hiking the us

Many ask which National Park was our favorite between Zion and Bryce. If I’m being honest, I cannot choose either. They are both uniquely special and beautiful in different ways. Here’s a look back on our two days at Bryce National Park. If you missed the post on Zion, click HERE.

The drive from Zion National Park to Bryce National Park was only about an hour and 20 minutes at most. When we got closer to Bryce National Park, we were still in awe of how beautiful the Mt. Carmel Highway and scenic route was but little did we know, we’d continue to have those speechless moments when we saw hoodoos for the first time. I mentioned in the Zion post that we applied for the Coyote Buttes lottery when we were in the GEO range along the route from Zion to Bryce. See that post (toward the end) for more specifics if you hope to visit The Wave. You could also do this if your trip has you visiting Bryce Canyon before Zion.

Before entering Bryce National Park, you will drive through Dixie National Forest. This was the beginning of many moments when we were left, yet again, in awe of the sights surrounding us.

So much of Utah experienced more snow accumulation this Spring compared to the averages in years past. Lucky for us (because we don’t get much snow in our area of North Carolina), we saw a good amount of snow which had not melted as we approached Bryce National Park.

This made for a unique viewpoint and contrast of the hoodoos in Bryce with the snow that had not yet melted in contrast with the orange and tan hoodoo landscape. Seeing so much snow was fun for us. I also loved seeing my favorite type of Birch tree, the Paper White, nestled in the snow. It was quit picturesque.

Day I: Arrived in Bryce Canyon National Park by 12:30

We entered the park and went straight to the visitor center to look around and get confirmation on trail closures which are posted on a board daily. We also wanted to talk to a Park Ranger to confirm which hikes would be best to tackle the two days we were there even though we had pretty much decided what we thought was best.

Hike goal for the day: Peekaboo Loop Trail (5.5 Miles), Queen’s Garden Trail, Part of the Navajo Loop trail that was still open, Two Bridges Trail, and part of the West Rim Trail, and that leads you to the start of the first trail. This was approximately a 13 Mile total hike day.

You can view the trail map and descriptions of hikes HERE.

First, we decided to drive to the furthest point on the scenic area route that we wanted to see and then backtrack to park and begin our hike. This also gave us the opportunity to get our bearings of the park and possible lots with more parking.

Natural Bridge and Fairview Point were our first two scenic stops. They are located approximately 12 miles from the visitor center.

We decided to park at Inspiration Point which was a higher elevation overlooking the amphitheater. The views are incredible. Pictures cannot do justice of the scale of the amphitheater. Note, you will walk on the Rim Trail along the edge of the amphitheater until you reach the Queen’s Garden Trail entrance. This is mostly downhill so keep that in mind as the hike from this point to return is an out and back.

We weren’t able to hike the Navajo Loop Trail because of the melted snow that washed away most of the trail. We were still able to see the popular area from both the top and the base of the Navajo Trail. The switchbacks on the Navajo Trail are a popular highlight for many hikers but you will also experience views and hiking switchbacks on both the Queen’s Garden Trail and Peekaboo Loop Trail.

Bonus: Peekaboo Loop is a longer hike and considered strenuous. We felt the difficulty while hiking it as you ascend and descend a lot. We hiked the trail in a counterclockwise direction which, as I’m looking back on the park map now, it was recommended to hike clockwise. Given our experience and the views we had, I’d actually recommend hiking counterclockwise as we did.

See why from these views:

We’re so glad we pushed ourselves to hike one of the longer trails in Bryce on the first day and highly recommend it. Because there are so many places to stop and viewpoints to take pictures of along the way, you’ll have moments of rest throughout the hike.

You will also look forward to getting back to your car to sit at the end. Our leg muscles started twitched the moment we stopped and sat.

From here, we checked into our AirBnB in Tropic, UT which is only about a 20 minute drive. It’s a very small town with only a couple options for dining. The first night we ate at Rustler’s Restaurant. We barely made it before they closed but they happily served us. Adam ordered a Ribeye with sides and I ordered a grilled chicken Caesar salad. When you are as hungry as we were, it was an exceptional meal, particularly the fresh baked bread loaf they brought to the table.

We identified the only location we’d be able to get coffee in town first thing the next morning and made our way back to our AirBnB.

Day 2: Fairyland Loop Trail (8 Miles), plus The West Rim Trail out and back, totaling a 10 mile hike day.

We heated up oatmeal and leftover egg white and veggie omelets from our Zion hotel, I made lunches and packed snacks in our Camelbaks for the day and we headed for coffee at Bryce Canyon Coffee Co.

We decided to park at Sunset Point, hiked part of the Rim Trail until we reached Fairyland Point. There was a lot of areas on the furthest part of the Rim Trail that had muck and deep muddy areas. We passed a few people whose entires shoes looked like clay but realized they intentionally walked straight through those areas instead of making a path around them. You do you.

Fairlyland was widley different from the first day hiking in Bryce. The color of the hoodoos for one, was much lighter and almost a sandlike color. We also had more open trails with wide open views and weren’t down in the amphitheater looking up as we had the day prior.

We crossed one creek area that had the most beautiful pink rocks.

The coloring from the rocks and variations you see in the hoodoos are because of their mineral composition.

Do you know how the hoodoos come to be? They started out as a wall and over time, you will see a “window” form. As time continues, the top of the window breaks away leaving you will the individual hoodoos. If you want to read more on the history, this is a great source.

We felt this hike was much easier compared to Peekaboo Loop however, it’s much longer. It’s still considered strenuous on the trail descriptions.

We hiked relatively quickly and were done by lunch. We ended up eating our picnic lunch at Sunrise point and checking out the Bryce Canyon Lodge. There weren’t any available accomodations when we were booking our trip but I’d recommend looking into this when you’re planning in advance.

My mom had told us The Lodge had a restaurant that she remembered seeing when they visited and suggested we check it out. We looked at the menu, confirmed when they opened for dinner, toured the gift shop then headed to our AirBnB to regroup, rest and shower.

After a quick power nap, we decided to venture into another neighboring town that my parents stayed in, Panguitch. At this point, we were in search of finding another coffee shop in hops we’d make it to dinner.

The Flying Goat Cafe was our first stop in town. We walked to a couple restaurants down the street to check out their menus but decided pretty quickly that The Lodge was were we wanted to have dinner and planned to watch the sunset from Sunset Point overlooking Bryce Amphitheater.

Panguitch has a super cute downtown area with shops, restaurants and a couple Bed in Breakfasts, one of which my parents stayed on their trip the year prior. We ventured into two antique stores and had the best time looking at all of the vintage items. We shared memories with each other each time we saw something that reminded us of a grandparent, family member or a specific memory from our childhood. It was the perfect slow afternoon.

We made our way back to The Lodge for dinner as the restaurant doesn’t take reservations and seating is available on a first-come-first-served basis. Be sure to look at their menus!

Our meal was one of the best we’d had on the trip. Highly recommend it when you’re visiting Bryce. Don’t worry about being dressed up either. We saw a mixture of everything, people still in hiking attire (us included), and those who were dressed in casual dinnerware.

Two long hiking days in Bryce, we felt like we’d seen it all. We were ready for out next adventure, staying at Under Canvas in Page, AZ, visiting Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and more. We had a couple of stops planned along the way to Page which I’ll share in the next blogpost.