Bryce Canyon National Park

Explore the stunning red rock landscape of Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southern Utah. It is known for its crimson-colored hoodoos, which are spire-shaped rock formations. The park’s main road leads past the expansive Bryce Amphitheater, a hoodoo-filled depression lying below the Rim Trail hiking path. You can also visit overlooks at Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point, and Bryce Point. Prime viewing times are at sunrise and sunset.

Bryce Canyon is not a single canyon, but a series of natural amphitheaters or bowls carved into the edge of a high plateau. The most famous of these is the Bryce Amphitheater (pictured below), filled with irregularly eroded spires of rocks called hoodoos. Everyone should spend at least some time marveling at the four main viewpoints located within the first few miles of the park. Between April and October, a shuttle service is operated in this area of the park to reduce congestion.

Other viewpoints are found along the park's 18-mile main road from the northern plateau rim to its highest elevations in the south (over 9,000 ft / 2,743 m). Hiking trails lead through the forests of the plateau, connect between viewpoints along the rim of the Bryce Amphitheater, and wander through the hoodoos below. Deepen your understanding of the park by attending a ranger program, geology talks, a rim walk, an evening program, an astronomy program, or a full moon hike. Concessionaire-provided horseback rides are another way to experience Bryce Canyon in the summer. This national park is an adventurer's paradise.