Travelogue America #14: The beauty of Bryce Canyon

We're leaving Arizona and driving back to Utah. We'll be visiting two more national parks in the coming days: Bryce and Zion. We have high expectations for both parks, given the beautiful photos we've seen on Instagram. We'll spend the night in Kanab, where we also attended the draw for The Wave. But before checking in at our accommodations, we'll drive on to Bryce Canyon. From Page, it's a 2,5-hour drive. Because Bryce Canyon National Park is a busy park, we don't want to arrive too late.

Just before we enter the park, I suddenly see a Trabant out of the corner of my eye. As a Trabant enthusiast, I have to stop to photograph this car. How often do you see this GDR icon parked in another country, let alone across the ocean?

As soon as we enter the park, we decide to first drive to the southernmost point of Bryce Canyon. There's only one road running through the park from north to south. Once we reach the end of the road, we'll drive back and admire the main attractions one by one. As we pass the destinations, it quickly becomes clear that Bryce Canyon is an incredibly beautiful park. The colors and bizarre rock formations are unique and stunning. We're already enjoying ourselves from the car.

There's only one long road through the park. We'll first drive to the end of this road and then stop at all the hotspots on the way back.

At the southernmost point, we arrive at Rainbow Point, where we park the car and enjoy our first viewpoint. Compared to the other national parks we've visited, the landscape here is completely different. Yes, there are also many rocks, but the colors, the shapes of the rocks, and the surrounding nature are truly special.

At Rainbow Point, we begin a hiking trail, the Bristlecone Loop Trail. This is an easy 1,6-kilometer walk through a bristlecone pine forest. Here you'll find blue spruce, white fir, and Douglas fir, tree species adapted to extreme conditions. This point catches a lot of wind and the ground is quite dry, yet some trees are over 1600 years old.

As we walk, we spot squirrels, chipmunks, and beautiful birds like the Stellar's Jay. The trail takes us to another viewpoint, Yovimpa Point, with another panoramic view of the surrounding area. Along with Rainbow Point, we are currently at the highest viewing point in Bryce Canyon.

After lunch overlooking the magnificent Rainbow Point, we drive north again, stopping at every hot spot. And there are plenty of hot spots in Bryce, with viewpoints appearing one after the other: Black Birch Canyon, Ponderosa Canyon, Agua Canyon, Natural Bridge, Farview Point, Piracy Point, and Swamp Canyon. Each viewpoint is unique and stunning, absolutely worth a short stop.

So many beautiful viewpoints: Black Birch Canyon, Ponderosa Canyon, Agua Canyon, Natural Bridge, Farview Point, Piracy Point and Swamp Canyon

At Natural Bridge, you can see an arch. In fact, the term "bridge" isn't correct in this case, because the arch at this point isn't formed by the water, but by the wind.

If you have more time in Bryce Canyon, you could hike the Under-the-Rim Trail. This 36-kilometer hike takes you through various canyons. The route starts at Bryce Point and ends at Rainbow Point. We don't have that much time, so we drive on to the most beautiful part of the park: Bryce Amphitheater.

The most beautiful and visited section of Bryce Canyon is located near the park entrance. This area is known as the Bryce Amphitheater. If you're short on time during your visit to Bryce, be sure to explore this section. Here you can admire the most bizarre rock formations known as hoodoos. These are rock pillars formed by the erosion of wind, water, and ice. There are beautiful viewpoints (yes, even more beautiful than the ones we've already seen) and some excellent hiking trails.

Don't have a full day to spend at Bryce Canyon? Then be sure to visit the Bryce Amphitheater.

At the only intersection in the park, we continue to Bryce Point. From here, we look down on the Bryce Amphitheater and see hundreds of hoodoos clustered together. The colors, the shapes of the hoodoos, and the close proximity of so many rock pillars make this view truly impressive. This point is named after the first American to live here in 1870, Ebenezer Bryce. Can you imagine living with such a magnificent view?

When you look between the hoodoos, you'll see people walking. The Rim Trail, which runs from Bryce Point to the Under-the-Rim Trail, runs between the rocks. We could stare at this view for hours, but we continue on to Para View, where we can look out at a large, striking hoodoo.

We can admire the hoodoos we saw from Bryce Point up close at Inspiration Point. You really have to see them with your own eyes to fully appreciate their beauty.

From Sunset Point, we begin a hike on the Navajo Loop Trail. We'd read online that this was the best place to start, as the first section is all downhill. If you start at Sunrise Point, you'd have to climb uphill for this section, so that wouldn't be a good starting point.

We start at Sunset Point on Bryce Canyon's most popular hiking trail: Navajo Loop Trail

The Navajo Trails is a popular hike and highly recommended. We watch the steep path zigzag below us as we descend between the jagged rocks. This section is called Silent City. We slowly descend to Wall Street, a narrow canyon dotted with Douglas firs. After Wall Street, the trail flattens out, and you can choose to hike back up to Sunset Point or continue to Sunrise Point via the Queens Garden Trail. There's a third option, the Peek-a-Boo Loop trail, but because it's over 9 kilometers long, we can't do it. Therefore, we'll hike the Queens Garden Trail.

This hike is one of the easiest in the canyon, but certainly not the shortest. It's a real treat, with beautiful colors all around us. The trail is named after a rock supposedly resembling Queen Elizabeth II. With a bit of imagination and a bit of sun on your head, you could indeed make it out to be Queen Elizabeth II. However, I don't see it.

We have to hike the last section of the Queens Garden Trail quite a bit uphill to reach Sunrise Point. Since I'm much faster than Lianne, I can turn around several times to enjoy the view.

Once at the top, I let Lianne rest for a moment and we plopped down on a bench. Together we enjoyed the view. Behind us, a few meters away, two deer wandered through the bushes. We spotted those animals again. Bryce Canyon was amazing. Despite being a fairly popular park, it wasn't crowded at all during our visit. We enjoyed stunning viewpoints and took two lovely hikes.