Southern Utah Trip 2020: Bryce Canyon

Our next stop was at Bryce Canyon National Park, but first we had to find a camp site. The first campground we came to was full, but they referred us to dispersed camping, which was free. We found a beautiful spot under the evergreens, and we had internet too (on our phones).

We started early so we could miss an incoming storm, as a result we didn’t have any problem finding parking. We hiked the Queens Garden trail. It was a sunny, warm day with very little shade, but the views were great!

There were several of these tunnels on the trail.

End of the trail. We decided to keep going on the Navajo Loop Trail because someone said the best views were there. I really didn’t want to go back up our trail because it was so hot and sunny and a steep climb back to the rim.

We walked along the valley for a while and then came to “Wall Street.” It was two huge walls of rock that we walked in-between. This is the start of it below. It got more spectacular as we went.

Eventually we had to go back up to the rim. The trail went zigzag, back and forth all the way to the top.

We finally made it to the top!

We still had to follow the trail up to the rim, but the views were beautiful!

Next we had to walk back to where the RV was parked, but fortunately we got to walk by the original, historic Ruby’s lodge and cabins. Unfortunately it was closed, but I peeked in the windows.

After we were done with our hike, we went to the visitor’s centers. Thankfully they were open. Most everything else was closed including all the campgrounds inside the park. We couldn’t even purchase a shower.

We decided to go to Bryce Canyon City next. It was established in 2007. I couldn’t believe all the development since I had been there last. A new Ruby’s Inn was built there because the government took over the original one in the park. I bought some books in their gift shop about history, trails, and rocks.

The town had this old town tourist area that I checked out. They had some amazing Utah rocks in one of the shops.

After I went through the book about Bryce Canyon, I found a couple of more places I wanted to check out, so we went back into the park. It was well worth it! The views were amazing! This is Sunrise and Inspiration Point.

The picture below shows how to get into Bryce from the city Tropic. We want to try that next time so we don’t have to do the climb back up the rim.

This is at Bryce Point.

I was glad to have seen Bryce and hiked it. I have always wanted to do that. The times we had been there before we only went to the overlooks.