BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK

Children's Fairyland: Bryce Canyon

In 1940 my parents took our family west to see the Rocky Mountains and the great national parks. Back then that meant Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion and Grand Canyon. Arches, Capitol Reef and Canyonlands were not national parks until much later. While I enjoyed Yellowstone at the tender age of ten, it was Bryce Canyon that I fell in love with. When I took my children west, it was Bryce that they fell in love with; now it's the same with my grandchildren. Bryce is like a fairyland and the kids enjoy identifying all sorts of shapes and forms. It gives the kids a chance to really test their imagination. The colors are children's colors, pale pastels of white, cream, pink, beige and ocher. Before proceeding it's worth noting that Bryce is not a canyon but rather an amphitheater. The second wall needed to make Bryce a canyon doesn't exist. Also, Bryce is not really part of Red Rock Country. The Bryce Formation is much, much newer than the formations considered to be part of RRC. It is covered here because it is one of the great national parks in the area and certainly should be on your first RRC vacation list, especially if you have young children. Since the rim of Bryce Canyon is between 7600 and 9000 feet; it is usually cool in the summer and a fairyland in the winter with all the snow on the pink formations. There are a number of nice hikes here that children enjoy, such as the hike starting at Sunrise Point and ending at Sunset Point, while making a trip through the Queen's Garden. It's so peaceful to have an early morning breakfast in the lodge and watch a glorious sunrise over the "Canyon".

Bryce Canyon is full of many, many unusal formations. The formation shown at the far left is Thor's Hammer, near left is the trail below Sunrise Point. You can find Queen Victoria, the Sinking Ship, the Alligator, the Natural Bridge, and many, many more. Spotting these formations is so much fun for the young children; maybe "children" of all ages. If your time is limited, make sure you view Bryce from Bryce Point, Sunset Point and Fairyland. All the view locations give very different perspectives of the "Canyon", but these points offer the very best. A wonderful hike is to begin at Sunrise point, then drop into the Canyon passing the Queen's Court on the way, and after enjoying many unusal formations at the bottom of the canyon, exit by the switchbacks which end at Sunset Point.

In the photo to the left, the view is from the north end of Bryce looking northeast across the Paria Valley at the Table Cliff Plateau. The plateau in nearly 10,000 feet and about 2200 feet higher than the rim at Bryce. A few million years ago these two surfaces were at the same elevation. They have been changed by a fault running through the valley. As you drive Utah Route 12 between Bryce and Escalante you will see many impressive outcroppings of the Bryce Formation high above you. If you drive to Rainbow Point at the southern end of Bryce you will increase your elevation by about 1300 feet. Be sure and visit Yovimpa Point. From here you can look down the Grand Staircase. Also off to the southeast you will see Molley's Nipple, a round and pointed "mountain".