Our trip to Bryce Canyon National Park this past weekend furthered the notion that Utah is quite spectacular!  We expected Bryce Canyon itself would be amazing.  After all, it is one of only 61 national parks in the country.  And it didn’t disappoint! 

We didn’t plan for the stunning scenery on the drive in either direction!  Planning the day included planning routes to get to and from the park from Richfield, Utah, where we are staying.  Google Maps identified three different routes between an hour and 45-minutes and two hours and ten minutes.  It made sense to me to choose the two shorter routes, one for the way there and one for the way back.

On the way there, US-89 South had us following the Sevier River for many miles.  We wound our way around the hills, and through a couple of valleys following the river in many areas, at the intersection for Scenic Byway UT-12, we arrived into the area of Red Canyon.  Somehow excluded from the designated area of the national park, Red Canyon lies within the area of the Dixie National Forest.  And what a welcome to the area it is!  Said to be the most photographed area of Utah, the stark contrast between green ponderosa pines and the brilliant red soil makes this area truly picturesque.

We officially arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park’s only entrance just after noon.  After a quick trip into the visitor’s center, we found a table near the north campground to enjoy a quick picnic lunch that we brought with us.  Well-fed and hydrated, we moved the car to a lot near Sunrise Point, one of four overlooks of Bryce Canyon’s natural amphitheater.  The rim trail between Sunrise and Sunset Points is the only walking trail in the park where Skipper, our dog, could walk with us.  We enjoyed the half-mile walk in each direction along this rim trail, taking many pictures along the way along with many other tourists that were here to visit.

Upon returning to the car, we set out to drive to the southern-most end of the eighteen-mile scenic drive in the park.  I recommend this approach to the drive as almost all the turnouts for overlooks are on the east side of the drive, putting them on the right-hand side as you return north.  We stopped at nearly all the overlooks from Rainbow Point and back north, enjoying the incredible scenery at each one. 

At Rainbow Point looking further south, I remembered something I read in planning for our visit here.  That is Bryce Canyon, Grand Escalante National Monument, and the Grand Canyon make up a staircase.  The very north end of Bryce Canyon is the very top of this staircase leading down to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, the bottom of the staircase.  Thinking about this has me wanting to see these places more!

Having completed the scenic drive and the stops along the way, we decided to head back home.  This time we opted to take Johns’ Valley Road through the, no surprise, beautiful valley north to UT-62 and back out to US-89.  Narrower with no shoulder and with warnings both by street signs indicating “Open Range” and by way of a couple of dead cows on the side of the road, we found our way back through the valley and around the mountains.  We were just west of Capitol Reef National Park.  Still amazed by the beauty of Utah and how it seems at every curve, there is something more to see ahead.

We are planning to return to Utah in the spring for a couple of months.  And we hope to return to Bryce Canyon during this time.  I think our half-day in the park was perfect for the time that we had, but I would like to return without Skipper for a day.  When we do, we will walk at least one of the trails leading down into the amphitheater.  From the rim road trail, we saw many people walking amongst the hoodoos. From our vantage point, we could compare people and the hoodoos, the famous rock formations of Bryce Canyon.   But I want to compare myself when standing next to these and to think about the way the earth has taken shape in this small yet vast area.