Travel to Bryce Canyon National Park

 

Perched on the edge of Utah’s soaring Paunsaugunt Plateau and 4 hours north-east of Las Vegas, is Bryce Canyon National Park, an ever-changing landscape of  soaring pinnacles, bottomless chasms, lofty, woodlands and forests of stone. Despite its name, this wild panorama of sand, stone and sky is not a canyon. 

Ever since, the unrelenting forces of water, wind and frost have carved the fins, hollows and hoodoos that punctuate this otherworldly wilderness. The plateau has long sustained human habitation, with many Native American tribes hunting and gathering here throughout millennia. The park’s name comes from Mormon settler, Ebenezer Bryce, who began ranching in the area in 1870.

The geological labyrinth proved problematic for the cattleman, and Ebenezer soon relocated, famously declaring that the amphitheater was “a eluvia place to lose a cow”. Most travelers start their journey at Old Bryce Town, to stock up on provisions and feel the spirit of the old west. Head into the heart of the park and stop by the Visitor Center to get all your information about Bryce Canyon, from maps and itinerary planners to road and weather condition updates.

From here, follow the Bryce Canyon Scenic Drive, which runs the length of the park. As most trailheads and overlooks are on the road’s eastern side, many travelers drive to the southernmost point first, to avoid crossing traffic at every stop on the return journey. Cruise along at your own pace by car, or climb aboard the regular shuttle bus that runs throughout the summer season. Park your car at Rainbow Point and from the lookout, cast your gaze north to the dramatic landscape stretching out before you.

Then be immersed in the fresh scent of spruce and fir, as you follow the Bristlecone Loop to Yuima Point, the highest viewpoint in the park. From here, the Grand Staircase stretches out before you, continuing all the way to the border of Arizona and on clear days, to the edge of Grand Canyon National Park. After beginning your return journey north, take in more spectacular views at Black Birch Canyon, Where the earth below plummets into a narrow ravine bordered by sandstone fins, and eroded rock pillars known as hoodoos.

Each viewpoint along the scenic drive provides a new and spectacular perspective of the park’s ethereal landscape. Continue north to Ponderosa and Agua Canyons where even more gargantuan statues, sculpted by the hands of time, await. According to Southern Paiute legend, a race of selfish, disrespectful creatures once lived in the canyon. Fed up, the trickster god, Coyote, turned them all to stone and their petrified bodies became the eerie hoodoos that adorn these amphitheaters.

The plateau is an ever changing canvas, and Mother Nature’s work is never complete. Even the most monolithic formations are vulnerable to her unrelenting hands. At Natural Bridge, gazes down though the arch, once a solid wall of rock, slowly eroded away by the hands of time. A further five minutes north, at aptly named Fair view Point, take in the soaring panoramas of Bryce Canyon and Grand Staircase National Monument. Then follow the short trail to Piracy Point for even more sweeping vistas.

A little further north, stand on the lip of the park’s namesake, Bryce Canyon, a spectacular 6-square-mile amphitheater. There are multiple viewpoints along its edge which are accessible by car and shuttle, or by hiking all or part of the epic 11-mile Rim Trail.

At Bryce Point, cast your gaze down at a labyrinth of orange glowing drip castles, and west, towards the canyon’s wall of windows. Then, follow the rim trail through ancient bristlecone and ponderosa pines, before emerging at the sheer cliff face of Inspiration Point. Continue along the Rim Trail, or drive to Sunset Point and stare off the edge into a sea of jagged crimson spires.

From Sunset Point, the iconic Navajo Loop trail descends through towering fins and pinnacles into the amphitheater. Weave your way down through the soaring corridor of Wall Street, and then past an unstring huddle of hoodoos known as the Silent City. If you’ve got the time, extend your hike on the Queen’s Garden trail. Wander through mystical passageways into a cluster of hoodoos, where a formation bearing an uncanny likeness to Queen Victoria, presides over her garden of stone. Then, begin your ascent up to Sunrise Point on the Rim Trail.

If you choose not to hike down into the amphitheater, follow the paved stretch of the Rim Trail from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point. This section of trail is wheelchair and stroller friendly and offers some of the most awe-inspiring views of Bryce Canyon. As you gaze out at this ever-changing canvas of sunset-colored spires, coral fins, and terracotta cliff faces, you will take in the work of hundreds of millions of years in a single glance.

This is a place whose glorious scale will make you feel small, and there is something truly humbling and liberating about that. So come walk beneath the shadows of giants, and stand upon the towering shoulders of nature, at Bryce Canyon National Park.