Planning Your Trip

- Orientation
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Bryce Amphitheater

Watch sunrise from Bryce Point, one of the highest overlooks along the rim of the amphitheater. Drive about 4 miles [6.4 kilometers] south of the visitor center, then walk a short distance from the parking lot to the viewpoint.

Colors begin to glow even before the sun breaks over the Aquarius Plateau, at over 10,000 feet [3,048 meters] the highest plateau in North America. First light catches the rim of the amphitheater, then drops into the basin, igniting the crowded pillars of rock. From this vantage point you see shallow caves along the rim called the Grottoes. Look for the Alligator, a sharply incised butte that appears reptilian from above, and the Sinking Ship, which resembles a vanishing prow. CONTINUED

(Continued From Top)

One spectacular part of the park is called Silent City.

Photograph © Ric Ergenbright/Corbis

Drive back to Inspiration Point, bypassing the Paria View turnoff. From the parking lot walk up a short but steep trail to upper Inspiration Point. If the trail looks too ambitious, stay below at the lower viewpoint. Both look over the head of the amphitheater and place you close to the rock formations. No matter what time of day, they provide excellent all-around views.
In the valley below is the small town of Tropic. Scottish emigrant Ebenezer Bryce and his wife, Mary, homesteaded nearby in 1875. They grazed cattle in Bryce Canyon but moved away 5 years later, leaving behind little more than their name.
Continue on to Sunset Point. The name is misleading since the viewpoint faces east, limiting sundown views. But the mix of shadows and deep-hued colors makes this an excellent viewpoint in the low-angled light of later afternoon. To the left is Thor’s Hammer; to the right is the Silent City—a gridwork of deep ravines that divide turreted walls suggesting the ruins of an ancient metropolis.

Hoodoos and natural amphitheaters fill the park.

Photograph © Zandria Muench Beraldo/Corbis

Those with time and stamina can follow the Navajo Loop Trail, a fairly strenuous 1.5-mile [2.4-kilometer] loop into the canyon. The trail drops steeply in a series of tight switchbacks before entering a narrow, steep-walled gorge called Wall Street. Several Douglas-firs, two of them 700 years old, grow between the towering cliffs.
Continue down the trail to the junction with Queen’s Garden Trail, the least strenuous trail below the rim. It winds along the bottom of the amphitheater to Queen’s Garden, then climbs to the rim at Sunrise Point, passing weird rock formations and occasional bristlecone pines. From Sunrise Point follow the Rim Trail 0.5-mile [0.8-kilometer] back to your car at Sunset Point.