Destination: Bryce Canyon, UT

Bryce Canyon National Park is one of the more popular parks in southern Utah, attracting crowds from around the world.  Being relatively close to Nevada, many people fly to Las Vegas and drive up from there.  The unique formations of the hoodoos and the accessibility of the park make this such an attractive destination.  But once off the beaten trail, the crowds thin out and nature takes over.  The park boasts a diversity of wildlife.  Visible even from the road is a large prairie dog colony.  Pronghorn, chipmunks, smaller mammals and reptiles also call this place home.  The park and area supports a few cougar which will sometimes make an appearance in winter while tracking game.  Birds that live in the park include the Peregrine Falcon, the Nutcracker, and the California Condor as well as the raven which will bug you relentlessly for food or other handouts.  The canyon supports a lush forest of trees both along the rim and down in the base of the canyon.  There are few trees nestled in among the hoodoos, the hoodoo being the main source of shade under the rim.  The various trees found in the park include Ponderosa and Bristlecone Pines, junipers, cedars, firs, spruces, and Douglas Firs.  The trees found in the area are twisted and stunted.  The winds moving through the area, twist the trees around as they grow.  Trunks and logs, found along the rim and trails leave uniquely twisted forms of spiral patterns in wood.


Hoodoos, the mainstay of the park, are bulbous, wavy spires and fins formed out of the side of the rim that have been sculpted by snow, ice and water.  The unique combination of climate, elevation, rock type and location has lead to the unique forms of these geologic features.  The outer rim of the park forms a large horseshoe shape with the canyon, actually technically an amphitheater, dropping off from the rim, sometimes in spectacular drops.  Hoodoos form along fins, lining up like ancient pillars.  Looking at the formations and the hoodoos, it seems impossible that something as destructive as time and nature could form something so delicate.  But reaching out and touching the stone from which they are formed, I found that the stone is much harder than imagined.  The stone that makes up the area consists of limestone, siltstone, dolomite and mudstone which all erode at different rates.  These different colors give the hoodoos characteristic banding patterns while the differing erosion rates lend themselves to the bulbous shapes.

The area receives about 10 inches of rain a year with about 20 inches received up on the plateau.  Understanding the geology of the area helps to understand how the various structures, such as the hoodoos and arches are formed.  In the summer, monsoons sweep through dumping an inch of rain in an hour.  The thin soil doesn't offer much room for absorption so the rain runs off seeking the lowest point, generally through cracks, breaks and weak points in the stone.  It is possible to experience flash floods due to the runoff.  The volume of water may seem small but the accumulation slowly builds cutting into rocks carving out hoodoos, arches and windows.  The temperature differential in the area between day and night causes a number of freeze/thaw cycles, especially in winter.  Frost wedging occurs, breaking open cracks into larger cracks to the point of dislodging rocks as small as pebbles to as large as cars and buses.  This violent erosion has caused several rock slides or hoodoo crumblings over the years while people have been hiking nearby.

The Rim Trail along the plateau is a wonderful way to go from point to point, exploring the different vantages of the amphitheater below.  Inspiration Point, the park's signature point, offers a great vantage of the amphitheater showcasing the hoodoos, and the canyon to great effect.  Other nice points to see along the rim are Sunset Point, Sunrise Point, Bryce Point and Rainbow Point each offering their own unique perspective on the park.  Dayhiking down in the canyon itself is easy to access from various points along the rim trail, shooting down into the canyon through the hoodoos.  There are various sights to see including but not limited too; the Wall of Windows, the Queen's Garden, Fairyland, Sinking Ship, Tower Bridge, and many hoodoos.  Reverse hikes are challenging because at the end of the hike you have to climb up out of the canyon back up to the rim.  These are well worth the effort though to wander in and among the hoodoos.  There are a few backcountry campsites available as well as a campgrounds located within the park.  For our trip, we stayed at the campgrounds for ease as well as safety as it was the height of summer and water is scarce in the desert.  The park is very popular and it is best to book in advance if possible.

Our dayhikes took us along the rim to the various points.  We went to Sunset Point for an evening dinner, enjoying the sunset as we set up our stove near a bench.  The weather was great the next morning offering expansive views under a cloudless sky.  We descended down into the canyon and walked alongside the hoodoos, making our way down to the washes and plains.  By the afternoon, there was a light sprinkling of rain and clouds in the sky.  With the sun beating down on us, we dried quickly.  As the clouds moved through, the decrease in light caused the striking colors of the hoodoos to not stand out as much.  Contrasting that with later in the day, the park was once again lit up with areas off in the distance covered in dark rain clouds causing striking views.  The light really changes the park from day to day, even hour to hour either brightening up the rock or making it dull.

We didn't see much evidence of Native American structures within the park as they left little trace of their lives in the plains below.  Both the Anasazi and the Fremont had influences in the area which can be evidenced by rock art (both pictographs and petroglyphs) in and around Bryce Canyon.  Paiutes lived in the area around the time the settlers began arriving.  To the Paiutes, the hoodoos represented "Legend People", people who had been turned to stone by Coyote.  Today the hoodoos still cast their spell on visitors to the park, bespelling and calling to them.  The hoodoos and the park are truly a unique feature well worth seeing.

Where	37°34′0″N 112°11′0″W, Near Tropic, UT
Entrance Fee	$25 per vehicle, $12 per person; Backcountry permits $5-15
Contact	435-834-5322 http://www.nps.gov/brca/ (Official park page) http://www.brycecanyon.com/ (more information)
Closest Services	Tropic, UT (full services)
What to do	Backpacking, hiking, horseback riding
Extras	Park has campsites Leashed pets allowed in campsites and in cars, no pets on trails.

This story was originally posted April 28, 2010.