Bryce Canyon Nat’l Park: Why You NEED to Go!

If you’ve never been to Bryce Canyon National Park, you NEED to add it to your itinerary when you are in the southern Utah area! Really, just add all of Southern Utah to your bucket list. The beauty of Bryce Canyon will blow you away! It is almost as if someone just picked up the park and placed it in the middle of where you wouldn’t expect it to be! The hoodoo formations are incredible to see in person and SO beautiful, let alone their vibrant burnt orange color (see image below)! Every single day of my Utah/Arizona adventure I said “wow, I think today is the best hike of the trip” because everything was so freaking amazing…this post hopefully sums up why I loved Bryce.

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For full trip itinerary, see post linked here. The day prior to Bryce, three girlfriends and I had come from Zion National Park where we had hiked The Narrows. We then drove the very scenic route to Ruby’s Inn RV Park and Campground, – Bryce Canyon, UT, where we stayed in a cabin with bunk beds for the night (slept 4 comfortably).  We were in Cabin 5 which was an excellent location in the campground and it was only ~$75 which was low compared to the high hotel rates. I did book this cabin about six months in advance to ensure we secured a place to sleep! Upon waking, we took the free shuttle right across the street from the campground into Bryce Canyon for the day so we didn’t have to worry about parking in the actual park. Keep an eye out for mule deer and other wildlife while riding the shuttle! I highly recommend taking the shuttle all the way to Bryce Point because that is the highest point in elevation and as you hike along the rim, the elevation decreases. Make sure you check the weather before you go to Bryce Canyon–it is at 9,000+ feet elevation so temps can be lower than other parts of Utah!

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Right from hopping off the shuttle at Bryce Point, we were speechless from the views. I had no idea what a hoodoo was prior to researching for this trip (in terms of the rock formation). We stopped to admire the views from the top every chance we got! We could have hiked Peek-A-Boo trail down into the hoodoos but that is a longer hike and we knew we would get a good taste of the hoodoos on the trail we’d hop on later so we opted to stay up top for a bit. We walked along the rim to visit Inspiration Point and admire the views down into the miles and miles of hoodoos! We continued walking to Sunset point where we hiked down the steep switchbacks to Wall Street where there is a little slot canyon that opens up to the hoodoos (for scale, see people walking through the slot canyon in the image below). Hiking down within the hoodoos was INSANE, it made me feel so tiny as they were towering overhead!! From the bottom of Wall Street, we then hopped on the Queens Garden Trail which is a loop. Of course, we had to stop halfway to eat our packed lunch of PB&Js on a fallen tree!

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We hiked by the rock that literally looks like a side view of Queen Victoria (do you see the queen in the image below!!?) and went through archways caused by rock formations. Since it was early in the day, the trails weren’t overly crowded at all, which was perfect! We had it all to ourselves most times. In total, we put in about 6 miles at this park but could have put in less if we opted to take the shuttle to each viewpoint (but miss the beauty along the way) or more if we would have hiked the other trails. In all though, I feel the route we took gave us a full taste of the park so I left with no regrets.

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If I went back to Bryce Canyon and had more time, I would hike Peek-a-Boo trail just because I am absolutely fascinated by the hoodoo formations and LOVE the color of them (especially at different times of day!). If you are planning a trip to Bryce, you can use this NPS guide of the trails.

We left Bryce Canyon around 1:30 pm to drive the 2.5 hours to Page, AZ to Lake Powell Wahweap RV & Camping Site to relax by the lake then pitch our tent ($30 for a tent site). That night, we ate dinner in Page, AZ, at State 48 Tavern- delicious jalapeño margaritas, FYI! We headed back to the campground to shower and head to sleep for an adventurous day ahead of Horseshoe Bend, Lower Antelope Canyon, and kayaking Lake Powell before driving to North Rim Grand Canyon!

Have you been to Bryce Canyon? Do you plan to go? Are you as fascinated by the hoodoos and the colors of them as I am? Tell me about it! Go explore friends!

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