1 Day Guide to Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon boasts the largest collection of hoodoos anywhere on the planet! Bryce is often overlooked by its nearby partner, Zion. This park is only 2 hours away from Zion National Park. We highly recommend checking out Bryce Canyon after Zion – you will not be disappointed! Even though this park is so close to Zion, you’ll be surprised by the weather change due to elevation. Bryce Canyon is 9100 feet high!
Where to stay
Bryce Canyon City is the city that abuts the national park. There are a few hotel options here and even fewer dinner options. For dinner that night we had Pizza Place in Tropic, UT. Highly recommend!
WHAT IS A HOODOO?
So Bryce Canyon is known for hoodoos. But what actually is a hoodoo?
Watch this simple YouTube video to learn more about hoodoos before your arrival. We tried reading about the formations online, but this video explains it in simple terms.
Not many know of Bryce Canyon’s unique geological history. This is an otherworldy landscape created by the effects of millions of ice, water, and snow cycles.
The entire landscape itself is eroding outward and will one day spread out far enough take over the parking lot! You can see many trees with exposed roots as a result of ongoing erosion.
FOLLOW OUR ITINERARY TO EXPLORE ALL OF BRYCE CANYON IN JUST A DAY
- Stops on the Half-Day Itinerary:
Follow along on these two maps to keep track of where you’re heading: map of entire park and map of amphitheater
The most popular part of Bryce Canyon is known as the amphitheater, and offers a breathtaking view of thousands of hoodoos. We recommend hiking down into the amphitheater to see the hoodoos up close!
SUNRISE POINT
Park on the side of the road near Sunrise Point and start your hike down into the amphitheater. Here you’ll start on the Queen’s Garden Trail.
QUEEN’S GARDEN TRAIL
Where the trail meets the Navajo loop, you’ll take the trail down into a wooded area before traveling back up to “Wall Street.”
The Peak-a-Boo loop splits off the Navajo trail as well. However, because it takes you away from the amphitheater and we chose to skip this one.
Off the Navajo loop you’ll eventually hit a few switchbacks aka “Wall Street” It’s well worth the trek up!
After this you’ll be at Sunset Point. Take the Rim Trail back to your car and you’ve completed the amphitheater! This should only take about 2 hours to hike.
By this time it will probably be late morning. If time permits, we recommend checking out the 11AM ranger led Geology talk at Sunset Point. The ranger explains hoodoo formations much better than we can!
VIEWPOINTS
Next up, spend the rest of the morning driving to the different viewpoints on the map. Stop at as many or as few as you’d like. There. are quite a few!
View our other National Park Itineraries, 8 DAYS IN CALIFORNIA AND UTAH: Joshua Tree + Death Valley + Vegas + Zion + Bryce Canyon