Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!
Bryce Canyon National Park is famous for its rock formations called hoodoos, spires of red rock rising from the canyon floor. Not actually a canyon, Bryce is an amphitheater filled with a maze of hoodoos. We didn’t have enough time to do this beautiful park justice, so we got a great overview with Canyon Trail Rides,then headed to a couple of the lookout points around the park.
Since we had no luck finding parking at Sunset Point, we headed to the southernmost point on the rim, Bryce Point. While more remote, the lot is smaller, so we still had to circle here for a bit before finding a spot.
The elevation at Bryce Point is 8300 feet, so the vantage from the end of the paved path to the observation platform provides spectacular views in all directions. There is a steep loop trail beginning here called Peek-a-boo Loop which takes hikers past some of the park’s main formations. Bryce point is also known for its Sunrises…all good reasons to return someday.
Bryce Point and the park itself are named for Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer who traveled west with Brigham Young and settled the canyon in 1870. He only lived in the canyon for five years but it became known as Bryce’s Canyon.
Bryce Canyon Posts:
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Canyon Trail Rides
- Sunset Point
- Bryce Point
Location: Bryce Canyon National Park, UT-63, Bryce, UT 84764
Designation: National Park
Date established/designated: 2/25/1928
Date of my visit: 4/12/2017
This short You Tube Clip from Aaron’s Travel Adventures gives a good overview of the parking lot and observation platform at Bryce Point. The lot was more crowded when we were there.
Wonderful images of a surreal landscape.
Thanks! 🙂
Those rock formations look incredible. I would love to visit this park someday.
It’s a great park!
One of my favorites. My mom loves to tell a story of when we went and I was about 15 or so and refused to take any water on an 8 mile hike through the “canyon”. Luckily she brought extra for me.
We had issues with that on our earlier Arizona trip, so in Utah, everyone was more cooperative about carrying water.
Thanks for the memories T. So glad we spent 2 days here and did a bot of hiking in the canyon. Hope all is well with you. Allan
Did you stay in the lodge?
I hope to see this place soon. Thanks for the link to the ride. That sounds great!
Happy to help! Hope you get to take the trail ride.
Ebenezer Bryce his wife Mary to settle land in the Paria Valley because they thought his carpentry skills would be useful in the area. The Bryce family chose to live right below Bryce And grazed his cattle inside what are now park borders, and reputedly thought that the amphitheaters were a “helluva place to lose a cow.”[3] He
LOL, I can imagine. It’s easy to lose a person in there
Always one of my favorites, Theresa. Thanks for reminding why. –Curt
Thanks Curt!
We loved Bryce – although it’s also hard to beat Arches and Zion. You should definitely go back. This was one of our favorites in the West.
We’ll have to, since we couldn’t fit Arches and Canyonlands in that trip
Unreal landscape. Great images.
Thanks, Vivienne!
This is one of my favorite NP. Like the Grand Canyon, it is impossible to fully capture its awesomeness through photography but you come close. Thanks for posting.
Thanks! 🙂