Park Tour: The Drive to Rainbow Point @ nationalgeographic.com

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Sunrise at Bryce Canyon

Photograph © Steven Mangold/Corbis

Just after you enter the park boundaries, but before the entrance station, is a mile-long [1.6-kilometer] spur road leading to the Fairyland overlook. The temptation is to leave this for later, but here you see one of the finest vistas in the park. In colorful array, spires and monoliths rise close at hand. Some stand isolated like chess pieces; others group together like a Greek chorus. A short hike down the trail takes you right among them—a quick immersion course in the effects of erosion.
When you return to your car, drive past the Sunset Point turnoff (trailers are not allowed beyond here) and on past the Bryce Point turnoff. You leave the ponderosa pine forest behind and quickly find yourself among the high-elevation Douglas-fir and blue spruce.
Pull in at Farview Point for a panoramic view of Table Cliffs and a series of broad platforms stairstepping southeast to the Kaibab Plateau at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Continue south to Natural Bridge pull-off. Here you have a closeup view of a natural arch 85 feet [25.9 meters] long and 125 feet [38.1 meters] high. Its bright rusty red contrasts with the deep green of the trees below and the deep blue of the sky above.

The next pull-off is Agua Canyon, one of the finest vistas in the park. Massive hoodoos stand close to the rim; farther off are the vividly colored Pink Cliffs; and on the far horizon is the domed profile of Navajo Mountain, over 10,000 feet [3,048 meters] high.
Continue to the end of the road at Rainbow Point. Stop here for a picnic among the thick stands of fir on the park’s highest elevation, 9,115 feet [2,778.3 meters]. A pleasant mile [1.6-kilometer] walk follows the Bristlecone Loop Trail to expansive views. A spur trail leads to more views at Yovimpa Point; the cliffs that descend from there in stairsteps are named for their rock colors—pink, gray, white, vermilion, and chocolate. A stand of ancient bristlecone pines grows on the exposed edge of the plateau; the oldest in the park has been alive for more than 1,500 years.
Acoustic studies have found that the natural silence here equals the quality of a sound studio. Park air is superb, too. But rangers worry that this purity will be threatened by possible development on adjacent lands.