Day Seven – Bryce National Park is America’s psychedelic park; the place where the great spirit dropped a tab of LSD and then decided to sculpt red Play-dough towers from the bodies of the dead Paiute “Legend People” into a surreal landscape of glowing rock. There is no place like it on earth. And the trails are trippy and fun. You are going to go walking through a world that drips with delight and stay in one of America’s grandest old lodges. Get ready for a truly special day!
How to Get There
Drive Highway 89 west to Kanab. (70 miles) This is a full service
city where you can get supplies, outdoor gear, and souvenirs.
Continue on Highway 89 north toward Salt Lake City. This is the
same route you took when you were coming from Zion. You will
stay on Highway 89 until the turnoff onto Highway 12, just past the
town of Hatch. (55 miles) Along the way you will pass through
many small, historic Mormon towns – Orderville, Glendale, Alton
and Hatch.
Insider Tip!
- Utah is an hour later than Arizona!
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Save Money!
- Annual Pass – Don’t forget to use the Annual Pass you purchased at Zion. This will get you into the park for free. This is your fifth National Park. Your pass has now paid for itself and put another $45 in your pocket!
Bryce National Park
“The Bryce Canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area around Bryce Canyon became a National Monument in 1923 and was designated as a National Park in 1928. The park covers 35,835 acres (55.992 sq mi) and receives relatively few visitors compared to Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, largely due to its remote location.”
– National Park Service Brochure
“Bryce National Park was created in 1928 in order to showcase and protect what is arguably one of America’s most phantasmagoric parks. It features a fairly shallow canyon of colossal rock pillars, called hoodoos. And true to their name, they cast a spell on all those who gaze into their depths. For almost 60 million years, Bryce laid at the bottom of a large inland sea. Fifty million years ago, during the Tertiary Period, rivers and streams began to deposit iron-rich sediments atop the original fresh water layers. The iron is what gives the Claron Formation its psychedelic orange hues, and water, wind, and ice did the rest, creating a canyon full of stony needles stretching gracefully into the sky.”– The Canyon Chronicles
Best Lodging
Bryce Lodge Cabins ($200)
“Experience the rustic elegance at one of the grand western lodges designed for national parks in the 1920’s. A National Historic Landmark, The Lodge at Bryce Canyon is the only lodge of that era to remain largely intact. The decor and atmosphere maintains that authenticity while tending to guest’s comfort and needs.
The Lodge is ideally located nearby the canyon’s rim and hiking trailheads. Guests are only steps away from scenic viewpoints, fine dining, shopping, and park programs.
The lodge is a non smoking property. All rooms have telephones, clock radios, hair dryers, coffee-makers, portable fans, and thermostat-controlled heat.
To preserve the lodge’s rustic feel and experience, there are no televisions on the property, including guest rooms. No air conditioning is needed, as the mild climate in Bryce, boasts summer highs rarely in the 80’s along with lows in the 40’s and 50’s. We do offer wi fi in the main lodge.” (Coverage does not reach guest rooms.)”
– Bryce Lodge Brochure
- Bryce Lodge
Camping
Bryce Canyon National Park has two campgrounds, North and Sunset, located in close proximity to the visitor center, Bryce Canyon Lodge and the geologic wonder that is the Bryce Amphitheater. Both have restrooms with flush toilets, and drinking water. During the summer months, coin-operated laundry and shower facilities are available at the general store nearby. There are no hook-ups in the campgrounds, but a fee-for-use dump station is available for RV users at the south end of North Campground.
NOTE: Dump-station is closed during months with freezing temperatures.
Both campgrounds are located in Ponderosa Pine forest habitat with equal amounts of shade and sun, giving them a similar appearance. All sites are limited to 10 people [with no more than 6 adults (adult=16 and up)], 3 tents and 2 vehicles and cost $30 per RV site per night, and $20 per tent site per night. Holders of the Interagency Senior Pass and Access Pass (part of the America The Beautiful – National Park Service & Federal Lands Pass System) or the Golden Age and Golden Access Passes, receive a 50% discount. Sites fill by early afternoon during the summer months. Click here for a map of both campgrounds. A Group Site is available in Sunset Campground.
North Campground has 13 RV sites available by reservation and 86 RV and Tent Sites available on a first-come, first-served basis. Sunset Campground has 20 Tent Sites and a Group site available by reservation and 80 RV and Tent Sites available on a first-come, first-served basis. Check individual pages for more information.
Best Places To Eat
Lake Powell Resort – Rainbow Room (Breakfast)
Willow Canyon Outdoors Co Gear Books Espresso in Kanab
Ruby’s Inn in Bryce (Lunch) – Ruby’s has it all! A pretty nice restaurant, Camping, RV Center w/hookups, General Store, Gas, one to three hour guided ATV tours, mountain bike rentals, hiking, AND a nightly rodeo.
Bryce Canyon Lodge (Dinner)Best Hikes
Wall Street/Peek-a-Boo Loop/Queen’s Garden – A strenuous hike with lots of steep sections, but this three trail combo encompasses the best parts of the inner canyon. (8 miles – 6 hours) * You don’t have to do all three hikes if you don’t have the time or the energy. Just do Navajo Loop, or the Queen’s Garden Loop.
“My goal was to burn-run through the park’s most celebrated trails, starting with the Fairyland Loop and ending at Tower Natural Bridge.It took me about two hours to cover the fairly flat and easy trail up and back. The only prolonged steep grade I encountered was climbing back out to the rim. The rest of the time, it was pretty an undulating cakewalk through a world of red-barked manzanita bushes, skeletal ponderosa pine, and red rocks that defy one’s imagination.
It was like a world of play dough made by a god who was high on acid.
I came back to the car and the parking lot was getting crowded, mostly Japanese standing at the rim’s edge endlessly snapping pictures of everything they saw. But no one was hiking down into the canyon. It was goofy as shit.
I grabbed a cold beer from the cooler and sat watching the touron show with amusement.
It really is amazing how little of our national parks that the visitors actually see. They are content to walk out to a viewpoint, snap a photo, and then head to the gift shop for a cold soda and a postcard.
I drove over to Sunset Point and took the fairly steep Navajo Loop trail, passing through Wall Street, a collection of arches and polished walls that looked like they had been carved with the world’s biggest knife.
I proceeded on at a quick pace to the Queen’s Garden where several of the higher spots along the trail offered panoramic views of Bryce Creek and the Tropic Valley to the east. I could see green pastureland in the distance with the snow-covered Aquarius Plateau looming in the background.
I retraced my steps and when I got back to the junction with the Navajo Trail I took what all the guide books said was the best trail in the park: the Peek-a-Boo Loop. The name turned me off, but the hype turned out to be right on target. This steep, roller coaster trail featured a large number of natural windows and arches, cut through the porous sandstone rock. It was like a trippy dollhouse.
– The Canyon Chronicles
After your long hike, head back to your hotel rim, freshen up, grab a frosty beverage of choice, and then head out to Sunset Point @ Bryce National Park. (0.5 miles RT from the Lodge)
Save Money!
The free Bryce Canyon Shuttle will operate April 24 –September 30, 2015 at the following times:
April 24 –May 17: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
May 18 –September 8: 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
September 9 –30: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.Shuttle buses run every 10-15 minutes and serve the most popular viewpoints and facilities in the park.
Wildlife – Bryce features some very unique species of animal including Pronghorn Antelope, Great Basin Rattlesnake, Mountain Lion, Utah Prairie Dog, Uinta Chipmunk, Goden-Mantled Ground Squirrel, and the noisy Steller’s Jays and Clark’s Nutcrackers.Insider Tips!
- Wi-Fi coverage at Bryce National Park is limited to the lobby of the Lodge. That’s it!
- There are multiple motel, food and shopping services located right outside the Park in the small town of Bryce City, but it takes forever to get back into the park because of all the traffic at the entrance station. Motel rooms in the town of Bryce will run you about $150 a night.
- Remember that you are at about 8,500 feet and the oxygen is thinner, so it’s harder to breathe.
- Weather – From April through October, days are pleasant, and the nights cool. Winter days are brisk and bright. Most overlooks remain open even in winter.
- Bryce features some of the clearest skies in the Southwest. The combination of high elevation, clean dry air, and the lack of light pollution make Bryce Canyon star gazing truly exceptional. The Park Service offers a Dark Ranger Program to help you witness and learn about the ancient world above the sky.
- The Dixie National Forest surrounds the park. Take a dirt road and you can camp primitively anywhere you like. If you want to camp with bathrooms and water, there are numerous campgrounds along Highway 12 in Red Canyon. There are also private campgrounds at Ruby’s and several other locations very near the park.
