Bryce Canyon National Park Photos

This is the Bryce Amphitheater as seen from Sunset Point, featuring Bryce Canyon's famous "hoodoos" (rock formations) carved from the Clarion Formation by eons of erosion. Views like this can be seen by walking or driving along the 18 mile rim. The backpacking trail, which is called the Under-the-Rim Trail and runs for 22 miles, does not enjoy such views since it lies down in the forest below these formations.

The 8 mile Riggs Spring Loop Trail is a continuation of the Under-the Rim Trail at its southern end and features splendid scenery such as this, with occasional breaks in the foliage to the left of the trail, giving panoramic views of Dixie National Forest to the east. Even more seldom, you get views of rock cliffs above you as in the next photo.







The dense forest occasionally opens to views looking up at the cliff line to the west, and finally climbs back up to the rim level. The final section of this trail has a partially exposed water pipe in the trail, as they pump water from a stream back to the rim for the washroom facilities at Rainbow Point where the trail starts and finishes.



I am occasionally asked if I would suggest a backpack in Bryce or Zion National Park if time only allows for one. I would definitely recommend backpacking in Zion. The Zion West Rim Trail is far more strenuous but has fewer people on it and provides outstanding panoramas of the mountains and peaks and valleys of Zion Canyon. Bryce (as of 1999) did not have a hiker shuttle available and hitchhiking is prohibited in the park, thus creating the problem of getting back to your vehicle. Zion has a hiker shuttle available by reservation. Also, although Bryce's trail provides outstanding forest travel, Bryce's main claim to fame is its hoodoos, which are visible from up on the rim, not from the bottom of the canyon.