And I'm proud of the people, the volunteers and the people who keep these trails so pristine.

It's amazing.

It's amazing.

Yeah, the trail heads look awesome.

It's beautiful.

They've done a really great job.

And and the people who are here that are the Rangers, that I think I know there are some folks here that are managing some of the traffic and stuff and it's wonderful that they're here.

Oh my gosh, I don't know if they're getting paid or they're volunteering to be here, but it's wonderful that they're they're still here helping the traffic and manage things.

God bless them.

Thank you, thank you guys.

And you have the kind of spirit I love and tourists and people who love to come and appreciate the parks and do it the right way.

It's just gorgeous.

Thank you Scott.

Thank you Lisa, thank you for doing this.

This is great.

Thanks for being on Walkin West.

Take care of you guys.

You too.

I don't know if it's because we're at about 8000ft, but we slept like a log last night and we're off ready to go on another great hike today.

We're going to hike the Fairy Land loop.

We're going to hike part of that, and then we're going to hike down from Sunset Point down to Wall Street.

I'm not talking about up there in New York City or whatever I'm talking about right here at Bryce Canyon National Park.

This is going to be fun.

The view of these salmon pink colored hoodoos never gets old.

And walking through it, it'll take your breath away.

And to see all these respectful hikers, that makes me happy.

Keeping it clean and pristine.

Bryce Canyon.

We're back here at Sunset Point, where we hiked the other day down to Navajo Trail.

It was actually the Navajo Queens Garden Trail, which was a little about a three and a half mile loop.

And it went this way and all the way back to where we are now.

Well, now we're going to hike just a little bit of the Navajo Trail down to the Wall Street Trail.

We're going to be down among the hoodoos at ground level.

This is going to be cool.

The folks who carved out these amazing trails through all this rock, they deserve some kind of award.

You're one mighty tough bunch of men and women.

Me and over 2 million folks a year.

Thank you.

From the bottom of our hearts.

These limestone walls are part of the Clarin Formation formed by marine sediment deposits when this area was near sea level 50 million years ago.

As you can see, this is one popular trail.

MUSIC You got to be careful here.

MUSIC The folks out here today are loving this trail.

Well, where we are now, this is magical.

And this is about as close to a slot canyon as we're going to get here at Bryce.

But I'm getting a good feeling for this.

All these structures, this this geological wonder.

This is incredible.

Wall Street.

You got to remember that when you hike here at Bryce.

These canyon walls look like a cross between a cathedral and a Hollywood movie set.

My oh my.

MUSIC I'm hiking down here on a Wall Street trail, and we're here at the bottom, down in the bottom of the canyon.

And this is magnificent.

And I met this really nice couple.

How are you guys doing?

Doing great.

Good.

What's your name?

Angela.

Hi, Angela.

I'm Dale.

Hi, I'm Steve, nice to meet you guys.

Okay.

Now, you've been hiking a lot of the trails now, have you hiked many trails here at Bryce yet?

This is our first of the morning.

Okay.

And do you're planning on hiking some more, I guess?

Oh, for sure.

We don't know which ones yet, but.

Well, the Navajo trail, the whole Navajo Trail is wonderful.

Okay, the Fairyland loop is beautiful.

Oh, sunset point, sunrise point, inspiration point.

There's so many.

Oh my gosh!

Now, have you hiked to a bunch of the national parks here in Utah?

Yes.

We're, this is finishing up the Mighty Five for us.

Really?

Yes.

Okay, so you've hiked every one.

So you've been to, you see the arches?

Arches and the canyonlands for sure.

Yes.

And let's see.

Capitol Reef, Capitol Reef.

Zion and here at Bryce.

Well, Bryce is beautiful.

Oh, it's amazing.

Our national parks.

We got to keep them that way.

We got to keep them pristine don't we?

Please.

Yes.

And now that we're in the middle of this government shutdown, it's more important than ever that everybody is responsible.

And that's what we were saying coming in too.

Yeah, even now more than ever, really leave no trace.

Keep everything as beautiful as you found it, if not better.

Exactly.

For the next generation.

Yes.

You bet.

Yes.

Well, enjoy your hike.

Thank you so much.

And enjoy all the trails here at Bryce.

We will.

And thanks for being on Walking West.

Thanks for being here.

So nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

MUSIC This view from the canyon bottom looking up is awesome.

This trail is a must do hike when you're here at Bryce Canyon.

MUSIC One thing that I really love about doing this show Walkin West is when I meet people along the trail that have that special glow in them.

They just have that little extra pop in their pistol.

And I found those people right here with Thomas.

Right?

Yeah.

And Francesca.

Yes.

How are you?

Really good.

And loving the park right now.

I noticed an accent.

Where are you all from?

We were the relocated actually, from Patagonia, Chile.

Patagonia, Chile.

So is this your first time out west?

Yes.

It is.

How are you liking it?

We're loving it.

I mean, the mountains, the trees, the canyon itself.

That is just amazing.

Amazing.

We are doing a two week trip and it's the best.

Well, you're living life to its fullest, and that's the way it's supposed to be.

Absolutely.

Keep that glow about you both.

Thanks for being on the show.

Thank you very much.

MUSIC Well we made it back to the top, vertical and smiling.

Ain't no hill for a climber.

Our next stop is guaranteed to be a great history lesson about how a young couple, Ruby and Minnie Syrett.

happened on Bryce Canyon in 1916.

They fell in love with the canyon at first sight, and went on to help put Bryce Canyon on the map by establishing the first lodging in the area.

Let's check out an iconic landmark.

Ruby's Inn and meet Ruby and Minnie's great grandson, Mister Lance Syrett.

MUSIC How are you doing, Lance?

Nice to meet you Steve.

It's nice to have you here in Bryce Canyon National Park.

Well, thank you and great to be here at Ruby's Inn.

And there's so much history here because you were the first lodging establishment and it was called, was it the Tourist Rest?

That's correct.

Yes.

It say it was established by my great grandparents who were Ruby and Minnie Syrett A lot of people think Ruby was a woman because Ruby is a woman's name.

But you know what?

His name was Reuben.

So Ruby and Minnie they came out here and, you know, they actually coming out here to be ranchers under the Homestead Act, and they didn't know much about the area.

They're from the town of Panguitch, and they came out here and they, they're right where we're standing here today was the site of their ranch that they purchased, and they purchased sight unseen, and they came out here and they, were here for several weeks.

And there was, a cousin of theirs from the town of Tropic, which is where I live now, very close and very close.

And he came by to check on them, and he said, hey, Ruby, have you seen Bryce Canyon yet?

And Ruby says, no, what is it?

And he says, well, it's just a big hole in the ground, but you ought to go look at it.

And so anyways, so they went up there to, where sunset Point is now, and they looked off in there and they said, that's one of the most beautiful things we've ever seen.

They wrote letters to their friends and said, you need to come and see this Bryce Canyon.

So eventually, family member took him up on it, come out and looked at it, and they said, wouldn't it be cool if we could sleep right here at this sunset point and just kind of camp here and enjoy this?

And, he came back to his ranch here and, got some supplies and went out there that night, and he camped on the rim of the canyon.

And this got him thinking, said, I think people are going to want to come do this one day.

That's wild.

That you're saying.

Yes.

Because basically the same thing happened to J.w Humphrey here.

We talked about it.

J.W.

Humphrey, of course, was a Forest Service manager, and he was stationed in Panguitch.

He had just come and one of his employees said, you've got to check out this canyon.

And so he made that 20 mile ride on his pony, on his horse.

And immediately the same thing happened.

He said to himself, he said, what can I do to make this accessible to people?

And he got that $50 that he got from the U.S.

Forest Service to build that first road to the Rim Canyon.

And that had to have a lot to do with bringing people to the canyon, where Ruby and Minnie saw what was going on and made it happen.

Absolutely.

J.W.

his history and our history, you know, collide right there.

And it was a good thing that they met.

And, you know, between J.W.

and, my great grandparents, they had a lot of vision.

And, you know, we share our founding a year.

The year 1916 was a big year for US because that's when the National Park Service was created.

Okay.

And, so Ruby and Minnie came out here during 1916, and, of course, you know, the National Park Service was created.

They're just getting their feet, their footing, and they're coming out here to the West, and they're looking for places to establish these national parks.

1916 is a big year for the national parks.

It's a big year for us.

And, eventually my great grandparents got permission to actually serve visitors.

As they came to Bryce Canyon, they established what they called the tourist rest right there at Sunset Point.

You know, the road went right up there and they served guests for several years there.

And the rest is history.

Yeah.

We came from Tourist Rest to Ruby's Inn, and that's where we are now.

And you're proudly taking care of thousands of people every single year.

We've been here for almost 110 years, and we hope to be here for 110 more.

Well, I bet you will.

And this is a wonderful piece of history and a must stop when you're on your way to Bryce Canyon National Park.

Lance, thank you so very much, Steve.

It was a pleasure to have you.

Well, you got a beautiful home.

< LAUGHTER > Thank you.

You're always welcome back.

Thank you, my friend.

MUSIC We're here in front of the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge, and this place has a great history.

It opened in 1925.

Construction started in 1924, and they celebrated their 100th anniversary this year.

Pretty darn cool.

And the thing that's so neat about this place is that the folks who worked here back in the day, I'm talking about in the 20s and the 30s and the 40s and even up, I think, into the 50s, they were hired to do two things.

One was guest services, and the other one was to do what's called a sing away.

So if somebody checked into this lodge, when they checked out, they had a group of singers who were guest service people to sing them away.

This is a real cool place to stay.

Bryce Canyon Lodge, great history right here.

We're on our way to hike the Mossy Cave Trail.

Now, this trail provides access to Water Canyon in one direction and Mossy Cave in the other.

It's an easy hike and it is beautiful.

We're here at the Mossy Cave trailhead.

That's at the far north end of the park.

Now, we've come down in elevation from 9100ft at Rainbow Point to about 6800ft here.

And we're going to hike this Mossy Cave trail that's a little less than a mile round trip.

And it's very interesting because it's not really a trail.

It's more of an overhang, but it's pretty darn cool.

And then we're going to check out this water ditch that was dug by hand many, many years ago to supply water to the town of Panguitch.

MUSIC We're here at Mossy Cave, which actually is not a cave, as you see.

It's more of an overhang, and you've got a natural spring that comes through this moss and on down.

Now it's almost dry right now because it's been a drought.

It's been a very dry year.

But in the wintertime when this thing is flowing, you have these huge icicles that come down from the top of this overhang and it's incredible.

And next we're going to check out that water ditch that was so hard to dig.

The water into Mossy Cave Ditch comes from the East fork of the Severe River, which was diverted by a man made, hand dug canal that the pioneers named the Tropic Ditch, without this canal being dug in 1892.

The town of Tropic and surrounding towns probably would not have survived.

Whoo!

Man.

MUSIC You know what?

I don't deserve to live this good.

Whoo!

MUSIC When we talk about the history of a park, and like Bryce, for example, you wonder how it got his name.

Well, it's pretty simple.

A gentleman, a mormon gentleman, a settler in 1875 by the name of Ebenezer Bryce, moved his family to this area, began lumbering.

He did timber because Bryce is not just hoodoos.

Look at all the timber behind us.

Well, he started lumbering and he built a road to the valley of the canyon, to the bottom of the canyon.

And so everybody, when they started logging, when they started timbering, they went down what they called Bryce's Canyon Road.

So it became Bryce's Canyon.

Well, that was Bryce's Canyon, of course, until it became a national monument.

Then it was Bryce Canyon, then Bryce Canyon National Park.

Thanks, Ebeneezer.

We appreciate it.

You know, there's something spiritual about this place.

And when you get away by yourself, it's magical.

And nature's critters they seem happy too.

Look at them.

Not a care in the world.

And with skies so clear, you can see for 70 miles.

This place is very, very special.

MUSIC We've been hiking here at Bryce Canyon for three wonderful days, and there comes a time and I don't like that when you've got to say goodbye.

Oh, my gosh, this place is a gem.

It is a jewel.

There are not enough adjectives out there to describe this park.

Its beauty, its history, its geology, you name it.

It's all here.

And I think I would like to change the name of our national parks period to our national treasures, because that's the way we need to treat them.

Every single one of them is a true treasure, and I want to thank everybody who's helped preserve that.

I've hiked here at the park.

I did not do one single litter segment like I usually do when I say, hey, we need to keep it clean.

We need to pick this up.

Do you see this?

Do you see that?

We didn't have that happen.

Not one piece of litter did I pick up while I was here.

I want to thank the volunteers to keep this place so pristine.

I want to thank all the people who built these trails that keep them so pristine.

I want to thank the Rangers.

I want to thank BJ Cluff.

Now, BJ Cluff is one of the head rangers here at the visitor center, and she's an interpretive ranger and a darn good one.

Thank you BJ.

I want to thank my son, Zachary, Zack Weldon.

He's a true mountaineer and I'm so proud of that young man.

I couldn't see straight anyway.

And I want to thank, of course, my all star cameraman, Mr.

Mark Brant.

He does a great job of making this old mug look almost tolerable.

I want to say goodbye from Bryce Canyon and encourage you to get off that couch.

Get off that computer, get off that cell phone and walk the national parks.

Walk the national forest.

Just get off that couch and get after it.

Life's too short.

Be good to yourself.

You deserve it.

See you next time on Walkin West.

<SINGING> Well, I've been hiking the last few days in a canyon they call Bryce.

With hoodoos galore and a whole lot more this park is awful nice.

The vertical game didn't cause much pain but I'm grinning ear to ear.

It didn't bother me a lick that I was dragging up the rear.

As I say goodbye from the canyon, I have one small request that you put this place on your bucket list and join us Walkin West.

Yeah, don't be slouch get off that couch and join us Walkin West.

That's all!

<POP> MUSIC Walkin West is sponsored by the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort in historic Jamestown, California, home to the great outdoors of the Mother Lode Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, owned by the Chicken Rancheria of Miwok Indians of California.

Walkin West is brought to you in part by Visit El Dorado, visit Tuolumne and visit Calaveras County visitors bureaus.

Discover the history of the gold rush, pristine mountain lakes and the waterfalls of Yosemite, all here in California's Gold Country.

Walkin West is brought to you by Ironstone Vineyards, home to a 44 pound gold leaf crystaline specimen, and where we've been producing red and white wines in the historic gold country since 1989.

Ironstone vineyards Murphy's, California.

Walkin West is brought to you by the Big Sur River Inn on the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur, California.

The Big Sur River Inn, where you can hike and explore the rugged coastal trails of the West in a respectful, responsible way.

Big Sur River Inn.