Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon
While all the Utah parks are beautiful in their own ways, I think none matches the magical beauty of Bryce Canyon. I vaguely remembered visiting Bryce as a child in the very early 60s when my parents took the five of us on a road trip to visit parks in the West. As new transplants from the East coast, we were all in respectful awe of the dry attraction of the West.
In 2009, Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan produced the documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, a luminous series that traces the history of the national parks. If you haven’t watched this series, please do.
At times throughout their history, the parks have been over-loved, their roads clogged with cars and buses, their trails trampled, their monuments defaced. We saw some of this recently in Bryce Canyon. We witnessed young children climbing under and over barriers and up fragile rocky walls, ignoring the “Keep off” warnings, while their parents gazed at the rocks. On the hike down the Queen’s GardenTrail, we watched an adult hiker scramble up a delicate area, bypassing the “Stay Out” sign, only to then relieve himself on the pinkish rocks.
However not all was discouraging about the park visit. Most people stayed on the trails and minded their children. Bryce Canyon has an excellent system of park shuttles with buses picking up visitors at hotels and dropping off folks at various stops within the park. This allows visitors to leave their vehicles outside the park, thus reducing traffic and related issues. The park also maintains wonderful walking paths so moving from one place to another is easy.
Beyond that, the canyon itself is stunning. What’s not to love?
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