Bryce Canyon National Park

Apr 8, 2025

A depressingly large number of years ago when I was planning our first trip to the United States, I mentioned that we were going to the Grand Canyon, and a friend said that I shouldn’t miss Bryce Canyon because they thought that it was better. I wasn’t sure, I’d never heard of it, but I added it to the itinerary.

She was right. Yellowstone is huge, Denali is awesome, and the Grand Canyon is, well, grand, but Bryce Canyon National Park is our favourite, and today we were saying hello again.

So, the brief story is that a certain Ebenezer Bryce, who was born in Scotland and migrated to the US when he was just seventeen years old, settled in the Paria Valley, near the canyon’s eastern edge in 1875. He was a carpenter, so he built a road into the pink cliffs to make timber more accessible, and an irrigation canal to raise crops and animals. Locals started referring to the amphitheater where the road terminated as “Bryce’s Canyon”.

But then love got in the way. He married Mary Ann Parks who was a mormon, converted, and eventually had 12 kids. Bryce moved his family to Arizona in 1880 to settle in a new area, but the name stuck. Incidentally, his newly found home in Arizona also took on his name. He died on September 26, 1913, in Bryce, Arizona. Must have been quite a guy. Living till 83 in those times whilst raising 12 kids is quite an achievement. But back to today.

Now, the breakfast restaurant is quite a hike from our room up in the main administration area, so there we all were in 3 degrees with beanies and puffer jackets on, walking briskly up the road to get something to eat – but it was worth it.

Caught the free hop on-hop off shuttle bus into the park quite early before the rest of the locals had polished off the bacon, and went right to the last stop. There is a 6km walking trail called the Rim Trail which takes you right around the canyon rim, visiting each of the lookouts (or overlooks if you’re local), and that was our morning’s plan.

Many years ago, on our first trip, one of the guides in Yosemite made a comment that has passed into the family vernacular. She told us not to worry about crowds in National Parks as no American ventures more than 50 yards from the carparks, and she’s been proved right. This morning there were lots of people at the lookouts near the carparks, but almost nobody else walking the trails. We wandered along enjoying the solitude, the peace, and the scent of the pines. Lovely!

We started at Bryce Overlook where you could see all the way down the valley, then walked to Inspiration Point, then Sunset Point and (wait for it) Sunrise Point, before we arrived back at the Visitor’s Centre around lunchtime.

The Visitor’s Centre had an interesting display of pre-history, and the wildlife, but more importantly a merch shop twice the size of the natural exhibits.

When we had finished debating what was the most useless souvenir, we wandered back to the room for a quiet afternoon in preparation for our long drive tomorrow. Settled for a microwave dinner at 1/10 the cost of last night’s (lovely) restaurant meal.