Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Such glorious tints, such keen contrasts of light and shade . . . can never be forgotten. . . . This is
one of the grand panoramas of the plateau country.
—Geologist Clarence Dutton, 1880
Although the colorful hoodoos are the first things that grab your attention, it
isn't long before you notice the deep amphitheaters that envelope them, with their
cliffs, windows, and arches all colored in shades of red, brown, orange, yellow, and
white that change and glow with the rising and setting sun. Beyond the rocks and
light are the other faces of the park: three separate life zones, each with its own
unique vegetation, changing with elevation; and a kingdom of animals, from the
busy chipmunks and ground squirrels to stately mule deer and their archenemy,
the mountain lion. Also sometimes present in the more remote areas of the park
are elk and pronghorn.
It's not known if prehistoric peoples actually saw the wonderful hoodoos at
Bryce Canyon, although archaeologists do know that Paleo-Indians hunted in the
area some 15,000 years ago. By about a.d. 700, the Basket Makers had established
small villages in Paria Valley, east of Bryce Canyon in what is now Grand Stair-
case-Escalante National Monument, also discussed in this topic. (See chapter 9.)
By about a.d. 1100, Ancestral Puebloan peoples (also called the Anasazi) were liv-
ing east of Bryce Canyon, and are believed to have visited what is now the park, in
search of game and timber.
However, serious exploration of the Bryce area likely began later, with the
Paiutes; and it's possible that trappers, prospectors, and early Mormon scouts may
have visited here in the early to mid-1800s before Major John Wesley Powell con-
ducted the first thorough survey of the region in the early 1870s. Shortly after Pow-
ell's exploration of the park area—in 1875—Mormon pioneer Ebenezer Bryce, a
Scottish carpenter, and his wife, Mary, moved here and tried raising cattle. Their
home became known as “Bryce's Canyon.” Although they stayed only 5 years be-
fore moving to Arizona, Bryce's legacy is his name and his oft-quoted description
of the canyon as “a helluva place to lose a cow.”
The smallest of Utah's five national parks, with an area of just under 36,000 acres,
Bryce Canyon was declared a national monument by President Warren Harding in
1923. The following year, Congress passed provisional legislation to make this area
into “Utah National Park.” In 1928, the change in status was finalized and the park
was renamed Bryce Canyon National Park, in honor of one of its early residents.
