In January 2020, my best friend and I had planned an epic 10 day Utah adventure for Spring that year. As we all know what happened in a few short months, the trip was cancelled, the world locked down, and life changed as we know it. Finally in August 2022, with the pandemic slowly seeming to disappearing further and further behind us, we finally aligned our schedules, circled a day, blocked our calendars and hit the road for the trip that came to be affectionately known by us as Utah 2.0, as homage paid to our first attempted journey to Utah. Now with two extra years of planning, and research, we were more ready than ever to finally see this beautiful state for ourselves. This trip was an amazing adventure filled with breathtaking panoramic views, meeting the nicest people, unexpectedly awesome food, and a few surprises throughout. Our two day trip to Bryce Canyon was nothing short of stunning. We were greeted with breathtaking panoramic views at every overlook we stopped, each place more stunning and surprising than the last.
Continue reading this post for an epic 2 days at Bryce Canyon. I’ll list out our best recommendations on how we fit this amazing location into our trip to three stunning National Parks (Zion National Park and Grand Canyon – North Rim) into a 5 Day Road Trip. You can read more about the whole trip in my post, “Road Trip to These Amazing Utah and Arizona National Parks.” In this post you will see an outlined itinerary on how we planned this entire trip, day by day.
Before you visit, be sure to visit the website for the National Park Services for the Bryce Canyon to check for any park or road closures and alerts. Note that some hikes or roads close for the winter season, so just make sure you plan ahead. This page has affiliate links and if you purchase something from this page I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. I donate 5% of this blog’s revenue to the Environmental Defense Fund, so you help donate to a great cause if you click on any affiliate links or ads that may be on this page.
Know Before You Go – Fun Facts about Bryce Canyon
History of Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon is named for early settler, Ebenezer Bryce, as he and his family arrived in Clifton in 1875. Ebenezer Bryce built a road into the pink cliffs to make timber more accessible, and so people started to call the amphitheater where the road terminated, “Bryce’s Canyon.” Ebenezer Bryce and his family moved away from the location in 1880, but the “Bryce’s Canyon” name stuck. Ebenezer Bryce owned cattle and was known for having said about the canyon that, “its a Hell of a place to lose a cow!”
Geology at Bryce Canyon
The most iconic section of the park, the Bryce Amphitheater is home to the greatest concentration of rock spires (called “hoodoos”) found anywhere on Earth. The amphitheater can be found along the first three miles of the main road, and consist of Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, Sunrise Point and Sunset Point.
Bryce Canyon Logistics
You can also access the above sites and others by utilizing the free park shuttle, that will take you throughout the park. Be sure to click the link for details and information (i.e. maps, stops, and the shuttle schedule (the schedule varies depending on the time of year). I highly recommend you utilize this park feature, the drivers are also a wealth of knowledge, as they share park information as you continue to the next stop.
Visitor Center at Bryce Canyon for Logistics, Gifts, and Exhibits
I’m not normally one to spend time at the National Park gift shops but the Visitor Center at Bryce Canyon was very informative, not only with logistics for the park information, but it had a really cool educational display about the park’s history, geology (with great demonstrations as to the how to hoodoos formed over time) native residents, animals, and a really cool light pollution display. I really recommend you stop at the Visitor Center, it was really nice having this knowledge before entering the park.
Day One – Driving from Orderville to Bryce Canyon
We started our first day at Bryce Canyon by driving from our Air BnB in Orderville. Driving from Zion or Orderville to Bryce is an easy drive, most of it is on State Street (Highway 89) but when you turn onto Highway 12 you will be greeted by Red Canyon and and pass through two Red Canyon Road Arch Tunnels, so when you turn onto Highway 12 keep your eyes peeled for these amazing landmarks.
Since we got to Bryce halfway through the day, we decided to drive around and get the lay of the land instead of diving right into a long hike. We drove out to Farview Point where you can park and take a little stroll to Piracy Point where the views were incredible. It was a great way to see off some of the view points with limited time.
Lodging at Bryce Canyon National Park
We stayed at an Air BnB, the Log Cottages at Bryce Canyon these were fairly priced and felt comfortable for two people. Also, the drive to Bryce Canyon was very easy and only about 20 minutes. We also had lunch at the Bryce Canyon Lodge which was on the park premises and on the shuttle route, which is a very convenient option for overnight stay, but we heard you will need to book sleeping accommodations quite some time in advance, so be sure to keep that in mind if that’s something you’re interested in.
Dining at Bryce Canyon
We decided to make a reservation at Ebenezer’s Barn and Grill for dinner and a show. We both got vegetarian plates and the show was entertaining, especially if you are a country music fan.
Old Bryce Town at Bryce Canyon
Right before the entrance at Bryce Canyon, there are cute little shops, restaurants and a really great general store called Ruby’s Inn General Store, that will have anything you can imagine for gifts and last minute necessities. We got ice cream and cookies at the shops across the street and ran into Ruby’s Inn General Store for a few more waters and snacks right before we got dinner at Ebenezer’s. Just make sure you check the hours before you plan to go.
Day Two – Hiking Figure 8 Loop at Bryce Canyon
For our full day to explore Bryce Canyon we were up early for sunrise. We intended to watch the sunrise at the aptly named “Sunrise Point” as I understood was the best place to watch the sunrise, and likewise “Sunset Point” is the best place to watch the sunset. But we stopped and ran to the first viewpoint we saw after parking, which was “Sunset Point” without us really noticing we were at the wrong one, and the views were incredible, as you can see pictured here. They both face the same direction, I think as long as you find one of these two, you’ll still enjoy a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Also, I think most people were at “Sunrise Point” so it wasn’t crowded at all where we were. Since this view doesn’t require hiking to get to, its right next to the parking lot, I can’t recommend enough that you get here early! This also allowed us to get an early start on the Figure 8 Loop, starting with Wall Street, which I also highly recommend because these were my favorite views and it was amazing to get here before the crowds.
Arguably the best hike in Bryce, the Figure 8 Loop, combines the Queens Garden, Peek-a-Boo Loop and the Navajo trails. This is an 6.3 mile loop, that is considered moderate / strenuous and will take about 3 hours for you to complete (maybe more if you’re like us and stop at every amazing hoodoo for a picture!). You can start this trail at Sunset Point (Sunrise Point and Sunset Point are along the rim in the same area, they are 1 mile from each other) There is a lot of elevation throughout with a very varied landscape of incline and decline, which was a nice change of pace, but we were exhausted by the end. I would highly recommend the Figure 8 Loop if you only have time for one hike, but just make sure you are prepared! It was a gorgeous hike, with each view more stunning than the last. You will be amazed at the variety of hoodoos that crowd the park and surround you on your hike, and my favorite section, Wall Street, which you can find at the Navajo Loop Trailhead and is the only slot canyon at Bryce. You will be in awe of the stunning height of these rock formations that tower around you.
For lunch we stopped to eat at The Bryce Canyon Lodge for their lunch buffet. The lodge is accessible via the shuttle, which is really convenient if you don’t want to waste too much time, however I’d consider it their lunch just OK. There were other restaurants that got good reviews I might recommend trying if you have more time, but if you want to stop somewhere to eat and not have to move your car from a prime parking space, this is a great option. Also note, however, we did have to wait about 30-40 minutes to sit. Bryce Canyon has excellent phone service throughout the park, so I’d try to make a reservation on your way if you can!
I hope you found this post helpful. I will be posting a video to YouTube of this trip, be sure to visit again and look for a link here in the near future. Photos and videos of this trip are already posted on my personal Instagram @amandacorrao so please follow, as well as @amanda_meets_world_ for more! If you liked this post, please comment below!
