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Tucked into a small corner of Arizona and Utah, within a 100 mile radius of each other, are the big three of the Southwest: Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.
Grand Canyon National Park, magnificently textured, overwhelmingly breathtaking - the hikes at least a day if not an overnight trek - while spectacular and awe inspiring, can be overpowering and impersonal.
Zion National Park, a secluded sanctuary of red sandstone, is more manageable: It's only 15 miles long, with many offshoot canyons that provide easy hikes along rocky stream beds and through habitat as diverse as sagebrush, prickly pear, pinyon pine, scrub oak and yucca.
Bryce Canyon National Park, however, is unique. You could call it a rogue because technically it's not even a canyon. Bryce did not erode from a central river (the definition of a canyon) as its two companion monuments did, but was moved and molded by ancient underground forces millions of years ago. Bryce eroded over time due to the pressure of wind, water and winter ice.
Surprising: partly because of its remote location, high on the paunsaugunt plateau, and partly because it's quiet - receiving relatively few visitors compared to the others - but mostly because of the distinctive hoodoos. These rock spires are formed when ice and rainwater wear away the weak limestone.
This highest concentration of hoodoos on Earth, these magnificent totems of sandstone, limestone and mudstone in various shades of orange, red, ochre, with chalk-white highlights, form mythical shapes whimsically named for queens and gods and secret cities.
The ancient Anasazi once hunted small animals and farmed squash and maize along these mesas, plateaus and river-bottoms, while later the Paiute gathered seeds and nuts, hunted game, and the women farmed small vegetable plots along the creeks and rivers. The inevitable exploration and discovery by John Wesley Powell encouraged settlement by Mormons along the Sevier River, a river offering irrigation and teeming wildlife to these industrious settlers.
Among the many immigrants on the tide of Mormon flight, an enterprising and intrepid Scotsman, Ebenezer Bryce - a ship-builder by trade - and his wife Mary struck out from nearby Pine Valley in 1875 to homestead close to the rim, ranging cattle and eventually lending his name to the now famous canyon.
The intimacy of Bryce Canyon is defined by its small size: 58 square miles - and the matchless views make a visit to Bryce a strangely personal experience. The slopes are dotted with blue spruce and Douglas fir, and from the rim, winding pathways descending through dwarf pinions and junipers, seem to create an irresistible urge to hike down into the canyon. The rim is covered with robust groves of fir, aspen and spruce and in some areas, bristlecone pines, giving great cover for many species of birds and animals.
Animal life here on the high plateau is plentiful but shy. Mule deer, and their distinguishing large ears, emerge in the early morning and evening to graze in the fields by the rim road. Elk and pronghorn hide out in the under-brush; black bears and mountain lions inhabit the plateau but are rarely seen. Small mammals such as marmots, ground squirrels and the threatened Utah prairie dog inhabit the park meadows.
Clear, expansive views, aided by thin desert air open up to as far away as the Kaibab Plateau and almost to Grand Canyon. The dark night sky is one of the last remnants of unpolluted darkness left in the United States, magnifying and enhancing the blanketing stars. Park rangers offer astronomy programs and full moon hikes that throw an other-worldly aspect on the already striking hoodoos.
Enter another significant character into the Bryce Canyon landscape. In 1916 Reuben and Minnie Syrett established a ranch near the present day entrance to the canyon. Being in the right place at the right time, they saw an opportunity to fill a niche that has opened up with the growing popularity and increasing tourist industry of Arizona and Utah. The Syretts became hosts: starting simply with a tent, adding a mess hall, then a lodge, and finally culminating in today's complex of hotel, lodges, cabins, and RV campground. Having survived fires, droughts and blizzards the complex is still run today by Ruby's grandchildren and great grandchildren.
And they've kept it simple, (despite the addition of the Best Western name to the Inn) and to many, this campground represents the best of both worlds. On the one hand there is the rusticity and adventure of the great outdoors: quiet roomy sites sheltered by cedars, the level gravel pads verged in native grasses - and on the other the convenience of full hookups, laundry and showers.
Inside the Park
Activities: Interpretive ranger tours and geology talks, back country hiking, horseback and mule rides, guided walks and hikes, kids programs, bird walks in the summer and cross country skiing and snow-shoeing in winter. Stop at the visitor center at the park entrance for information. Bicycles are restricted to paved roadways in the park and dogs are not allowed below the rim.
Lodging: Bryce Canyon Lodge was built in 1924 of local sandstone and ponderosa pine. Steep pitched roofs with clipped gables and wavy shingle pattern, exposed framing and trusses give the lodge its rustic feel and National Landmark status. Accommodations range from suites in the lodge to rooms in the surrounding cabins, some of which are original. The lodge has a restaurant, café and gift shop featuring Native American artifacts. www.brycecanyonlodge.com
Camping: North Campground - Open all year. 13 RV sites available, maximum length 50 feet.
Sunset Campground - Open late spring to early fall. one RV site only, maximum length 28 feet. There are no hookups in the park but a dump station is available near North Campground. www.recreation.gov
Outside the Park:
Activities: Red Canyon horseback rides, Bryce Canyon Country Rodeo, Scenic Rim Trail Rides, Helicopter Flights, Mountain Bike Rentals, ATV Guided Tours. Check with Ruby's Inn for the above. Nearby Red Canyon has five miles of paved bike trail and many miles of challenging mountain bike trails.
Lodging: Best Western Ruby's Inn - Standard rooms to family suites and lodges are scattered throughout the grounds. Amenities include swimming pool and spa, conference center, internet access, general store.
Camping: Ruby's Inn RV Park and Campground. Large pull through sites with full hookups, tent sites, cabin rentals and tipi rentals. No length limit on RVs. Laundromat, showers, store, propane and dump station. 1280 So. Hwy 63, Bryce Canyon City UT. 84764. Tel: (435) 834.5301 www.rubysinn.com
Hiking the Canyon:
The pull of the canyon is irresistible and to experience the peace and tranquility, the silence and harmony that is Bryce - take a hike. There are more than 50 miles of hiking trails in varying degrees of difficulty and length that lead through and around the hoodoos, across creek beds and through pine forests to views that only the stalwart see. Be sure to take plenty of water and sunscreen, wear the right footwear, don't forget your camera (there is no bad picture) and remember, you're at 8,000 feet elevation, so take it easy.
The Bristlecone Loop Trail, which starts at Rainbow Point, leads through thick spruce and fir forests, to a rare stand of Bristlecone Pines: pines that have been found to live up to 5,000 years, the oldest living organisms on earth - and to far distant views. Round trip one mile, time about one hour, elevation change 100 feet.
A combination of Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden Trails, with a short connecting loop, leads down steep switchbacks, through narrow canyon walls and winds along the canyon floor through forests of pine and juniper, offering unique views of the hoodoos and the rim above. Start either at Sunset & Sunrise Points, and although it's a slam dunk going down, you've still got to come back up. Round trip three miles, time about three hours, elevation change 500 feet.
For the 100-mile views take the Rim Trail. Relatively level and paved in part, it parallels Bryce Amphitheater with breathtaking views of the hoodoos. Starting at Fairyland Point, various other trails can be accessed along this route. Round trip 11 miles, time maximum six hours, elevation change 550 feet.
A system of back country trails, connecting at various points with the park highway, makes up the Under the Rim Trail. At 23 miles one way, it is the longest and most strenuous of the park hikes and begins where the others leave off - from Bryce Point to Rainbow Point. Permits are required for overnight stays and there are three campgrounds along the trail.
Getting There:
From Cedar City on I15 take UT14 East (about 40 miles) through Cedar Breaks National Monument and Dixie National Forest (about 20 miles of it a long uphill climb through spectacular canyons - definitely worth the trouble), at Long Valley Junction take UT89 North then East on UT12. The rest of the drive is level and easy.
For information about Bryce Canyon National PArk, visit the Web site at www.nps.gov/brca
Grand Canyon National Park, magnificently textured, overwhelmingly breathtaking - the hikes at least a day if not an overnight trek - while spectacular and awe inspiring, can be overpowering and impersonal.
 |
Bryce Canyon National Park, however, is unique. You could call it a rogue because technically it's not even a canyon. Bryce did not erode from a central river (the definition of a canyon) as its two companion monuments did, but was moved and molded by ancient underground forces millions of years ago. Bryce eroded over time due to the pressure of wind, water and winter ice.
Surprising: partly because of its remote location, high on the paunsaugunt plateau, and partly because it's quiet - receiving relatively few visitors compared to the others - but mostly because of the distinctive hoodoos. These rock spires are formed when ice and rainwater wear away the weak limestone.
 |
The ancient Anasazi once hunted small animals and farmed squash and maize along these mesas, plateaus and river-bottoms, while later the Paiute gathered seeds and nuts, hunted game, and the women farmed small vegetable plots along the creeks and rivers. The inevitable exploration and discovery by John Wesley Powell encouraged settlement by Mormons along the Sevier River, a river offering irrigation and teeming wildlife to these industrious settlers.
Among the many immigrants on the tide of Mormon flight, an enterprising and intrepid Scotsman, Ebenezer Bryce - a ship-builder by trade - and his wife Mary struck out from nearby Pine Valley in 1875 to homestead close to the rim, ranging cattle and eventually lending his name to the now famous canyon.
The intimacy of Bryce Canyon is defined by its small size: 58 square miles - and the matchless views make a visit to Bryce a strangely personal experience. The slopes are dotted with blue spruce and Douglas fir, and from the rim, winding pathways descending through dwarf pinions and junipers, seem to create an irresistible urge to hike down into the canyon. The rim is covered with robust groves of fir, aspen and spruce and in some areas, bristlecone pines, giving great cover for many species of birds and animals.
Animal life here on the high plateau is plentiful but shy. Mule deer, and their distinguishing large ears, emerge in the early morning and evening to graze in the fields by the rim road. Elk and pronghorn hide out in the under-brush; black bears and mountain lions inhabit the plateau but are rarely seen. Small mammals such as marmots, ground squirrels and the threatened Utah prairie dog inhabit the park meadows.
 |
Enter another significant character into the Bryce Canyon landscape. In 1916 Reuben and Minnie Syrett established a ranch near the present day entrance to the canyon. Being in the right place at the right time, they saw an opportunity to fill a niche that has opened up with the growing popularity and increasing tourist industry of Arizona and Utah. The Syretts became hosts: starting simply with a tent, adding a mess hall, then a lodge, and finally culminating in today's complex of hotel, lodges, cabins, and RV campground. Having survived fires, droughts and blizzards the complex is still run today by Ruby's grandchildren and great grandchildren.
And they've kept it simple, (despite the addition of the Best Western name to the Inn) and to many, this campground represents the best of both worlds. On the one hand there is the rusticity and adventure of the great outdoors: quiet roomy sites sheltered by cedars, the level gravel pads verged in native grasses - and on the other the convenience of full hookups, laundry and showers.
Inside the Park
Activities: Interpretive ranger tours and geology talks, back country hiking, horseback and mule rides, guided walks and hikes, kids programs, bird walks in the summer and cross country skiing and snow-shoeing in winter. Stop at the visitor center at the park entrance for information. Bicycles are restricted to paved roadways in the park and dogs are not allowed below the rim.
 |
Camping: North Campground - Open all year. 13 RV sites available, maximum length 50 feet.
Sunset Campground - Open late spring to early fall. one RV site only, maximum length 28 feet. There are no hookups in the park but a dump station is available near North Campground. www.recreation.gov
Outside the Park:
Activities: Red Canyon horseback rides, Bryce Canyon Country Rodeo, Scenic Rim Trail Rides, Helicopter Flights, Mountain Bike Rentals, ATV Guided Tours. Check with Ruby's Inn for the above. Nearby Red Canyon has five miles of paved bike trail and many miles of challenging mountain bike trails.
 |
Camping: Ruby's Inn RV Park and Campground. Large pull through sites with full hookups, tent sites, cabin rentals and tipi rentals. No length limit on RVs. Laundromat, showers, store, propane and dump station. 1280 So. Hwy 63, Bryce Canyon City UT. 84764. Tel: (435) 834.5301 www.rubysinn.com
Hiking the Canyon:
The pull of the canyon is irresistible and to experience the peace and tranquility, the silence and harmony that is Bryce - take a hike. There are more than 50 miles of hiking trails in varying degrees of difficulty and length that lead through and around the hoodoos, across creek beds and through pine forests to views that only the stalwart see. Be sure to take plenty of water and sunscreen, wear the right footwear, don't forget your camera (there is no bad picture) and remember, you're at 8,000 feet elevation, so take it easy.
The Bristlecone Loop Trail, which starts at Rainbow Point, leads through thick spruce and fir forests, to a rare stand of Bristlecone Pines: pines that have been found to live up to 5,000 years, the oldest living organisms on earth - and to far distant views. Round trip one mile, time about one hour, elevation change 100 feet.
A combination of Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden Trails, with a short connecting loop, leads down steep switchbacks, through narrow canyon walls and winds along the canyon floor through forests of pine and juniper, offering unique views of the hoodoos and the rim above. Start either at Sunset & Sunrise Points, and although it's a slam dunk going down, you've still got to come back up. Round trip three miles, time about three hours, elevation change 500 feet.
For the 100-mile views take the Rim Trail. Relatively level and paved in part, it parallels Bryce Amphitheater with breathtaking views of the hoodoos. Starting at Fairyland Point, various other trails can be accessed along this route. Round trip 11 miles, time maximum six hours, elevation change 550 feet.
A system of back country trails, connecting at various points with the park highway, makes up the Under the Rim Trail. At 23 miles one way, it is the longest and most strenuous of the park hikes and begins where the others leave off - from Bryce Point to Rainbow Point. Permits are required for overnight stays and there are three campgrounds along the trail.
Getting There:
From Cedar City on I15 take UT14 East (about 40 miles) through Cedar Breaks National Monument and Dixie National Forest (about 20 miles of it a long uphill climb through spectacular canyons - definitely worth the trouble), at Long Valley Junction take UT89 North then East on UT12. The rest of the drive is level and easy.
For information about Bryce Canyon National PArk, visit the Web site at www.nps.gov/brca
