Established in 1928, Bryce Canyon National Park was named for an early Mormon pioneer, sent to this remote part of Utah in the 1870s to develop what was then known as Deseret. (The state of Utah had wanted the US government to call this place the "Temple of the Gods National Monument" when it started lobbying for a park back in 1919.) It's small by national park standards, containing only 56.2 sq. miles. Despite the name, the park is not a canyon, but a series of more than a dozen amphitheaters, each carved a thousand feet or more into the colorful (red, white, orange) limestone of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.
The several horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters of dazzling colors that make up Bryce Canyon National Park have been depicted in hundreds of books, movies, TV programs and the like, but nothing can beat being there, preferably alone or with just a friend or two, taking in the glory of it all. Chances are, you won't have as much company as in many other parks, as Bryce isn't among the top 20 parks visited, at least as of 2002, when it didn't make that list (the latest available, according to www.wisegeek.com).
Bryce has three kinds of climatic zones -- spruce/fir forest, Ponderosa Pine forest and Pinyon Pine/juniper forest. But what will impress you are the gigantic cliffs, plateaus and hoodoos, the latter fantastic rock formations, often pinnacles up to 200 feet in height, that stud the landscape. The rims of the canyon lie between 8,000 to 9,100 feet (higher than neighboring Zion or the Grand Canyon), making for moderate daytime temperatures in summer (the 80s) and cool nights (in the 40s).
By day, you have a chance to hike on some eight marked and well maintained trails, any one of which can be accomplished in a day. The longest, the Rim Trail, takes five to six hours, the shortest, Mossy Cave, about one hour. Two trails take longer, and you need a camping permit for your overnight stay. The Under the Rim Trail is 23 miles long, the Riggs Loop Trail only nine miles. There are also about ten miles of marked skiing trails in the park. Park officials say you can see as far as 200 miles away from Rainbow and Yovimpa points, from Navajo Mountain and the Kaibab Plateau on a clear day. I learned here that it's really important to carry a lot of drinking water with you on any level of hike, by the way, and soft drinks are poor substitutes for the real thing.
At night, you can see around 7,500 stars, three times what can be spied in most rural areas of the country. That's because the park has a 7.3 magnitude night sky, making it one of the darkest in the US, and, of course, the remarkably clean air, day and night.
Among the highlights of the park are the views from Sunrise, Bryce, Inspiration and Sunset points, all within the Bryce Amphitheater, and vistas from other spots farther away from the park center, such as Shakespeare Point, Fairyland Point and Paria View.
The visitor center is open all year (except Thanksgiving and Christmas days) from 8am to 8pm in summer, less in other seasons. Every half hour, you can see a short informational video there, or talks on geology (held at Inspiration Point in good weather). There's also a small museum with displays on local geology, wildlife, stargazing, historic and prehistoric culture. Phone 435/834-5322.
What's Ahead for 2007
The wildly popular Astronomy programs this summer will be offered on Wednesday and Friday nights.
If you don't want to drive everywhere yourself, use the recently inaugurated free Bryce Canyon Shuttle, which you can join at Ruby's Inn or Ruby's Campground. The Shuttle for 2007 will begin on May 25 and run through September 3, running approximately every 12 minutes, they say. The route duration is about 50 minutes, not including stops at facilities and overlooks. Additional stops are: Visitor Center, Sunset Campground, Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, Sunset Campground (again), Sunset Point, the Lodge, Sunrise Point (and General Store), North Campground Trailer Drop-off, Visitor Center again, and Ruby's Inn again. One reason to use the Shuttle is that there's only one parking space for every four cars entering the park
Ranger Favorites
Ranger Kevin Poe, acting Chief of Interpretation at Bryce Canyon, says "There's no better three-mile hike anywhere on the planet than the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop combination, especially if you go in the early morning and hike in the opposite direction that most guidebooks recommend. Go down the Queens Garden Trail and come up the Navajo Loop."
He adds "No trip to Bryce Canyon is complete without attending an astronomy program. Bryce Canyon, being far from the light pollution of civilization, is the last grand sanctuary of natural darkness." There's a Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival, too, usually in June, says the park website.
Personally, I like also the idea of spotting the birds and animals here. Even though there are more than 160 species of birds visiting the park each year, the eagles and owls stay through the winter, when they join the fairly large numbers of mule deer, lesser numbers of brown bears, mountain lions and coyotes, the mammals having migrated to lower elevations within or near the boundary.
Entrance Fee
Entering the park in an automobile or other vehicle will cost you $25 (including passengers). If you enter on foot, or on a bicycle or motorcycle, it's $12 per person. Admission in both cases is for seven days and includes unlimited use of the (free) shuttle during its operating season.
Visitor Numbers
Back in 2000 (the latest state figures available), there were 1,100,000 visitors here, according to the Utah Travel Council, less than half as many as to nearby Zion National Park (2,400,000).
Additional Online Resources
Among the many websites about Bryce Canyon National Park, here are our choices:
www.nps.gov/brca www.brycecanyon.com www.brycecanyoncountry.com www.travelwest.net/parks/brycecanyon www.utah.com/nationalparks/bryce.htm