Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon is actually a collection of giant amphitheaters and canyons along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The amphitheaters contain hunderds of hoodoos (eroded columns or pinnacles of rock). I've been to Bryce thrice, once in 1979, again in 1989, and most recently in 2019 (40 years, yikes!). There are lots of hiking and horseback trails. Some of the more popular are Rim, Navajo, Fairyland, Peek-a-boo, and Queen's Garden trails. If my memory serves me correctly (big if), most of the photos from the two earlier trips were taken from Rim and Navajo trails. I don't remember exactly where I took a lot of the pre-2019 photos, so I've captioned them as "Untitled".

Park sign

Visitor Center

Information desk and exhibits

Thunderstorm on the horizon (1979)

Hoodoos

Not sure which trail this is.

Untitled (1979)

Untitled (1989)

Trail ride (1989)

Viewpoints along Rim Trail

The Rim Trail is 5.5 miles long with several moderately steep elevation changes along the way. The five viewpoints along the trail are (in order from north to south) Fairyland Point, Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point, and Bryce Point. Each of these viewpoints can be accessed individually by shuttle or private vehicle. Hiking about 2.5 miles from Bryce Point to Sunrise Point (or vice versa) provides the hiker with constantly changing spectacular top-down views of Bryce Amphitheater. Needless to say, this one of the easiest and most popular trails in the park. I hiked the rim from Sunrise Point to Bryce Point on my trip to Bryce in 2019.

Sunrise Point

View from Rim Trail near Sunrise Point

View from Rim trail near Sunrise Point

Rim trail at Sunrise Point

Sunrise Point elev 8015 ft

View from Sunrise Point

Hoodoos in the morning

Sunset Point

Rim trail near Sunset Point

Many Hoodoos

Thor's Hammer center (1979)

Thor's Hammer lower right (2019)

Navajo Loop Trail

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Sunset Point panorama

Inspiration Point

Shuttle stop

Bryce Amphitheater (1989)

Bryce Amphitheater (2019)

Navajo Loop Trail

Inspiration Point

Wall of Windows

View from Inspiration Point

Bryce Point

Bryce Point elevation 8300 ft

Rock formations Bryce Point

Bryce Point panorama

Bryce Point view

Many hoodoos

Peekaboo Loop Trail

Viewpoints along the park road (Utah SR-63)

Once you've hiked the Rim Trail and hit all the viewpoints around Bryce Amphitheater, then it's time to drive the 18 miles or so along the park road, checking out all the viewpoints along the way.

Swamp Canyon