Jeff and I have had the opportunity to visit Bryce National Park twice now. Once we only were there for a few hours. We stopped on our way from Zion National Park to the Rocky Mountain National Park.

This time, we were still passing through on our way to see 9 more parks, but we wanted to take a little more time to explore the park. We visited Bryce and 11 other parks during September of 2020. Some of the USA was still under lockdown, but they just opened the National Parks back up, so we took the opportunity to see some parks for two weeks It’s not a huge park, so we decided to spend a full day or two here. We like arriving at the parks in the afternoon/evening. We feel like we can get a short hike in and see the sunset this way. Then we can wake up early to beat the crowds the next morning.

Or first hoodoos along the road outside the national park — Hoodoos

It’s always fun when you have been driving a while and then suddenly… BAM. You see something along the road that tells you that you have arrived at the park.

When we arrived, it was around 4:00 pm and we decide to drive a little, but we stopped and did the Sunset to Sunrise Point hike. This is an easy 1-mile walk. (2 miles if you take it in a loop) The walkway is paved and it’s fairly flat. There were people with strollers and wheelchairs as well as dogs on this path. It has amazing views of the Bryce Amphitheater. This is the view that is on all the calendars that we get.

The next morning, we got up early and headed out to the Queens Garden Hike. This is a 1.8-mile hike with an elevation gain of 357 ft. For the most part, the switchbacks were the only part of the hike that got to me. (They always get me)

I loved this hike! They say that this is the least difficult trail entering the canyon from the rim. So, we thought we would go for it. The views were so breathtaking and I enjoyed getting close to the hoodoos. The trail was a little busy, but it wasn’t so bad that you had to stop for people.

After our hike, we discussed hiking the Wall Street hike. It was late morning, and the trail was packed. We decide to try it next time we come back. Plus, I probably need to be in better shape for that one anyway. Maybe, we will try horseback riding next time too. A line of horses passed us and it looked like the way to venture down to the base of the canyon.

So, we drove down the road and saw the Natural arch and had a picnic lunch at Yovimpa point. The sky was a such a bright blue I had to take a picture of it too!