Queen's Garden and Navajo Loop
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Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah is known for its giant amphitheater of hoodoos, spires, and colorful cliffs that change throughout the day with light and shadows.
Bryce Canyon sign
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We rolled in and set up just outside the park on public land along FR 1173. That afternoon we drove to the main viewpoints along the rim. Each one gave a different perspective into the canyon, from Inspiration Point to Sunrise and Bryce Point. We also stopped at Natural Bridge Overlook, where a massive arch of red rock stands tall. That night at camp Danny tried his hand at astrophotography, capturing the beautiful night sky and the Milky Way.
The next morning we started from Sunrise Point for the Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop combination trail. It is about three miles with 600 feet of descent into the canyon. Dropping off the rim, the hoodoos towered over us and the trail winded through narrow orange walls. At Queen’s Garden we passed younger bristlecone pines, small and twisted but still likely several centuries old. Climbing out through Wall Street on the Navajo Loop, the cliffs closed in again before we reached Sunset Point.
We arrived just in time for a ranger talk at the overlook. We learned how frost and rain carve the Claron Formation, breaking down the limestone and dolomite into spires, fins, and windows. What makes Bryce unique is that it is not a true canyon at all. Canyons are carved by rivers, but Bryce was shaped almost entirely by weather. In the winter there are almost daily freeze–thaw cycles in a single 24 hour period, and that repeated expansion and contraction is what sculpts the fins and hoodoos.
We followed the Rim Trail back to our start at Sunrise Point. Later in the day we capped things off with the Bristlecone Loop near Rainbow Point, a quiet one mile trail through the forest and rim views. The bristlecones along the path were smaller ones, with the larger, ancient trees growing farther out of sight.
Seeing Bryce from above is impressive, but hiking down into that maze of hoodoos and climbing back out again was next level.
The next morning we started from Sunrise Point for the Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop combination trail. It is about three miles with 600 feet of descent into the canyon. Dropping off the rim, the hoodoos towered over us and the trail winded through narrow orange walls. At Queen’s Garden we passed younger bristlecone pines, small and twisted but still likely several centuries old. Climbing out through Wall Street on the Navajo Loop, the cliffs closed in again before we reached Sunset Point.
We arrived just in time for a ranger talk at the overlook. We learned how frost and rain carve the Claron Formation, breaking down the limestone and dolomite into spires, fins, and windows. What makes Bryce unique is that it is not a true canyon at all. Canyons are carved by rivers, but Bryce was shaped almost entirely by weather. In the winter there are almost daily freeze–thaw cycles in a single 24 hour period, and that repeated expansion and contraction is what sculpts the fins and hoodoos.
We followed the Rim Trail back to our start at Sunrise Point. Later in the day we capped things off with the Bristlecone Loop near Rainbow Point, a quiet one mile trail through the forest and rim views. The bristlecones along the path were smaller ones, with the larger, ancient trees growing farther out of sight.
Seeing Bryce from above is impressive, but hiking down into that maze of hoodoos and climbing back out again was next level.