Grand Circle | Bryce Canyon National Park | Travel Tips | Must-see Sights

Bryce Canyon National Park | Introduction

Bryce Canyon National Park (Bryce Canyon National Park) is located in southwestern Utah, just a few miles fromGrand Canyon, and Zion National ParkIt's not far. This area is actually eroded along the side of the plateau, and unlike the Grand Canyon, which is cut by a river, it cannot be considered a true canyon geographically. The most famous geographic structure is the large hoodoos of red, orange and white rocks. Bryce Canyon has the highest topography of any of the nearby national parks, making it the coolest in the summer.

The Bryce Canyon National Park is connected by a north-south highway, and the tour route is long, with the main attractions focusing on the road between the visitor center and Rainbow Point at the southern end. Driving all the way from the visitor center is about 30 kilometers, and most of the scenic spots are from different angles to enjoy the scenery of Bryce Canyon. It is recommended to play from south to north, in order to have the feeling that the scenery is getting more and more amazing. Note that the southern part of the road is closed in winter. During summer holidays, it is difficult to find parking spaces for tourists. You can also take the shuttle buses from the Visitor Center (see official website).Shuttle Bus Route).

If possible, it is recommended to stay close to the park, but there are not many choices and reservations should be made in advance. If you can't find a suitable hotel, you can also consider booking in a town a little further away, such as Tropic.

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If you are on a day trip from outside the park into Bryce Canyon National Park, you can stop at the Mossy Cave outside the entrance of the park before entering the park. After entering the gate of Bryce Canyon, you can arrive at the visitor center before noon, and we recommend the Horseback Ride starting from Sunrise Point, where you can see the canyon on horseback. Although it is recommended in principle to visit the scenic spots from south to north, but depending on the time schedule, you can visit the scenic spots near the visitor center, such as Bryce point and Sunrise point in your spare time. after the horseback riding trip is over, you can drive south to the farthest Rainbow point from the entrance and then play back to the north, stopping at all the major scenic spots along the way, and then go back to Sunset point near the visitor center to see the sunset before sunset. Before sunset, we will return to Sunset Point near the Visitor Center to watch the sunset.

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Bryce Canyon National Park | Attractions

The road in Bryce Canyon is quite simple, there is only one main road along Highway 63 to the south. The main scenic spots including Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point are all concentrated near the visitor center. If you have little time, you can browse this area and leave. Below is a list of sightseeing spots worth stopping along the way from south to north.

Viewpoints | Fairyland Point

Fairyland Point is actually the closest to the entrance. Turn off the fork in the road before reaching the Visitor Center and you will reach this viewpoint. The view of Bryce Canyon from this angle is quite wonderful.

Attractions | Sunrise Point

Sunrise point is the starting point of the Navajo Combination Loop, from here it is about a two hour walk on a loop trail to the nearby sunset point, which has a view of a large orange colored rock wall with a sharpened top. If you arrive before noon, the Bryce Lodge and General Store are nearby, so you can take a break and have lunch to replenish your energy.

Near Sunrise point you can see the Horse trail, which is the route of the Horseback ride trip and is relatively steeper than the other trails.

Attractions | Sunset Point

If you can, get to Sunset Point before sunset - as the name suggests, it's the best place to watch the sunset, when the entire canyon is illuminated by the pre-sunset glow of golden color.

Must-See Attractions | Inspiration Point

Inspiration point is a must, you need to walk up the trail to see the most beautiful scenery. The trail is not difficult to walk and is suitable for all ages, but it requires a bit of physical strength. There are three levels and each level is getting steeper and steeper. By the time we arrived at Inspiration Point, we had already had a full day of canyon views. I thought we might be numb from watching the canyon, but after climbing up, we were still very impressed.

Attractions | Bryce Point

Bryce point is the most important landmark in this national park. The whole vast forest of stone pillars is very magnificent. Strange stone pillars and arches spread out in front of you, sandwiched between the forest, and every angle is a different scene. Such a magical scene formed by nature is even more shocking than the unfathomable Grand Canyon. We were all here with our cameras in our hands, frantically trying to capture the whole landscape, but no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get a tenth of it.

Fairview Point | Fairview Point

Farview point is a bigger viewpoint, next to Piracy point and swamp canyon, all of these viewpoints are very wide, so it's a pleasure to take photos. However, if you have seen Bryce point, the most spectacular viewpoint first, then this side is not as good.

Attractions | Natural Bridge

Natural bridge This stone bridge is a classic landmark in Bryce Canyon, it is a natural arch bridge made by nature. Although it looks like a bridge, it should be called an arch.

Attractions | Agua Canyon

Agua canyon looks a bit different from the other locations, the color of the nearby rock formations is a bit redder.

Attractions | Ponderosa Canyon

Ponderosa canyon has a different rock formation, so the canyon is not as deep, and the view of the canyon is not the same. The reason why it is called Ponderosa Canyon is because the trees at the bottom of the canyon are Ponderosa Pines.

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Attractions | Rainbow Point and Yovimpa View Point

Rainbow point is at the southernmost end of the park road, and is also the highest point in the park, 9100 feet high overlooking the canyon, is not it quite spectacular?Rainbow point and the side of the Yovimpa view point is actually to see the same piece of scenery, but the angle is slightly different.

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Outside | Mossy Cave

Mossy Cave Trail is on Highway 12 outside the park. This is one of the few places where you can look up at hoodoos from below, and the distance to the pillars is actually closer than the viewpoints on the mountain, and you can even climb right up to the pillars. The trail length is not long, only 0.35 miles, along the Tropic ditch stream, there are two branches, the left side leads to Mossy cave, the right side leads to a small waterfall.

Mossy Cave is more beautiful when there is water flow, but when we came here, it seems that there is no water flow, and probably because of the fear of accidents caused by tourists, they set up a fence around the cave, so they can't take pictures of the original scenery.

Recommended Activities | Horseback Ride

Bryce canyon'sHorseback rideIt is only open from April to October and is a popular tour that requires prior reservation. There are two types of tours, two hours and half a day, and it is generally recommended that beginners choose the shorter tours, as riding for a long period of time can be tiring. We signed up for the two-hour tour because we had no horseback riding experience, and we felt that it was the right choice, as the two-hour tour was physically manageable for us. Although we couldn't go to the center of the city in just two hours, it was worth it just for the scenery and the horseback riding experience. If you can afford to stay longer, you can consider joining a longer tour.

It took about 20 minutes to line up for the roll call and horse selection, and then we all set off after the queue was completed.

Riding up and down the mountain is much faster than climbing on your own, so you can go deeper into the canyon in a shorter period of time and see the scenery from different angles. The two-hour trip is relatively short, roughly following the horse trail below sunrise point and sunset point all the way to the bottom of the canyon, and then circling around to return to the original point after exploring the bottom. For longer trips, the guide will walk around the bottom of the canyon after exploring the bottom. Along the way, the tour guide will stop from time to time to explain, is a good time to take pictures. In fact, after going a little deeper into the center of the canyon, you will find that the surrounding area is actually quite flat, which is different from the view from Sunrise point. At some of the stops, you can also see the whole forest plateau.

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This pillar of rock is the legendary Mallet of Thor.

Near the end of the Navajo loop. For longer tours, you will go all the way down to a point near Stonehenge.

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Further reading



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