The Best Days in Bryce Canyon
Place: Bryce Canyon National Park
State: Utah
Closest Cities: Kanab, UT, Saint George, UT
Time of Year: March 2024
How we got there: Road Trip
If you are traveling to Utah, I bet you have Bryce Canyon National Park on your list! I mean, it is the most unique out of Utah’s Mighty Five! With the slogan “Hoodoo You Love”, it makes you want to stand up and shout, “I Love Bryce Canyon!”. Cesar and I had visited Bryce Canyon with our boys many years ago and jumped at the chance to see it again with my brother Marc and his wife, Stephanie. This was part of a 9 day road trip starting in Monument Valley and ending in Page, AZ. I will be writing more about that later!
Day 1
We started our day in Loa, UT where we had spent the night after visiting Capital Reef National Park and The Grand Staircase. You can read about that here: https://dawntillduskaz.com/conquering-capital-reef-national-park/. We stayed in an amazing 3 bedroom master suite in a boutique hotel called The Snuggle Inn. If you ever find yourself in Loa, UT check them out! I found them on Airbnb.
Our drive was about 1.5 hours to Bryce Canyon however it had snowed the night before and the roads were only somewhat clear when we started our drive. It was a beautiful drive but slow going as we got ahead of the snow plows and found ourselves on snow packed roads that the plows hadn’t reached yet. Bryce is a little remote so we passed through really small towns. We were anxious to get started on our day when we finally reached the round a bout that leads into Bryce Canyon with a cute little sign welcoming us! Of course we also stopped at the national park sign as well on our way in!
After our quick sign photos, we headed right to Sunset Point where we would start our hike! The parking lot was full so we had to park on the side of the road and walk about 1/4 of a mile to the trailhead. All bundled up to keep warm, we made our way to Sunset Point where we would pick up the Queen’s Garden Trail. This is the most popular trail and lookout point so there were quite a lot of people even in the snowy, icy conditions. You can also take Sunrise to Sunset Point however we believe that the views are better if you do this loop clockwise starting at Sunset Point. The beginning of our hike was crowded. Right away, what was supposed to be red sand became red mud! I am talking about a thick, slick, soggy mess! There was a traffic jam however, we knew the crowds would thin the longer we hiked. Our hiking shoes were crusted with an inch of mud and we could hardly keep our balance! The last thing I wanted was to fall into this gooey mess! Navigating through the crowds in thick mud was a feat in itself!
As we slowly made our way down into the amphitheater, we found ourselves surrounded by tall spires called hoodoos. It is even more extra special when everything is dusted with snow!
We hiked through small tunnels and arches. The hoodoos were now towering above us as we descended. It was feeling a little warm at this point, so off went our jackets.
At the end of Queen’s Garden we found the red sandstone formation that somewhat resembles Queen Victoria and is how the trail got its name! We did not do a good job making sure the queen was the center point of our picture, but you can see her off to the far right in the first picture behind the tree! Apparently, we were more interested in the cool formation directly behind me!
At the intersection, we had to make a choice. We could make this a short hike and take the Navajo Loop back up toward Sunrise Point or we could link Peek A Boo Loop. Of course, we decided to add another 4 miles and take Peek a Boo Loop. As we started gaining a little elevation, it began to snow and our jackets went back on! The trail turned from red mud to packed snow. We slipped and slid up and down this winding trail and thought about stopping to put on our crampons. We decided against it knowing that we would be back in the mud soon enough. Mud and crampons aren’t a good mix! There were significantly less people on the Peek A Boo Loop which we were grateful for!
The Wall of Windows was on this route and it was pretty impressive!
The snow flurries turned to grapple and we came across more tunnels and arches!
It was time to look for a picnic spot! Not a lot of choices with the weather, but we did find a log with an amazing view of the amphitheater and a few lonely trees!
When our 4 mile Peek A Boo extension met back up with the Queens Garden intersection, we joined the Navajo Trail that would take us back up. In the summer months, you would have another choice to make. The Navajo Trail has two sides, Wall Street and Two Bridges. Because we were here in the early Spring, Wall Street was closed. Wall Street would be the more popular route, however both are worth it. Today we would go up the Two Bridges side. This was a steady climb and soon we were on the famous switchbacks with walls of limestone and huge Douglas-fir trees lining the path.
As we were completing the last 1/2 mile of our 7 mile adventure, we passed Thor’s Hammer. I thought it was particularly beautiful on this day! Thor’s Hammer can be seen from the Rim Trail above if you did not want to hike down. If you want to see it from the view in my picture, you can hike a short distance down the Two Bridges side of Navajo Trail.
Normally this 7 mile hike would not wear us out, but trudging through mud and snow takes something out of you! We were cold and tired and decided to stop in the general store located near Sunrise Point for some hot soup and crackers which we enjoyed on the deck out front. Upon returning to our car we found icicles had formed on the underside!
As soon as we drove out of Bryce Canyon National Park headed to Orderville, UT for the night, the snow stopped and the sun came out! I rented an Airbnb in Orderville because it was between Bryce Canyon and Zion. It turned out to be such a cute little house that was perfect for our 4 day stay.
There were a few restaurants in town but nothing to write home about! Marc and Stephanie choose one that was known for its homemade pies. The food was over priced and just mediocre, but we had fun taking pictures with the pie lady cardboard cutout and we laughed a lot!
The next morning we drove 1.5 hours back to Bryce Canyon in hopes of better weather! Our first stop was the short Mossy Cave hike which was under a mile round trip. It is the lowest elevation hike in the park and if you are there in the winter/early spring like us, you will find the cave full of icicles as well as moss! There was also a small waterfall which I am sure is more free flowing in the late spring.
Our next hike would start at Sunrise Point, where we would pick up the Tower Bridge trailhead which is the southern portion of the Fairyland Loop Trail. The snow was absent today however the mud was not! Right away our shoes were covered in mud again as we made our way down the trail.
There were fewer hoodoos but still beautiful views!
We passed a few pretty interesting trees along the way and I got the feeling we were entering Whoville!
The hike down was steep in places but for the most part fairly easy. About 1.75 miles in we reached the Tower Bridge which resembles the Tower Bridge in London! It is much smaller than I expected but still worth a look!
From this point you can continue on the Fairlyland Loop Trail making it an 8 mile round trip or you can do what we did and backtrack up to Sunrise Point. This would be our last day in the park and we wanted to set some time aside to visit all the lookout points on the scenic drive.
Again we stopped at the little general store for some hot soup to go with our picnic before we started out scenic drive. We decided to drive out to Rainbow and Yovimpa Points first and then make our way back stopping at the popular view points like Bruce Point and Inspiration Point.
There were not as many people at Rainbow Point since it was about 20 miles from the visitor’s center. Rainbow and Yovimpa Points are at the highest elevation in the park. You can see miles and miles toward the south eastern part of Utah which we had visited in the days leading up to our Bryce canyon visit.
The Natural Bridge was one on my favorite stops. Its a quick one with an amazing up close view of a natural bridge. Even more special with the early spring snow sprinkled on top!
Bryce Point would be our next stop and it was not as easy to get a parking spot here! We had to wait in line for the next car to leave. I recommend doing these view points early before the crowds arrive. Remember that 90 percent of the visitors in most national parks only visit the viewpoints. Peek A Boo Trailhead starts here as well as the beginning of the Rim Trail if you just want to hike along the rim and not go down into the amphitheater. The day before we connected the Queen’s Garden Trail with Peek A Boo so it was neat to see the trail that we hiked down below. We searched for our picnic spot and pointed out the places we remembered passing on our hike.
Inspiration Point was by far the most crowded spot and for good reason! You truly get an idea of why this is called the amphitheater! You can definitely get inspired here! Don’t forget to check out the Upper Inspiration lookout as well. On this day it was steep and muddy and not as easy to maneuver the slope coming down.
Tired and hungry, we decided to stop right outside the gate of Bryce Canyon for a little dinner before heading back to Orderville, UT. The food was a little better than the night before and my brother Marc got to try the Polygamy Porter!
The next day would be a big day for us in Zion National Park. You can read all about that adventure here: https://dawntillduskaz.com/overzealous-in-zion/. Hope you too can experience Bryce Canyon in all its glory! Please remember to hike responsibly and leave no trace!
