Bryce Canyon National Park’s Amphitheater is one of the nation’s most iconic landscapes. The hoodoos rising out of the ground are an amazing sight from the overlooks, but a hike down among them brings a trip to Bryce Canyon National Park to another level!
Road Trip!
Our family made a big road trip around the southwestern United States visiting national parks and a few other places, inspired by our 4th grader. Did you know that 4th graders get into national parks and other national lands for FREE for the entire YEAR with the Every Kid Outdoors Pass? It’s super simple to set up and everyone in the car with the 4th grader gets free admission. Bryce Canyon National Park was one of those stops! We made a lot of quick stops along our route, although you could really have spent much more time at each stop! We left Page, Arizona in the morning, drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and ended up at Bryce Canyon that evening. What a day!!!
Sunset over the Amphitheater
We arrived at Bryce Canyon just before sunset… planning a big cross country road trip is sometimes a well oiled machine and sometimes a bit of a guess, and sometimes a difference in ideas about what we are trying to catch! We love to catch the sunset and the sunrise where we can, especially if it’s over an epic location! We had visions of the perfect sunset scene as we arrived at Bryce Canyon. The hoodoos are beautiful all of the time, but the light at sunset and sunrise has the extra magic it takes to really bring to life the colors of the rocks!
We arrived at the intended location just before “sunset” but a little late in John’s mind… (I thought we were on time!). Since the angle of the amphitheater sees the sunset almost behind it, we kind of missed that perfect light we were hoping for. (Oops!) But we checked out a few of the different view points, and really, it was still quite amazing!
Our quick evening… what did we see?
As I mentioned above, first we were on a big road trip and stopping rather quick at each spot on our journey. We also arrived just before sunset on the first evening. We were able to do a quick stop at a few different viewpoints before it got too dark that night. We stopped at Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point, Bryce Point and Paria View. Each viewpoint is pretty easy to access with a quick walk from a parking area. We were there in the evening, so getting in and out of parking was pretty easy. (Different story during the day!). Each viewpoint (excluding Paria View) looked over the Amphitheater and gave a little different feel. Paria View looked over a different area. It still had an overlook with hoodoos, but looked beyond a little bit more into a more mountainous area beyond.
Where to Eat & Where to Stay in Bryce Canyon
We stayed in the park as long as we had light to see, and by that time our whole crew was really hungry! We headed back into Bryce Canyon City (it’s a quick trip from the park entrance) and found Cowboy Ranch House Bar and Restaurant still open. Their menu had so many options, the food was great, and the staff was amazing!
Loved the jackalope on the wall at Cowboy Ranch House Bar and Restaurant! They are real!!! 🙂 I remember seeing something like this as a kid and it took me on a trip down memory lane!
We were lucky enough to get a room at the Lodge at Bryce Canyon inside the park. I booked the room about two months in advance. The room we were in was in one of the buildings near the main lodge. It was late and dark when we checked in. If you’ve been to many national parks, you’ll know that cell service often times isn’t great when you’re in the parks… sooooo, WiFi is a hot commodity when you get to the room at night. Well, we got to our room and were ready to settle in and I realized I had forgotten the WiFi info in the car. So, as I went back outside of the building, I thought I could take a little short cut through the grass to the parking area instead of the sidewalk around… UNTIL… I heard grunting! Like, a pretty big animal grunting! I just had my wimpy little cell phone flashlight and couldn’t see anything… and I thought to myself, should I face a bear (are there even any bears there?) in the dark to escape the mutiny of a family with no WiFi? The answer was yes. But I took the sidewalk instead of the grass shortcut! When I got back to the room, I told everyone to come out onto our balcony to see what was out there! By then, no more grunting, my story seemed not too believable, and the WiFi was on! (We had seen some mule deer not too far from that area earlier in the night, so maybe that was the grunting. Who knows!) Being out on the balcony though, was a great place to unwind after a long day traveling across the country and to take in the stars! Bryce Canyon National Park has designated International Dark Sky Status, and you can see so much!
We were in either the Sunrise or Sunset Lodge. The room we stayed in was a two queen bed room. There was a table with a couple of chairs, a mini fridge, microwave, and coffee maker (so grateful for this with the pace we were keeping on this trip!) and the bathroom was set up with the sink just outside of the toilet/shower area. As I mentioned above, there was a balcony so sitting outside to take in the night air was a great way to relax at the end of the day!
One of the perks of staying in the parks is to be close to whatever you’re trying to do, and to avoid the morning traffic trying to enter the park. For us, making such a quick stop at all of the places we visited on this trip, saving some travel time helped us to see a lot more and just be a little more efficient with our time.
In the morning, we were up early to take in the sunrise (more on that in a bit) and then headed to the lodge for breakfast. Three of us opted for the breakfast buffet and one ordered French toast. The hot chocolate was a hit for kids! This was a summer trip, but Bryce Canyon sits around 8,000 feet, so it was chilly in the evening and morning! Once we were all fueled up, we headed back to the room to get ready and pack up the car for the next day’s adventure!
Sunrise over the Amphitheater
Up early to catch the sunrise, we headed to Bryce Point, the southernmost overlook of the Amphitheater, standing at 8,300 feet above sea level. A group of others had arrived at the overlook before we did, but there was plenty of room to get a great look at the sunrise! As the sun rose over the mountains to the east, the sunlight illuminated the hoodoos and brought out the colors in the rocks. The view was 100% worth waking up early for!
An amazing hike into the hoodoos: Navajo Loop Trail
We planned to spend the morning at Bryce Canyon National Park before starting off to the next stop on our trip (Zion National Park). We wanted to do at least one hike there, and we chose to do the Navajo Loop Trail. A quick note about getting to the trailhead during the peak traffic time of day… we had been parked by where we stayed and were just going to get a little closer to the trailhead by switching parking lots… by late morning, the parking lot was already really full! A shuttle runs through the park, so if you find a spot near the Amphitheater, it might be best to park and take the shuttle to the different stops. We ended up going back and parking where we started!
The Navajo Loop Trail begins at Sunset Point, is 1.3 miles in length and descends 515 feet down into the hoodoos, and then back up. The trail is a dirt trail, well maintained, and wide enough that you never felt like you’re too close to the edge! As you descend, there is a series of switchbacks on the way down, and another series back up on the other side. We started out on the section known as Wall Street. The iconic trail is really rather amazing as you descend down into the valley and the hoodoos begin to tower above you. What seemed so far away, a group of the towering structures making a whole scene, suddenly becomes an individual feature rising up beside you. With the limestone walls rising up all around you, it’s just an incredible, immersive experience.
Notice the switchbacks descending into the Wall Street area on the Navajo Loop Trail. See the gap in the middle of the rocks that looks a little darker than the rocks around it… that is where the path is leading you!
As you walk down the path to the base of the hoodoos, they seem to just magically be rising up beside you. It’s like descending into another world!
When you get to the bottom of the Wall Street section, there is a fairly flat area that you’ll walk through in the valley of the hoodoos. The path winds through an area with hoodoos rising up on both sides, with Douglas Fir trees growing around you.
As we got to the other side of the trail and began our ascent up the area known as Two Bridges, we entered into another area of switchbacks, these slightly wider and longer than the Wall Street side. Do they have little areas you can stop and rest on the way up? Yes, yes they do. This side features a viewpoint of the most famous hoodoo in the park: Thor’s Hammer. Funny story about the trip back UP the hike… as we were getting closer to what seemed like it might be the top (maybe? I can’t see around a section to know if it turns or is the end), a kid yells out, this is it, this is the end! And a surge of yay went through my tired old legs… and when I got to that point, I realized it was the end of the trip… to Thor’s Hammer. Alas! More climbing up the hill lay ahead! But back to Thor’s Hammer… it is really fun to see. I believe you can see it from the area near the parking lot, but if you want to hike close to it but not do the entire trail, you could start the hike down on the Two Bridges side and then hike back up.
Now, y’all, I’m gonna be honest about this hike – I’m not the most in shape of people out there… I love doing outdoor stuff and getting out there on the trails, but peak condition I am not… I did the hike, yes… but lots of stopping on the way up. The trail is fairly steep, so if balance is an issue at all for you, a set of trekking poles could be really helpful. The elevation makes it just a little harder to breathe, so don’t be surprised if you feel like you’re losing your breath quicker than normal. And we were there in the summer, so it did get pretty hot out in the sun! Bring lots of water. We all had a Camelbak hydration pack, and we all ran out of water. Bring extra! And wear good hiking shoes. This isn’t a flip flop trail! This hike is listed as moderate… but just know that with the elevation, heat, and altitude change, be prepared and go at your own pace!
We didn’t see the entire park on our short trip here. But I’m really glad we took the time to do this hike! Getting down into the hoodoos brought our visit here to another level of experiencing what makes this park special.
On to the next stop!
This was all the time we had allotted to our stop. There was quite a bit more to see and a lot more hikes I’d like to go back to do someday! This is such a unique geological formation and I’m so grateful we were able to see it! Stay tuned for our next stop: Zion National Park!
Thanks for checking out our trip! We appreciate you checking out our blog! Happy travels, friends!
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