USA Guide
The Southwest
Bryce Canyon National Park
The surface of the earth can hold few weirder-looking spots than Bryce Canyon, where, along a twenty-mile shelf on the eastern edge of the thickly forested Paunsaugunt Plateau, 8000ft above sea level, successive strata of dazzlingly coloured rock have slipped and slid and washed away to leave a menagerie of multihued and contorted stone pinnacles. The top-heavy pinnacles known as "hoodoos" form when the harder upper layers of rock stay firm as the lower levels wear away. Thor's Hammer, visible from Sunset Point, is the most alarmingly precarious.
The two most popular viewpoints into Bryce Amphitheater are on either side of Bryce Canyon Lodge: the more northerly, Sunrise Point, is slightly less crowded than Sunset Point, where most of the bus tours stop. Hiking trails drop abruptly from the rim down into the amphitheater. One good three-mile trek switchbacks steeply from Sunset Point through the cool 200-foot canyons of Wall Street. It then cuts across the surreal landscape into the Queen's Garden basin, where a remarkable likeness of Queen Victoria sits in majestic condescension, before climbing back up to Sunrise Point.
Sunrise and Sunset points notwithstanding, the best view at both sunset and dawn is from Bryce Point, at the southern end of the amphitheater.
The park approach road runs south from Hwy-12; the entrance fee is $25 per vehicle, per week. There's a free (summer-only) shuttle bus system, but visitors can drive to all the scenic overlooks year-round.