National Parks Journal: Don’t wait for Elon to book a trip to Mars—just head to Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon National Park (established in 1923) is a 56-square-mile whirlpool in the southwest’s sea of red rock.
About an hour from Zion National Park (the more popular destination in Utah’s southwest corner) Bryce features the world’s largest collection of hoodoos (we called them “hooby doobies”). The hoodoos are found in the park’s naturally formed amphitheater (it’s technically not a canyon, every park ranger you stumble on will remind you of this).
From the rim, it looks as though a hole is burrowed in the earth with rock shoots sprouting from it.
It’s hard to describe why these orange-red rock spires are so ascetically pleasing, but I surmise its merely the same reason we might find any naturally-formed monument beautiful. This is what our eyes are intended to observe and appreciate — not the next thumb scroll of Facebook.
Once inside, the park becomes otherworldly. You are encompassed by the amphitheater’s orange hue, contrasted only by fir trees speckled here and there. It’s the only time I can remember anywhere feeling like another planet (sorry, 3D Star Wars ride at Disneyland).
Leading up to our visit, I knew little about Bryce and, quite honestly, only thought of it as a compliment to Zion. What a terrible mistake.
In fact, while peering across its great expanse, I was struck with the feeling that most said I would have when first seeing the Grand Canyon. While the Grand Canyon is certainly a sight to behold, I found Bryce to be far more breathtaking.
Because we took the park for granted before our visit, we didn’t give it adequate time. We squeezed its day between a day to visit Capitol Reef National Park in central Utah (7 hours of driving there and back) and our much-anticipated trip to Zion. We were only there for about five hours and only went on one hike. I saw bike trails roping in and out of the park and was told many times that staying until sunset was “a must.” It killed me to have such a short amount of time there. Don’t be dumb like us; give Bryce its due respect when you visit!
We hiked a portion of Peekaboo Canyon then contacted to Navajo Loop.
