• Bryce Canyon National Park Utah
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    Bryce Canyon National Park,

    Utah

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      Red Rocks, Pink Cliffs, and Endless Vistas

      Hoodoos (irregular columns of rock) exist on every continent, but here is the largest concentration found anywhere on Earth. Situated along a high plateau at the top of the Grand Staircase, the park's high elevations include numerous life communities, fantastic dark skies, and geological wonders that defy description. Over two million visitors come to experience the otherworldly magic of Bryce Canyon National Park each year, most between March and early October. Most will visit for at least one full day. However long your visit, advance planning will have the greatest benefit in making the most of your time.

      The Highlights of a Visit

      Bryce Canyon is not a single canyon, but a series of natural amphitheaters or bowls, carved into the edge of a high plateau. The most famous of these is the Bryce Amphitheater, which is filled with irregularly eroded spires of rocks called hoodoos. Perhaps every visitor to the park will spend at least some time marvelling at its four main viewpoints, all found within the first few miles of the park: Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, Sunset Point, and Sunrise Point. Between April and October a shuttle service is operated in this area of the park to reduce congestion.

      Other viewpoints are found all along the park's 18-mile main road which travels from park's only entrance in the north along the plateau rim to its highest elevations in the south (over 9,000 ft / 2,743 m). Hiking trails explore the forests of the plateau, connect between viewpoints along the rim of the Bryce Amphitheater, and wander through the hoodoos below.

      Deepen your understanding of the park by attending a ranger program, whether it be a daily geology talk, rim walk, evening program, astronomy program, or full moon hike. Be sure to ask about our Jr. Ranger Program at the visitor information desk. Concessioner-provided horseback rides are another way to experience Bryce Canyon during the summer season. There are activities for everyone!

      Bryce Canyon offers two campground sites (one in winter) and lodging is available at the Bryce Canyon Lodge during the summer season. During winter, hotel rooms are available in the park at the Sunset Hotel.

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      DESTINATION IN Utah

      Lake Powell

      Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation spot visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest man-made reservoir by maximum water capacity in the United States behind Lake Mead, storing 24,322,000 acre-feet (3.0001×1010 m3) of water when full. However, due to high water withdrawals for human and agricultural consumption, and because of subsequent droughts in the area, Lake Mead has fallen below Lake Powell in size several times during the 21st century in terms of volume of water, depth and surface area. Lake Powell was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam, which also led to the 1972 creation of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a popular summer destination of public land managed by the National Park Service. The reservoir is named for John Wesley Powell, a civil war veteran who explored the river via three wooden boats in 1869. It primarily lies in parts of Garfield, Kane, and San Juan counties in southern Utah, with a small portion in Coconino County in northern Arizona. The northern limits of the lake extend at least as far as the Hite Crossing Bridge. Lake Powell is a water storage facility for the Upper Basin states of the Colorado River Compact (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico). The Compact specifies that the Upper Basin states are to provide a minimum annual flow of 7,500,000 acre-feet (9.3 km3) to the Lower Basin states (Arizona, Nevada, and California).