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Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park's hoodoo's are a colorful, beautiful and unique feature of Utah's national parks. It is not a canyon but a series of natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.

Utah

1999, 2005, 2012, 2016, 2017

About The Park

Southern Utah has five magnificent national parks, Bryce, Zion, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches. All of them are dominated by red rock yet all of them are uniquely different.

Bryce Canyon, at 55 square miles, is the smallest and is not a canyon. It is a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctively beautiful due to geological structures called hoodoos. With 260 days out of the year where the night time temperature drops below freezing and warms during the day, the cycle of freezing and thawing of water that seeps into cracks carves the hoodoos.

The 18 mile long Rim Road out to Rainbow Point is a must. There are a number stop offs along the way where you can look down on the natural amphitheaters that nature has carved into the walls of the plateau.

The most dramatic of these is the Bryce amphitheater. Inspiration Point and Bryce Point probably give you the most dramatic view of what seems like thousands of hoodoos carved by nature over the eons. The amphitheater is a breath-taking sight. The first time we were out there, at Bryce Point, what struck us most was the silence of the people who were out there. No one made a sound; it seemed like everyone was awestruck.

Unlike Zion, you are still allowed to drive your car along the Rim Road. There is a free shuttle bus that you can pick-up at the visitor center a few miles from the entrance station. Given that parking at the various amphitheaters along the way is limited the shuttle is a very viable and eco-friendly option.

 

If you drive out to the end of Rim Road you are at the end of the plateau and it feels like the end of the world. Rainbow Point looks back towards the Bryce amphitheater and the Pink Cliffs in the distance. A short Trail leads to Yovimpa Point, the highest point in Bryce at 9,105 feet (2,775 m), where you have a panoramic view of the Grand Staircase. On a clear day they say you can see 200 miles down to Mt. Trumbull on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Regrettably the word clear day seems to be an oxymoron these days. Suffice to say both of these points have expansive views but ultimately the haze limits the distance that you can see.

Bryce is a park that you can see in one day. You can drive the Rim Road, stop at the Bryce amphitheater, and drive out to Rainbow Point. On the way out or on the way back you stop at a few of the other amphitheaters and enjoy the scenery. Obviously won’t get the full park experience but you will have seen the incomparable beauty that caused this to become a national park. I’ve done this a couple of times on some of my trips down to southern Utah when I was driving from one park to another on Utah’s famously scenic highway 12 without a plan to stop and stay in Bryce Canyon. One time I drove in and straight to the Bryce amphitheater, marveled at the beauty, and continued on my way. As a senior, with a senior pass, not having to pay the entrance fee made this an easy side trip for me.

A word about highway 12. It is on many a list of the top most scenic roads in the country. It runs for 112 miles, starting at US 89 in the east, and goes through beautiful Red Canyon which is like a miniature Bryce. It passes Bryce and eventually goes through an area called The Hogsback near Boulder, Utah. This is one of the most remote parts of the country and is amazingly beautiful.

Wildlife

For the larger wildlife there are foxes, badgers, porcupines, elk, black bears, bobcats, mule deer, cougars and coyotes. The Utah prairie dog was reintroduced to the park. On past trips there was a small prairie dog town in Dave’s Hollow Meadow across from the visitor center. The park service was trying to get prairie dogs to populate the east creek meadow just south of the turn off to Bryce Point.

Lodging  

Bryce Canyon Lodge

If you’re planning on staying a few days in Bryce then the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge would be the best place to stay. As with most of the national parks lodges, if you want the dates that you want, then making reservations a year in advance is a good idea. Right outside the lodge there are a number of cabins. They are more than adequate and there is nothing like being only a short walk from the rim. Staying in any national park, in my estimation, where the lodging may be a bit more rustic is better than being in a deluxe room in some hotel nearby. In the parks, the nights are darker, the stars more numerous and vivid, and you are in a place where the lighting is kept intentionally low. Bryce is known for its excellent stargazing, the sky being one of the darkest in North America.

 

Ruby’s Inn

Right outside the entrance to the park in what is now known as Bryce Canyon City there’s Ruby’s Inn and the new Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel. Ruby’s is a western one-stop shopping resort for lodging, gas, various attractions and a huge gift shop and market. You can even spend the night in a teepee.

Hiking

There are some very nice hikes. Most of the hikes start at the rim and head down to the valley below. These hikes are easy going down but not so easy going back up. Bryce’s elevation along the Rim Road ranges from 8,000-9,105 feet (2,438 to 2,775 m) so the air is thinner which makes hiking back up to the rim more challenging. The Grand Canyon’s allow two hours up for every one hour hiking down rule is worth remembering when hiking in Bryce.

All of the hikes in the Bryce amphitheater area weave in and out of the hoodoos. The Navajo Loop trail is a nice way to experience the hoodoos up close. It’s a series of switchbacks down and back up.

Navajo Trail

The Navajo (loop) Trail is a 1.3 mile round-trip down into the Bryce amphitheater through a slot canyon. It’s a switchback carved into the side of the plateau. You can take it back up or take a similar trail called Wall Street to get back to the rim.

Queens Garden Trail

The Queens Garden Trail is probably the easiest trail down into the canyon. It’s a 1.8 mile round-trip and it doesn’t take much imagination to see Queen Victoria on top of a hoodoo. There are a number of hoodoos that nature has carved into easily imaginable forms. There’s Thor’s hammer, the three vases, the hunter, the rabbit, the poodle, and the Tower Bridge. Some of these require a hike to see them; others are visible from points along the Rim Trail or stops along the Rim Road.

Combining the Queens Garden Trail with a Navajo Loop Trail is a great easy hike if you have more time. Once you’ve descended you spend more time on a nice level walk down in the valley where you are looking up at the amphitheaters above you. Whichever direction you decide to combine these two you wind up back at the rim trail and no more than about a half-mile hike back to where you started from.

Both of these trails are rather popular and you’ll have plenty of company on them. Solitude is best found on some of the longer and more difficult trails.

Rim Trail

One of the trails that you don’t hike down is the Rim Trail which runs for about 5½ miles along the rim. It’s partly paved and partly hard packed clay but not completely flat. There are several moderately steep sections especially at the Bryce Point end of the trail. The Rim trail is accessible from almost every parking area and the Bryce Canyon Lodge so it’s easy to do as little or as much of it as you want.

Bristlecone Loop Trail

At the end of the road, at Rainbow Point, there’s the Bristlecone Loop Trail. This is an easy 1 mile walk through a bristlecone pine forest where some of the trees are over 1600 years old.

There is a separate page on this website for Utah’s highway 12 which is on many a list of the most scenic highways in America. If you are traveling in the area, especially if you are driving between Bryce and Moab, you’ll want to read about this route. The link is below.

Bryce Canyon National Park Photo Gallery

Highway 12 - Rated as one of the most scenic roads in America

Other Resources

Bryce Canyon National Park on the National Parks Service website - NPS.gov


Bryce Canyon National Park - Wikipedia


Bryce Canyon Lodge - Official Site


Bryce Canyon Area Lodging


Bryce Canyon Lodge - Wikipedia

Other National Parks and National Monuments Within a Day’s Drive

Zion Canyon National Park is on the short list of America’s most beautiful national parks and is about 106 miles away and about a 2.5 hour drive.

Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim This is the side much less traveled but no less awesome and is about 166 miles away and about a 3.5 hour drive.

Capitol Reef National Park is 150 miles to the northeast and about a 4 hour drive on Utah’s incredibly scenic Highway 12. There’s a link below that will tell you and show you why.

Cedar Breaks National Monument is often called a mini-Bryce Canyon and is 78 miles north and about a 1.5 hour drive.

Vermillion Cliffs National Monument is a wilderness of slickrock, canyons and strange buttes. It is about a 2.5 hour drive to the south.
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Updated 02/11/23 7:04 PM