In April 2022 we visited all five of Utah’s National Parks – Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Zion and Bryce Canyon.
Bryce Canyon National Park was the fifth and final of those National Parks that we visited and it rivalled Zion for being my favorite. Both of them have astounding natural beauty; Zion still slightly edges out Bryce Canyon for being my favorite, but there was something magical about Bryce Canyon that made it extremely special nonetheless.
The beauty begins before you even reach Bryce Canyon. While driving along Scenic Byway 12 towards the park you pass many hoodoos and other rock formations along the side of the road, with several pull-offs along the way to enable you to safely stop and view them.
The road itself continues through a couple of arches known as Red Canyon Arch. Again, there’s a pull-off before and after each of the arches to stop and get photos.
After continuing another nine miles east, we turned south on State Route 63 which leads into Bryce Canyon National Park.
As always, our first stop was the park’s visitor center. We’d brought along our dog Truffles with us that day, so I waited outside with her while my mum, dad and Shae went inside to check out the exhibits.
There were some information boards outside of the visitor center, so I checked those out while they were inside. One of those boards provided details of the park’s different hiking trails. That helpfully provided information about how easy or difficult they were, their length and elevation change, how long they should take, etc. If you’re visiting with a pup like we were, note that only one of those trails – Sunset To Sunrise – is pet-friendly.
When my parents came back out from the visitor center, I went in to check out the exhibits there which provided more information about the park’s geology, the rock formations, etc.
There’s a shuttle bus that runs through Bryce Canyon National Park. At Zion National Park you have to take their shuttle to journey along its Scenic Drive, but at Bryce Canyon the shuttle bus is an optional free service. We decided to drive our own car along the paved road running through the park a) so that we could explore the park at our own pace without having to wait for the bus and b) because we had Truffles with us.
Our first stop was Inspiration Point which provides one of the best views of Bryce Amphitheater. The path leading up to the edge doesn’t give an indication as to what’s beyond.
This is the view that greets you when you reach the edge; thousands of hoodoos pointing to the sky. An information board elsewhere in the park explained how they were formed:
These columns of rock are protected from erosion by a harder caprock called dolomite, a unique form of limestone reinforced by magnesium. Alternating hard and soft layers erode at different rates – a process known as differential erosion – which causes the varied hoodoo shapes. As the softer layers continue to erode, the hoodoos will eventually collapse.
There’s an 11 mile long Rim Trail that runs from Fairyland Point to Bryce Point and goes via Inspiration Point. You can take part of that trail up to Upper Inspiration Point to get an even better view from a higher perspective. Be aware that it’s a steep walk up, but it’s worth it.
Bryce Amphitheater is an unusual place. It almost looks like a meteor crater with iron filings reaching up towards a giant magnet.
After checking out Inspiration Point, we all hopped back in the car and drove through the park, stopping off at most of the overlooks on the way out and back.
The two photos above were taken on the walk over to Bryce Point overlook, an overlook that juts out over the canyon.
That overlook provides a great opportunity to take a panoramic photo of the canyon.
To get to Bryce Point, you have to take a short road that runs off the main road running through the park to the left. That short road has another offshoot that takes you to Paria View.
Getting back on the park’s main road, we continued driving along to the different viewpoints and overlooks.
One of the best stops along the way was Bryce Natural Bridge. Although it’s called Bryce Natural Bridge, it’s actually an arch because it was formed via weather erosion rather than streams.
The road from the park’s entrance to the far end of the park is 18 miles long. After driving to the end, we turned around and hit some of the overlooks we’d not stopped at yet.
Our final stop was Sunset Point which is in the main Bryce Amphitheater area.
Our original plan had been to walk the Sunset To Sunrise trail as that’s the lone pet-friendly trail in Bryce Canyon National Park. However, my mum was ready to take it easy at that point, so she offered to stay back with Truffles while Shae, my dad and I went to explore the Navajo Loop trail.
I’d highly recommend walking at least part of the Navajo Loop trail when visiting Bryce Canyon. Seeing the hoodoos and other rock formations from above is one thing, but being down among them has a magical feeling.
We only hiked down part of the Navajo Loop Trail. We’d love to have hiked the entire loop but it was almost 7pm by this point, plus we weren’t keen on how steep the climb back up would be!
Final Thoughts
We adored Bryce Canyon National Park; so much so that on the drive back to our Airbnb we discussed ways to get back there a few weeks later.
Those plans didn’t work out, but Shae and I would love to head back to Bryce Canyon in the future to explore more of its trails because it truly is magical there. I’d seen photos of Bryce Canyon in the past and although it looked pretty, it didn’t look too impressive. Don’t let photos fool you though – the park is incredible and is somewhere that should definitely be experienced.
Is Bryce Canyon National Park Pet-Friendly?
Utah’s National Parks vary when it comes to their pet-friendliness. Zion, Arches and Canyonlands aren’t very pet-friendly at all, while Capitol Reef allowed pets in more areas, albeit not on a lot of trails there.
Bryce Canyon National Park is on the more pet-friendly side of things because dogs are allowed in the following places:
- Campgrounds
- Parking lots
- Paved road
- Paved viewpoint areas (all viewpoints except Piracy Point)
- On the paved trail (section of Rim Trail) between Sunset Point and Sunrise Point
- On the paved Shared Use Path between the park entrance and Inspiration Point
The fact that dogs are allowed on all paved viewpoint areas meant Truffles was able to join us at all the overlooks with the exception of Piracy Point.
Keep an eye out for signs about where dogs are and aren’t allowed though. For example, Inspiration Point is paved and so dogs are allowed there, but the route up to Upper Inspiration Point is a dirt path and so dogs aren’t allowed up there (that path is part of the Rim Trail.) Anywhere it’s paved though, your dogs are good to go.
How Much Does It Cost To Visit Bryce Canyon National Park?
At the time of our visit in April 2022, Bryce Canyon National Park entrance fees are as follows:
- Per vehicle (15 passenger van or smaller) – $35
- Per motorcycle – $30
- Per person (walk-in or by bicycle) – $20
If you have a National Parks annual pass, entry is free which is what we used for entry.
[…] closer to Zion than Kanab is, but Kanab was a better location for us overall as it put us closer to Bryce Canyon National Park which we were also visiting that […]