Tag: Hoodoo

The famous hoodoos make Bryce Canyon National Park unique from the surrounding parks. Walk the rim of the canyon, see the sunset illuminate the rocks and try to photograph the pretty blue birds.

Bryce Canyon National Park Highlights on Thursday, August 31, 2017

• Natural Bridge
• Rainbow Point
• Bryce’s Point – Bryce’s Amphitheatre and the hoodoos
• Inspiration Point
• Rim Trail between Sunrise and Sunset Points (1 mile roundtrip), see Thor’s Hammer

Bryce Canyon is the most expensive national park in Utah at $30 per car. Again, another reason to make sure you purchase the Annual National Park Pass for $80. When you go through the toll booth, the park ranger will give you a map and a newspaper. The newspaper is super helpful because it gives you advice for easy, moderate and difficult hikes toward the back of the paper which is consistent across parks. Different from the last two parks we visited, Bryce Canyon offers an optional shuttle service to see the different points of interest. We opted to drive from point to point instead and fortunately, never had an issue with finding parking. If you’re looking to follow along, check out this park map: https://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/upload/BRCAmap.pdf

We started down the main road (make sure to watch your speed as there are a number of park rangers monitoring this) and stopped at Farview Point followed by the Natural Bridge. Before making a stop, the park doesn’t appear to be that impressive. It’s probably because you don’t realize you’re driving along a canyon until you actually pull into a parking lot and look over the edge. As we continued toward the end of the road to see Rainbow Point, we pulled into the lots at Aqua Point and Ponderosa Point to take in these views. If you have the better part of a day and don’t plan on doing extensive hiking, you’ll have time to stop at each point of interest.

When we arrived at the Rainbow Point parking lot, we took the first spot we found. While it’s a relatively large parking lot, it fills up quickly close to lunch time since many people picnic here. There are a few good viewing points overlooking the canyon. Make sure to take some time to hike here. An easy, short trail is the Bristlecone Loop which is about 1 mile. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a Peregrine Falcon diving into the canyon (we were not). We did, however, see some of the largest ravens we’ve ever seen searching the picnic grounds for scraps.

On our way toward Bryce Point near the front of the park, we popped out of the car for pictures at the other pull offs along the scenic drive. Black Birch and Swamp Canyons were the other parts of the scenic drive worth stopping to see.

Bryce Point and this particular view of the Bryce Amphitheatre is incomparable to anything else. There are so many hoodoos!! Hoodoos instantly became our favorite “national park” related word. Hoodoos are the skinny and tall rock formations that you see everywhere at this park. The walk along the rim in the direction of Inspiration Point is definitely worth it. There is so much to take in at this particular stop. If you’re short on time, drive to Inspiration Point (or take the shuttle). We arrived to two deer grazing here and then headed to the rim to see the sun hitting the red rocks. If you’re up for the challenge, climb the steep hill to get the best vantage point from the top. While we did not use hiking poles*, we saw lots of people who were using these collapsible ones* on our trip. If you’re interested in having a pair for yourself, check these out on Amazon*.To end our time at Bryce Canyon National Park, we parked at Sunset Point. The walk between Sunset Point and Sunrise Point is incredible. If you have the right shoes and are up for the challenge, take a hike into the canyon. We enjoyed walking the rim of the canyon, spotting the pretty blue birds and watching the sun start to set and illuminate the rocks. We also spotted Thor’s Hammer, which is one of the better known and photographed hoodoos. As we awaited the sunset, fancy photographers gathered to find the best spots to capture the lighting change as the sun went down.

We found a decent place to carsleep outside of the park. My limit is three days in a row, so I was looking forward to a hot shower and bed for the next evening! Follow me to the next article to read about our incredible journey at Zion National Park – the fourth of seven national parks.