Hiking in Bryce Canyon

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We’d planned to leave early for Bryce Canyon, to beat the heat over the steep stretches of Hwy 191. Of course, we didn’t pack anything after our campfire dessert and didn’t wake up early.

The trip to Bryce took about 8 hours, including bathroom stops and a lunch stop. We did beat the worst of the heat and the stretch south has a shorter uphill, but the downhill is steep and long. Best to let the engine do the braking if possible.

We didn’t have a campsite reservation at Bryce Canyon and were a little concerned, however, there were many sites available. Many sites are sloped but most in Loop A are a pull thru making it easy to park.

After running amok, the grandkids settled in for the evening.

Wednesday morning all of us slept in late. Grandkids ran, hiking up to the top of a hill. They ran back yelling that they saw the entire canyon. They had found the rim trail.

We were really tired of being on the road so it was nice to stay put while kids made up games like “hit the rock across the picnic table with sticks, making mud structures, and playing walking talkie. Fortunately, we were within walking distance to the Visitor’s Center, so picked up Jr. Ranger books, and watched the movie.

Thursday was our big day. We’d decided to go to breakfast at the Bryce Canyon Lodge then hike down into the canyon. We got dressed and drove to the Bryce Canyon Lodge arriving at 10:15, only to find that the dining room closed at 10am. Kids were not happy campers.

We ate breakfast at the RV and then hopped on the shuttle to Sunset Point for our hike. The hike we wanted to take the kids on was the Navajo loop taking the cutoff at the bottom to the Wall Street trail. We’d read to hike counterclockwise but the aide at the top of the trail recommend hiking clockwise. As we walked down the trail we saw that the Navajo trail was steep and in the sun. We were glad that we’d checked beforehand as the Wall Street was much shadier and had a breeze. Several people hiking up the Navajo trail were in trouble with the heat and sun.

https://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm



Kids ran down then up the 1.5-mile of trails, but I hoped they looked around at the beautiful hoodoos. Hopefully, they will remember this trip for its unique beauty.

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