As mentioned yesterday, we spent Sunday roaming around Bryce Canyon National Park. Though this is usually grouped into the same sentence as Zion, the two parks are very different. Bryce Canyon is at a higher elevation than Zion, so cooler temperatures. Also Zion seems many more tourists than Bryce Canyon does, though you still need to try to avoid the massive tour buses. And while Zion actually is a canyon, Bryce really isn’t a canyon and is actually considered a natural amphitheater created by erosion of the land plateau.

I’ve heard that sunrise is an amazing sight to see at Bryce, and though we tried our hardest to get there early, we didn’t make it until 8:30 or so. Still the light was pretty low, and we immediately headed for a couple of the overlooks to take in the sights and get some pictures. Soon enough, we started encountering larger crowds, and decided that it was time to get away from most others with a hike down into the amphitheater and surrounding areas.

We started at the very crowded Sunset Point and quickly moved through the switchbacks and down into the hoodoos. This trail is called the Navajo loop and it leads down through Wall Street, a very narrow slot canyon. Once we reached the much less crowded floor, we headed further out on the Peek-A-Boo trail, with excellent views of the Wall of Windows along the way.

Once we completed the Peek-A-Boo loop we opted to skip the remaining Navajo loop that we had not done yet, and instead started the Queens Garden trail. This trail leads to one very famous hoodoo named after Queen Victoria, which it supposedly resembles. Once we arrived at the sign marking Queen Victoria, I must admit that I didn’t see it. I saw the rock in question, but didn’t see how it could look like the Queen. The sign does say that the formation is continually changing, so perhaps it is not as defined as it once was?

After seeing the Queen, we finished off the hike by continuing up the trail to Sunrise Point. From there it was a quick half mile or less hike back to the car at Sunset Point. All things considered this trail was an awesome way to see the park, though if I did it again I would likely skip the Queens Garden section. The highlight of the entire trip is definitely the Peek-A-Boo loop. And even though this park is amazingly beautiful, I may have been a bit spoiled at Zion the previous day.

Southwestern Utah on Dwellable