Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
But what Mecham enjoys most about the park is not necessarily its most recog-
nizable feature. He prefers standing on the rim and simply relishing the views:
“Looking out from the rim of Bryce, across the hoodoos, it seems you can see
forever. The atmospheric conditions are almost ideal, and you get the feeling that
you're looking at a piece of America that's still pretty wild, and just hasn't changed
much through time.”
BryceAmphitheater
★★★ has the best scenery in the park, in Mecham's opin-
ion: “It's the place in the park where everything's coming together geologically to
carve hoodoos at their best.” Mecham particularly enjoys the
RimTrail
that runs
along the edge of the canyon, and highly recommends the section between Inspir-
ation and Bryce points, with perhaps the very best view from a section known as
Upper Inspiration Point,
which is 900 to 1,200 feet south of Inspiration Point.
Among Mecham's favorite trails is the
FairylandLoop
★★, which takes about
4 hours. To get the best views, start at Sunrise Point, go down past Tower Bridge,
and back up through Fairyland Canyon to Fairyland Trail Head. Then take the
Rim Trail back to Sunrise Point. “It's 5 miles below the rim and then 3 miles of
Rim Trail. Fairyland Canyon is beautiful—the highlight of that loop—and as you
come around the bend, you're hiking straight toward a really beautiful backdrop.
If you're going in the opposite direction, you have to keep stopping to look over
your shoulder.”
Mecham calls Bryce Canyon a “morning park,” because, with only a few excep-
tions, the views are much better illuminated by early morning light than at any
other time of day. To get the most out of your visit, he recommends spending at
least 1 night at or near the park: “If you're spending the night close by, I think it
would be a big mistake to miss sunrise—in the middle of the summer, that's get-
ting up before 6am.”
Getting up early is also the best way to avoid crowds, according to Mecham, be-
cause most people don't get to the viewpoints or onto the trails until about 10am.
The other way to avoid crowds is to walk away from them. Mecham says that
you're likely not to see anyone at all on the park's two backcountry trails at the
south end of the park; but avoiding crowds, even in the park's most popular areas,
often takes only a short walk. “
Sunset Point
is probably the busiest place in the
park, especially in midsummer at midday,” he says. “You finally get a parking spot,
then walk out to a very crowded viewpoint, where you're standing shoulder to
shoulder—it's real hectic, but if you take a 5-minute walk south along the Rim Trail
toward Inspiration Point, you'll leave the people immediately—they just cluster at
those views.”
