Bryce Canyon National Park

We started out early for our adventures in Bryce Canyon NP. Not because we needed to avoid the heat or crowds, but because we wanted to catch sunrise. Fortunately it’s winter and sunrise is at 7:26 here. We are about 1.5 hours from the park and left our Airbnb at 5:20. We arrived in plenty of time and had the Sunrise Point pretty much to ourselves. Mainly because it was 15 degrees and windy. Not too many fools chase a winter sunrise! It was incredible and completely worth it.

After sunrise, we returned to the car to warm up for a minute or 10. We decided to adjust our plan for the day. Instead of starting with a hike and ending with the drive through the park, we started with a drive to let the temperature warm up. At the beginning of our day we had the park to ourselves. There were no cars in any of the park spaces and we saw so several deer running.

For our drive, we downloaded the guided tour for Bryce Canyon and Zion from the GuideAlong app. I highly recommend the app. It uses your location to tell you all about the points of interest. We learned so much about the park! We drove to the end of the road and started at Rainbow Point. Rainbow point has the highest elevation at 9115 feet. There was a little bit of snow cover making the Bristlecone Loop trail inaccessible to us.

We continued our drive down to Black Birch Canyon (8750 ft). We named the narrator of our GuideAlong tour, Alfred. He is kindof funny. He shares facts and also points out when things are miss named. Like Black Birch Canyon because there are no birch trees in the park! It’s was beautiful regardless it’s name.

Our next stop was Ponderosa Point (8904 ft). Here we learned all about Ponderosa Pines. It is often used as building material because it doesn’t swell or shrink after processing. Also, it has a delightful odor.

Agua Canyon was our next stop. The sunlight on the hoodoos really created dramatic photos.

As we continued down, we learned about prairie dogs. Unfortunately, even though they are all over the park, they are hibernating because of the cold temperatures. We took a stop at Natural Bridge (8627ft). Here again, Alfred told us of the miss naming. It’s actually not a bridge but an arch. Bridges form from flowing water. Arches form from wind and rain erosion. Whatever you call it, it was beautiful.

After Natural Bridge was Farview Point (8815ft). Alfred did mentioned this name was appropriate. We took a short little hike here to drop slightly below the rim. The change in viewpoint was stunning.

Finally, we made it to Bryce Point and Inspiration Point (8300 ft). And oh, man! I was in complete awww. I have never seen anything like Bryce Canyon. The beauty was so incredible I had tears. I have seen a lot of things in my life and I’ve seen pictures of Bryce Canyon, seeing it in person is surreal. I know my pictures don’t capture the beauty, I hope you enjoy them regardless.

We loaded up in the car and made it to Sunset Point. Again, wrongly named because it faces east not west. The Ranger told us the Wall Street section was open! Yay! Off we went! We hike the Queen Garden Trail to the Navajo Loop Trail. It was so fun to get up close to the hoodoos. They are such a marvel.

The total hike was almost 3.5 miles. It was lovely. The temperature was perfect. We commented several times how fortunate we have been with the weather this week. Not to mention missing the crowds. It would be a completely different experience to do these hikes in the heat and crowds.

A special thanks to Dave. He was such a good sport, as always, to chase a sunrise with me. And to you- thanks for reading.