Bryce Canyon Hike: The Quickest of Loops

The famous hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. These views capture the grandeur of any Bryce Canyon hike.

I knew I had to get home, but Bryce called to me. I had just enough time to get in a quick Bryce Canyon Hike and I desperately wanted to have hiked all of Utah’s Mighty 5.

When I was a kid, my family took two road trips through canyon country. I remember that we thought the Grand Canyon was “a big hole” but that Bryce had very cool rock sculptures. When I reflect back, I can see now that all we did at either park was peer in from the edge. I wanted to hike, get out among the hoodoos, actually get myself into the canyon.

Choosing a Bryce Canyon Hike

Reddit and the blogs all agree that the Queen’s Garden is the highlight. I yearned to be able to do the Figure 8 loop: Queens, Navajo, Wall Street, Peekaboo. But I also needed to get home.

Note: for all that we should spend more than one day in a National Park, if you want to hit one in a day, or a short amount of time, the Internet has tons of resources. A google search of: one day in XXX Park yields a treasure trove of tips. Don’t be afraid to look!

Wall Street called to me. Having been through Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef in just 36 hours, I felt like I had seen arches and canyons galore. But I felt a hole in my heart where voodoos and some sheer wall hikes should be. I wanted a Bryce Canyon hike that would capture the unique character of Bryce, so I chose to hike down Wall Street and back up Navajo Loop. I could have probably gotten through Queens, but it would have made me pressed for time. Plus, I kind of liked the sound of Navajo.

Beautiful Country Between Capitol Reef and Bryce

I loved the drive from Capitol Reef to Bryce. It was two hours through green, vibrant farm land. I saw cows and crops and tiny towns and for the first two hours of my drive, not a single other car. At 6am Sunday morning, the farmers still slept (or tended their animals) and I had gotten off the tourist track. I reveled in the peace and quiet and the beauty. This drive forever changed my vision of Utah as a desert.

Descending into a lush valley en route to Bryce.

And, by the way, when they say cows are in the road, they really aren’t kidding. So many cows, along the road, crossing casually. Be careful!

This lady just stared me down, daring me to pass her. I crawled.

I drove into Bryce, my 4th national park entered outside of regular business hours. For the record, I did not wait in line or experience a crowd anywhere! These parks do get crowded but if you get out there early, you will beat the buses and the hordes and have an amazing experience.

I decided to bust out both hiking poles for the first time for my Bryce Canyon Hike. This hike would be all incline and decline and it seemed like the right moment (plus, I could not bear to put the sweat drenched knee supports back on but I knew my old knees needed a little accommodation!).

Setting Out on the Navajo Loop

From the Rim Trail, you take a short path down into the canyon, until you reach a split: one side goes down the Navajo side of the loop (clockwise) and the other goes does the Wall Street side (counterclockwise). (At the bottom, there’s an additional option to hop over to Queen’s Garden. The people I passed who had started there thought it was well worth it!)

A hike that starts like this? So glad I got up early to hike Bryce Canyon

I felt awed from the beginning, looking out across this amazing canyon filled with hoodoos, shading from orange to yellow to white. One can only wonder at how such rocks get shaped and formed over millennia. At 7:30, the sun still hung low on the edge of the canyon, the sky shone a brilliant turquoise, and the views stunned.

The Descent: Via Wall Street

Following a small sign to Wall Street I moved over to a totally different part of the canyon. The sheer walls of Wall street form a chasm that sinks into the canyon, but seem to shield those inside from all of the hoodoos of the rest of the land. Looking down over the switchbacks I had to sigh: this is what I wanted. I can see why Wall Street is such an Instagram favorite.

With its sharp orange walls and the clear zigzag of the trail, Wall Street wows from both the top (just look around in wonder as you slowly meander down) and the bottom (more of a struggle to get up, but good excuse to go slowly). At least one of the folks I passed argued that he’d way rather go up than go down. But I enjoyed my easy walk down. Clearly I had chosen the right Bryce Canyon hike for me.

There’s a reason why this is the most Instagram famous Bryce Canyon hike.

My favorite part is the bit where you have to go through a small hole in the rock to take a small side section of switchbacks, which then reconnect to the main trail. You can’t even see this detour from the top, but it puts you in mind of exploring a Hobbit world. Also a great chance for a photo when it’s not too busy: a switchback capsule shot!

You have to go through here to stay on the trail. Behind this tiny arch is a mini set of switchbacks! I didn’t grab a pic because I was trying to get out of the way of a couple who was trying to take a picture!

A handful of people made their way up and down past me, but only a handful. The walls blocked almost all of the early morning direct sun, so I had a walk that was cool and peaceful. I couldn’t ask for more.

At the bottom of Wall Street, a hiker going the other direction reminded me to look up and back. It’s a sharp drop and stunning both that nature created the space and that man found a way to construct a trail inside it for people like me to enjoy. As the walls converge, trees begin to grow and I loved to see the giant trees claiming their light through this deep, deep slot.

At the bottom of Wall Street. These giant trees find a ray of sunlight and just go.

Moving Along the Canyon Floor

Once you leave Wall Street, you find your self on the floor of Bryce Canyon. I didn’t expect it to be so green. You walk along a sandy, dry riverbed, but there are trees all around, shading the path and providing stark contrast to the reddish canyon walls. Little chipmunks scamper around and you can’t help but envision what this space looks like when water rushes through it. (The trees know… many have been knocked down over the years!)

The floor of Bryce, surrounded by hoodoos, with more trees than you’d imagine, before going back up to the rim.

Shortly, the trail offers a choice: Queens or Navajo Loop? Oh, my last chance to make my Bryce Canyon hike just a little bit longer! I resisted. Navajo looked empty and I stuck to my plan.

The Ascent Up Navajo Trail

This hike is steep from the get go. Again, I felt grateful that I had hit the trail early. The sun barely peeked over the canyon wall and I could only imagine how it would feel when it was baking directly down on hikers.

Starting back up Navajo Loop. It’s a steady upward climb.

Navajo is less stunning than Wall Street: fewer sheer walls, more trees. But it also feels more like a “typical” piece of the canyon. The trees and shrubs carve out their little spots adding flavor to the scenery. There are notches in the walls here, where you can see eons of streams have carved out amazing shapes. One of those notches is Double Arch. The wonders of geology never cease.

Double Arch. Hidden in a tiny side canyon off of the Navajo Loop trail. It’s marked; you can’t miss it.

The last piece of this trail also contains its fair share of switch backs, which test you, but make your feel like you’ve gotten your daily workout. And coming up, into the world in which you are surrounded by hoodoos is sort of amazing.

Switchbacks up to the rim. Please note how few people there are in these pictures. This is the second week in June. The parks are crowded but come early and you’ll get some beautiful peaceful moments to just enjoy the canyons in their pure natural state.

Back Up on the Rim

If I had more time, Rim Trail is another Bryce Canyon hike I would have loved to indulge in. But I knew that if I started out, I would keep pushing “just a little bit farther” until I was way over schedule. So, I took lots of pictures on my way back to the trailhead (and stopped to admire a crow who was having his snack right on top of a hoodoo!) and knew it was time for the driving part of my road trip to begin in earnest.

The hoodoos, the stripes, the crow having a snack. I can see why my mom and grandparents were content to look down from the rim. But it’s so much better if you get inside!

The Take Away: It is Worth it to do Just one Bryce Canyon Hike

If you have an extra couple of hours, stop by Bryce and do this little hike. The canyon offers stunning views from every angle. The Navajo Loop is rigorous but gorgeous and something you will remember forever. I did a lot of hiking on this road trip and despite this being my last one, it remains seared in my memory.

Tips

This parking lot (also the one at Hickman Natural Land Bridge) was filling up by the time I finished hiking around 9am. It’s absolutely worth it to get up early and get to the park before the crowds. All of the blogs warn about parking difficulties: these can be easily solved by arriving early. So, no stress as you set out and the added benefit of getting spots quite nearly to yourself, which is not only wonderful, but kind of the way you want to experience nature!
Bring lots of water! Even early, it’s hot out there without a lot of cover. This was truly a short hike, but I still went through almost all of the water I brought with me!
Download an All Trails map before you head out and use the app. Not only is it awesome to be able to know that you are on the right back, but it’s fun to know how far you walked how much the elevation is. Those 515 feet of elevation help explain why your calves hurt! (This hike is just called the Navajo Loop Trail.). I found reception to be sketchy to nonexistent in all of the parks, but the gps on the downloaded map worked perfectly.