Bryce Canyon National Park was our favorite park of our Grand Circle trip. It was the perfect balance of tourist-friendly, nature-focused, and stunning. We didn’t get to spend as much time in Bryce Canyon as we wanted to, but the time we had was amazing!

We drove to a handful of viewpoints, hiked the Navajo Loop Trail and Queens Garden Trail, ate a picnic lunch on the hike, and took some of my favorite photos. Bryce Canyon is definitely a park we will be returning to for more!

First Night in Bryce Canyon

Our second day on the road (third day of the trip), after hiking The Narrows at Zion, we drove to Bryce Canyon. We arrived late and opted to eat at a local pizza place, appropriately named “Pizza Place”. It was so yummy! After eating, we then drove to Ruby’s Inn RV Park. This was by far the nicest place we’ve ever camped or parked. The showers were amazing! They were super clean, had coded locks on each individual stall, and had plenty of warm water– an amazing feeling after the long day we had!

Viewpoints at Bryce Canyon

Anytime we visit a National Park, we get a sticker and a post card. This is a perfect opportunity to talk to the park rangers, too! We chatted with a lovely woman and told her how much time we had (8 hours… max). She recommended we drive to some scenic points and then hit the most popular hike, the Navajo Loop Trail. So, that’s what we did! 😉

Leaving the visitor’s center, we drove to three or four different view points. The drive itself is beautiful! Since it wasn’t crowded, we had no problem driving our own vehicle to each spot and parking. Parking is free. There is also a free shuttle that runs to all of the overlooks as well. Some spots were more of a “hike” than others, but none were too far nor too strenuous. The easy drive and walk-up spots were a nice change compared to to Zion’s required shuttle and trails. And the views were incredible!

P.S. Can you believe the snow in the picture below?! We were so surprised to see snow throughout the park. It was cold, but definitely not below freezing!

Hiking the Trails

After the viewpoints, we drove down to the head of the Navajo Loop Trail. There were bathrooms, water bottle fill stations, picnic tables, and plenty of parking.

This trail is pretty popular, but it never felt crowded. Though the sign says 1.3 miles, the loop was closed so we had to hike the longer version through the Queen’s Garden Trail. We didn’t mind, though! It made for an even more amazing experience.

From the first few steps, the trail was absolutely beautiful! The hoodoos and arches were simply amazing. The colors?! So beautiful. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

At the beginning and end of the trail, there are several sections of switchbacks like this. Of course, it’s great going down… not so easy coming back up.

The bottom of the trail is more wooded, and an easy walk. One section of the trail has all of these stacked rock towers. I learned they are called “cairns”. They are supposedly placed to signify that you are on the right path. Kemper joked that some jedi training had taken place. 🙂

The walkthrough pictured below is near the Queens Garden, and served as the perfect shady place to stop for our picnic lunch.

The rest of the trail was just a beautiful as the start! We were often alone on the path, and took our time to take lots of photos. We even busted out the big camera for a few!

I won’t sugarcoat it – after this, the hike out was a little rough. I was tired, winded, and grumpy. But, all in all I would do it all over again! If you go, prepare yourself for the switchbacks and pack plenty of water.

Bryce Canyon Summary

If you ever have the chance to visit Bryce Canyon National Park, DO IT! We absolutely loved our time there, and we will be back for more! There are so many trails to explore, the RV park we stayed at was awesome, and the views are just unbeatable. This post *might* be a little bit of a photo overload, but I just couldn’t choose!

If you have any questions about our time at Bryce Canyon, or any of the other parks comment below and I’d love to try and help!

P.S. Did you know I vlogged the trip too? You can find all of the videos on my YouTube channel.