Bryce Canyon

CanyonsUtah,United States

The densest hoodoos on Earth: thousands of orange spires in amphitheatres bitten into a Utah plateau rim, walked down among on switchback trails.

September·Peaking now

May–Sep

The full season: Wall Street reopens by late May and every trail, viewpoint and the shuttle runs. Highs climb from the teens to near 27°C, the Milky Way's core arches overhead — June's festival marks it — and July–August afternoons crack with monsoon storms.

Year-round More hoodoos crowd this Utah plateau rim than anywhere on Earth, beneath some of the darkest skies in the US — both here every day of the year. Snow transforms the scene each winter.

Bryce Canyon holds more stone spires than anywhere else on Earth, thousands of them, packed into bowls bitten out of a high plateau rim in southern Utah. They are called hoodoos, and every one is standing for the same reason: a slab of harder rock on top is sheltering the soft limestone underneath from rain and frost. When the stalk finally wears through, the tower falls. The amphitheatres face east, which is why the day here starts at Sunrise Point. The first light runs down the spires tower by tower while the hollows below still hold cold blue shadow. At 2,400 metres that hour is near freezing. From there you follow the rim trail almost level to Sunset Point, the basin at your elbow the entire way. A short pull uphill reaches Inspiration Point, higher than either, where the towers stack into one frame and spill towards the pine forest below. From Sunset Point the Navajo Loop switchbacks steeply off the rim into the amphitheatre. Partway down it threads Wall Street, a slot barely wide enough for two people, with the orange walls leaning in overhead. On the floor, Douglas firs grown tall reaching for light still look small against the rock, and the towers you looked down on now stand over you. Going down is quick; the climb back out is the work, because the air up here is thin. After dark the spires drop to silhouette and the sky takes over, this being one of the darkest places in the country. The park's name came later, from Ebenezer Bryce, a rancher who ran cattle below these cliffs in the 1870s and said the maze was a hell of a place to lose a cow. Thor's Hammer is the one everybody photographs. It stands below Sunset Point, a block of hard rock left balanced on a stalk of soft limestone, and the first switchbacks bring you near enough to see how thin its neck has worn.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Come for sunrise, not sunset — the amphitheatres face east, so dawn light strikes the hoodoos head-on and sets the whole basin alight while the hollows still hold cold blue shadow.
Dress for winter even in July — the rim sits above 2,400 metres, so dawns are near-freezing and the thin air makes the climb back out of the basin harder than it looks.
Time it to a new moon — Bryce's Gold-tier night skies only fully open when the moon is down, and the park's ranger astronomy programs are worth building an evening around.

Things to do

1
Walk the rim from Sunrise Point at dawn
Get to Sunrise Point before the sky lightens and face east — the amphitheatre opens toward the sunrise, so the first rays run down the spires while the hollows below still hold cold blue shadow. Dress for near-freezing air at this height and give it a few minutes to watch the orange climb tower by tower. From there the paved Rim Trail runs almost level along the top edge to Sunset Point, with the whole basin of hoodoos open beside you the whole way. Keep going and a short uphill pull reaches Inspiration Point, set higher than either overlook, where thousands of towers stack into one frame spilling toward the pine forest below.
2
Descend to the basin floor via Navajo Loop
From Sunset Point the Navajo Loop switchbacks steeply off the rim into the amphitheatre, passing through the stretch called Wall Street. There the path threads a slot barely wide enough for two people, and the orange walls lean in overhead. On the floor, Douglas-firs that have grown tall reaching for light look small against the rock, and the towers you looked down on from above now stand over you. Going down is quick; the climb back out is the hard part, because the rim sits above 2,400 metres and the air is thin.
3
Find Thor's Hammer
Thor's Hammer is a block of harder rock left balanced on a thin stalk of softer limestone, and it is the best-known single hoodoo in the park. It stands below Sunset Point and comes into full view on the first switchbacks of the Navajo Loop, close enough to see how narrow the neck under the cap has worn. It also shows how every hoodoo here is made: the hard cap shelters the rock beneath it from rain and frost until the stalk finally gives way and the tower falls.
4
Watch the Milky Way rise over the hoodoos
After dark the spires fade to silhouette and the sky takes over — on a moonless night the Milky Way arches straight above the amphitheatre. Ranger astronomy programs and summer full-moon hikes make the most of one of the country's darkest skies.

Watch

Nearby

80 km