Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is named for Ebenezer Bryce, who was said to have remarked "It's a hell of a place to lose a cow", upon showing the canyon to visitors.

The night sky at Bryce Canyon is so dark 7500 stars can be seen on a moonless night.  The best time to see it is during the week of the new moon or the week prior to the new moon.

Hikes: Easy to Moderate

• Mossy Cave: .8 mile streamside walk up to a mossy overhang and small waterfall, which flows May to October.
• Rim Trail: 5.5 miles one way from Fairyland to Bryce Point. Several steep elevation changes. *Note: Section between Sunrise and Sunset Points is considered an "easy" hike with minor elevation changes, and only .9 miles.
• Bristlecone Loop: 1 mile loop Bristlecone Pines up to 1800 years-old, blue spruce, douglas firs, and white fir.

Queen's Garden

Queen's Garden can be seen from Sunrise or Sunset Point.  Best viewed at sunrise, as the hoodoo-laden cliffs of the Clarion Formation face eastward.

Hoodoo was the name 19th century explorers gave to the odd looking rock formations. These rocks seemed to cast spells of enchantment over those who gazed upon them.

The hoodoos are formed by the more than 200 freeze-thaw cycles that occur annually. 

Thor's Hammer is probably the most famous of Bryce Canyon's hoodoos.

What's Nearby:

• Capitol Reef National Park
• Kodachrome Basin State Park
• Grand Staircase -  Escalante National Monument
• Scenic Byway 143 
• Anasazi State Park Museum
• Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
• Scenic Byway 12

Tunnel on Scenic Byway 12