The Two Best Hikes in Bryce Canyon National park

By Michael Lanza

Bryce Canyon’s relatively easy, nearly three-mile Navajo Loop/Queens Garden Loop regularly draws a steady stream of hikers for good reason, with constant views of hoodoos—the multi-colored, limestone, sandstone, and mudstone spires that look like giant, melting candles, including the famous formation called Thor’s Hammer. But once turning onto the Peekaboo Loop (photo above), you lose the crowds—and discover the scenic heart of Bryce Canyon while hiking below the Wall of Windows and row after row of towers in fluorescent shades of red and orange.

Similarly, the Fairyland Loop in Bryce includes a short, busy section of the Rim Trail, but over most of its length offers a quiet, lightly traveled hike through an area of Bryce that abounds in hoodoos, where you can lose the crowds and the scenery changes with every turn in the trail.

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When the Rim Trail and other easily accessible parts of Bryce get overcrowded and noisy—which occurs most days in spring and fall—both the six-mile linkup of the Navajo Loop/Queens Garden Loop with the Peekaboo Loop and the eight-mile Fairyland Loop enable hikers to escape the crowds and enjoy a quiet, very scenic, and only moderately strenuous tour of Bryce’s hoodoos and amphitheaters on well-graded, generally smooth trails. Hike both and you’ll enjoy an excellent tour of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Spring and fall are the prime seasons for hiking in the desert Southwest and Bryce Canyon’s trails lie between roughly 7,000 feet and 9,000 feet, so hiking here is generally cooler than places like Zion Canyon, extending the season of moderate temperatures into June and resuming it sometime in September.

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Queens Garden/Navajo Loop and Peekaboo Loop

Start the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop from either Sunrise or Sunset Point and hike it clockwise for views overlooking the Bryce Canyon Amphitheater when descending the Queens Garden Trail; those views are behind you when hiking that trail uphill (counterclockwise). At the junction of the Queens Garden Loop and the Navajo Loop, in an area labeled South Hall on park maps, follow a connector trail leading briefly east to a junction where you’ll turn south onto the Peekaboo Loop, which will return you to this same junction; then backtrack that connector trail to finish the Navajo Loop.

While the entire six-mile combination of the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop and Peekaboo Loop—which takes about three hours—is beautiful, the Peekaboo Loop feels more sublime because there are so many fewer hikers on it. The trail system in Bryce allows you to shorten the hike to about five miles by combining only the Navajo and Peekaboo loops, or hike the Peekaboo Loop from Bryce Point (5.5 miles with almost 1,600 feet of up and down), or use the park shuttle buses to traverse 4.6 miles from Bryce Point to Sunrise Point, hiking one side of the Peekaboo Loop (clockwise) and the Queens Garden Trail.

See nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/qgnavajocombo.htm and nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/peekabooloop.htm.

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Fairyland Loop

Many hikers start this eight-mile loop—which has at least 1,500 feet of uphill and downhill and takes about four hours—at Sunrise Point Trailhead, following the Rim Trail north briefly and turn onto the Fairyland Loop to hike it counterclockwise. You’ll initially descend past walls and towers of red, orange, and cream-colored stone, reaching the short spur trail to Tower Bridge (the sight of which instantly explains its name).

The trail climbs again to follow the plateau rim overlooking Boat Mesa, drops into Fairyland Canyon, then ascends once more to Fairyland Point. The loop then follows the Rim Trail south back to Sunrise Point, with long views of the Bryce Amphitheater. The entire Fairyland Loop is gently graded. You can also start the Fairyland Loop at Fairyland Point, but parking is very limited there and it’s not served by the park’s shuttle buses.

See nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/fairylandloop.htm.

See my story about a trip to Bryce and other southern Utah parks for more about hiking the Navajo Loop/Queens Garden Loop and Peek-a-Boo Loop and tips on planning a trip to Bryce and other parks, and all stories about hiking and backpacking in southern Utah at The Big Outside.

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