Overview

Bryce Canyon National Park is a mysterious, maze-like landscape of horseshoe- and bowl-shaped "hoodoos" - natural amphitheaters of rough spires chewed from the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau in southern Utah by the action of frost and rain. Many visitors simply come to overlooks like Fairyland Point to drink in the undulating views of red, orange, and white rocks that form this "forest of stone." Bryce isn't actually a canyon, but rather a plateau rising 2,000 feet in elevation within the park that includes spruce/fir, Ponderosa Pine, and Pinyon Pine/juniper forests. Relatively compact and remote, the park nonetheless can get crowded in the summer, when a shuttle bus runs visitors to various overlooks; some of the more popular viewpoints facing the Bryce Amphitheater have names like Sunrise, Sunset, and Inspiration. Hikers can wander among the hoodoos by following the 1.8-mile Queen's Garden Trail from Sunrise Point or a variety of steeper and longer routes below the rim, many located off the 18-mile Rainbow Point Drive. The 22.9-mile Under the Rim trail provides access to backcountry campsites. Less strenuous are the horse and mule rides through the Bryce Amphitheater offered spring-fall.