Bryce Canyon National Park review: A wonder of the American West full of magical hoodoos!

 

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

President Franklin D. Roosevelt:  “There is nothing so American as our national parks…the fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”

Bryce Canyon National Park is one of those iconic places that immediately conjures up the American West.  It is a special place that is home to the largest concentration of hoodoos (irregular columns of rock) anywhere in the world.

It was, in fact, one of the national parks my wife and I really wanted to visit after watching YouTube videos about the park from one of my favorite YouTubers Adventure Archives.  I mean, what’s not to like about Bryce Canyon National Park?

The place is unique, full of incredibly beautiful hoodoos that seem to tower over everything on all sides.  The red rocks (along with other vibrant colored rocks) really sets the tone for this special, unique place that is Bryce Canyon National Park.

Located about 120 miles from Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park is one of the most visited national parks among Utah Big 5 at over 2.5 million visitors, second only to Zion National Park.  The park is situated along a high plateau at the top of the Grand Staircase at over 8,000 feet in elevation, providing fantastic geologic wonders and spectacular dark skies.

We left the town of Torrey near Capitol Reef National Park on the morning of January 3rd, 2023, heading towards Bryce Canyon National Park.  The drive would take us on UT-24, UT-62, UT-22, then UT-63.  

We thanked Google Maps for getting us to places like these through some of the most desolate roads we had ever traveled.  We didn’t see more than 20 cars during our two hour long drive to the park!  We didn’t see civilization for much of our 2 hour drive to Bryce Canyon.

We didn’t see gas stations, houses, warehouses, stores, or restaurants.  We again felt like what we felt just 2 days prior, driving from Moab (UT) to Capitol Reef National Park.  Road was mostly a country, two lane roads, cut through some of the most uninhabited parts of the country.  

It was getting darker with black clouds gathering in the skies above.  We saw snow falling slowly at low elevations, then gradually build up speed and intensity as we climbed in elevation.  We thanked Utah transportation department for clearing out these desolate & isolated roads.  Traveling on unpaved, snow-packed roads would’ve been incredibly difficult and dangerous.

We secretly hoped our car wouldn’t have any issues like a flat tire, drained battery, or worse.  We really didn’t want to even think about stopping in the middle of nowhere in Utah…

Somewhere in south central Utah…

Desolate and isolated roads…

The two hour drive felt much longer thanks to driving through white knuckle roads with hairpin turns at certain spots, and questionable weather with snow falling.  We were really hoping we didn’t hit heavier snow as we got closer to Bryce Canyon area.  

That, it turned out, wasn’t the case.  By the time we arrived in Bryce Canyon National Park, the snow was coming down hard and heavy.  It sure made everything beautiful, all covered in pristine white stuff, but it got us a bit worried about the road conditions at the park.

Unpaved Main Park Road at Bryce Canyon National Park 

We went past the entrance station, and we again saved $35 thanks to our America the Beautiful Pass we had purchased back in June.  It was the best $80 investment we had ever made!!!

We arrived at the visitor center at Bryce Canyon National Park, ready to use the restroom after what felt like a 5 hour drive, and not a 2 hour drive!  Afterwards, we looked around the neat visitor center to learn  about the park.  There were cool displays about the geology of Bryce Canyon and its history.

We then checked in with a ranger to get the latest information about the park, road conditions, and for hike recommendations.  The ranger told us the Main Park Road was closed due to weather conditions near Inspiration Point.  He recommended we check out all the overlooks that are opened up until Inspiration Point, and also recommended doing a hike down the famous Amphitheater.  

He suggested we use crampons (ice/snow cleats for traction) for hiking down the Amphitheater as the trails were covered in snow at the time.  We checked out the prices for crampons at the visitor center and realized they were about $40 per pair.  We decided not to buy them, but promised ourselves that we’ll try hiking down the trail, and if it’s too dangerous, we’d turn back.  

Visitor Center, Bryce Canyon National Park 

Cool display at the visitor center 

We thanked the friendly ranger then headed outside the park for some much needed lunch.  We were famished by then, and we wanted to head to our hotel.  We didn’t want to be stuck up there at the park with heavier snow falling down.  We promised ourselves to come back the next day early, and be ready to explore the park!

We drove outside the park for about 5 minutes to Best Western Plus Ruby’s Inn, as they had a restaurant that was open that day, but more importantly, it looked busy compared to other restaurants nearby.  Our rule of thumb when selecting a restaurant is this:  when in doubt, pick the one that is more popular!  There must be a good reason why it’s busy.  Hopefully, it’s because of taste, price, or both!

We got a booth at the Cowboy’s Buffet & Steak Room, and ordered fish tacos and a mushroom sandwich with a salad bar.  We wolfed down our salad, filling it up as high as we can stack them, then finished them in record time.  We went for seconds!

When our meals arrived, we were relatively satisfied, no longer grouchy and hangry (hungry & angry).  We thoroughly enjoyed the fish tacos and the mushroom sandwich.  The food was so good we went back there the next day, and ate exactly the same things!

Menu circa 1922!

Cowboy’s Buffet & Steak Room, Ruby’s Inn, Bryce Canyon

After our satisfying lunch, we drove about 15 minutes to our hotel in the town of Panguitch, Quality Inn Bryce Canyon.  The drive down to Panguitch was epic with beautiful red colored rocks and trees covered in snow.

When we arrived at our hotel, we were the only ones at the hotel!  We checked in, got our keys, then settled in after a hot shower for some much needed relaxation after a harrowing drive through desolate Utah roads…

Very humble but spacious room, Quality Inn Bryce Canyon

The next morning, the weather was cooperating as it was absolutely beautiful and sunny!  We got up early, then headed for the park, eager to do some hiking and sightseeing.

Thanks to the sunny and blue-skies kind of a day, our drive back up to the park was even more beautiful than the ride down the previous day.  See it for yourself!

Heading back up to the park!

We arrived at the park just after 9 a.m., then headed straight for the Sunrise Point for some hiking!  We parked our car amidst many early risers who had already parked their cars and were sightseeing.  It was a small parking lot, but we found a spot on our first try.  

We parked, then walked towards Sunrise Point to check out the views, then do some hiking afterwards.  The scenery was absolutely magnificent!  Thanks to the heavy snow just the day prior, everything was covered in white stuff, making it absolutely stunning and magical.

It was as if we had arrived at the North Pole, if it had hoodoos like these in bright red/brown colors.  We expected to see Santa Claus and his reindeers flying through the skies above.  It was perfect for the time of the year we were in.

We took in the magical sights, reveling in the landscape like no other on Planet Earth.  We were gifted by nature to view these magnificent geological features on a bright sunny day with snow covering them.  I’ve only seen similar images like these on National Geographic photography.  To see them up close and in person was fantastic…

View from Sunrise Point, Bryce Canyon National Park 

We headed towards the beginning of the Sunrise Point trailhead, next to the observation deck.  We observed other hikers as they descended down to the canyons below.  We saw families with little ones hiking down the snow covered trail without a fuss, so we figured we’d be ok as well.

We walked down very slowly, controlled, and gingerly to avoid any mishaps.  We took each step down making sure we had sure footing, especially up near the top of the trail, as it was fairly steep.  The fallen snow made it seem like it could break our fall, if we were to fall off the trail, but that was probably not true.

The fall would’ve been several hundred feet to the canyons below, most likely to kill or maim us.  Because of that, we took extra time hiking down while stopping frequently to gawk at the changing scenery at each stop.  The scenery cannot be properly described in words…You know what they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words…”  Here you go.

View from Sunrise Point trail, Bryce Canyon National Park 

Sunrise Point trail, Bryce Canyon National Park

Hoodoos covered in snow!

We continued our hike down when we encountered a tunnel which got our attention.  After seeing plenty of arches at Arches National Park, we were happy to see a similar geological feature.  

The tunnel along the Sunrise Point trail

The Sunrise Point trail connects to the famous Queen’s Garden Trail.  We kept going, and as the day was warming up, we were sweating profusely by then.  Walking on snow was definitely tougher than walking on normal surfaces, especially at high altitudes like at Bryce Canyon.

From the bottom of the canyon, the views changed, as we were looking up towards the hoodoos surrounding us at the Amphitheater.  What a view…

We hiked about an hour when we reached the part of the trail where we were losing the fantastic views of the Amphitheater.  We decided to turn around at that point to head back towards where we had come, as we knew the hike back would add another hour to get back up to the Sunrise Point trailhead.

Heading back up proved to be much tougher, tougher than we had anticipated.  It was probably due to the elevation.  It was hard to breathe ascending back up the trail.  We stopped frequently to catch our breaths.  

Along the way, we met a nice young couple visiting from Chicago, who were on a week long vacation to see several national parks.  We chatted while we were resting, and one of the things we talked about was our age.  

When we told them our age, the young lady said we looked a lot younger than her parents, and we were around the same age bracket.  We got a good laugh at that, and at one more comment, when she added that her dad would give anything for my full head of hair!  

We all got a good laugh at that.  We all said our goodbyes as they headed back up ahead of us.  We, on the other hand, took our time going back up.  We took another minute or two before going.  Luckily, the trailhead, where we had started from, was only another 3 minute hike.  We had made it back up!

We were tired from the hike and sweating.  We briefly thought about walking over to Sunset Point but decided against it.  We’d have to hike back to the Sunrise Point parking lot if we had done that.  We were in no condition to walk there then to walk back…

We took the easy way to Sunset Point by driving there.  That took 5 minutes from the Sunrise Point parking lot.  We parked our car at Sunset Point then walked towards it.

The views never get old!  It was so beautiful…

The air was incredibly crisp and alpine-fresh.  We took deep, lungful of breaths enjoying the winter weather while enjoying the magnificent views.  We love crisp winter air and it so good to breathe that in.

We spent few minutes to process the scenery, then we headed towards our last stop:  Inspiration Point.  Inspiration Point required a bit of climbing some steep staircase but the views were worth it!  I get why it was called Inspiration Point!

Views from Inspiration Point, Bryce Canyon National Park 

It seemed everywhere we looked, the views were absolutely magnificent.  We were so glad we were at Bryce Canyon National Park finally experiencing the park in all its glory!

We headed down to the same Ruby’s Inn to eat the exact same things from the day prior.  We loved it that much!  It was a great day of hiking, exploring, sightseeing, then eating a tasty, hearty meal!  My type of a day.

In conclusion:

Bryce Canyon National Park is one of those iconic, famous places that everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime.  It is a magical and a special place full of amazing hoodoos decked out in red and brown colors.

Our trip was even more special and spectacular thanks to those hoodoos covered in white, pristine snow.  It made the place even more magical than we had ever imagined…

We highly recommend this park to your bucket list of places to visit.  You will absolutely love it.  We thank you for reading and keep up with us on our continuing journey across the American West.  Happy trails!

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

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