Home»Utah National Parks_2011/2012»Bryce Canyon NP

Bryce Canyon is one of the smaller National Parks on the Colorado Plateau and is known the world over for its spectacular hoodoos. These are arrayed in amphitheaters cut into the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, one of the superimposed higher elevation plateaus of the Colorado Plateau. These hoodoos were created by the action of frost wedging and rainwater dissolution on limestone. Bryce NP has elevations over 9,000 ft and the higher reaches are home to spruce/fir forest and there are even groves of Great Basin Bristlecone Pine at the highest points. Even in summer nights are cold (down to low 40s F/ ~ 5 C). Though Bryce is known for its generally clear skies, a series of wildfires in the region of Zion drifted smoke across Bryce when we were there, making for colorful sunsets but smoky mornings. Like Grand Canyon, most visitors to Bryce stop at the rim and admire the hoodoos from above. However many visitors also take the trails down into the canyon and the most popular can be quite crowded in high season. Longer trails such as the Peekaboo trail allow for more solitude and more spectacular views of the hoodoos from below, especially of the remarkable Wall of Windows.