- Where
- Paunsaugunt Plateau
southern Utah - Coordinates
- 37.62° N
112.17° W (main amphitheatre) - Area
- 35,835 acres
- Protected
- National monument 1923
national park 1928 - Elevation
- Rim 8,000–9,000 ft
Rainbow Point 9,105 ft - Visits
- 2,498,075 in 2024
- Dark sky
- International Dark Sky Park, 2019
- Best visited
- Late spring to autumn;
winter snow closes the road at times - Advisory
- United States
(no State Department level)
From the rim it looked like a crowd: orange and white stone figures in their multitudes, packed shoulder to shoulder inside a great bowl and all looking the same direction, as though a speech were due. The air at dawn was thin and cold enough to make my nose run. I walked down among them and felt very much like somebody arriving late to a meeting.
The short answer
Bryce Canyon National Park covers 35,835 acres in southern Utah, Wikipedia records, along the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, about 50 miles north-east of Zion National Park and about 1,000 feet higher. It is “not a canyon but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters”, in the article’s words, where the soft Pink Cliffs of the Claron Formation have eroded into freestanding pinnacles called hoodoos, up to 200 feet tall. The rim lies 8,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level; the highest point, Rainbow Point, is 9,105 feet. President Warren G. Harding proclaimed it a national monument on 8 June 1923, and it was made a national park on 25 February 1928. It recorded 2,498,075 visits in 2024, the latest year the article gives. An 18-mile scenic drive ends at Rainbow Point.
Why it's worth knowing
Carved by ice. The Park Service puts it plainly: the rock here is limestone, dolostone, mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, all rich in calcium carbonate, and the park’s elevation sees temperatures above and below freezing on “over 170 nights out of the year”. Water seeps into cracks by day and freezes at night; ice expands by about nine per cent, and the Park Service calls the result “ice wedging”. Wikipedia’s article on hoodoos gives a different figure for the same process, “more than 200 freeze-thaw cycles each year”; the two count different things (nights and cycles) and both are given here with their source. A hoodoo stands because a small cap of harder rock, often a magnesium-rich limestone called dolomite, protects the softer column beneath, the same article says.
A cow, and an older story. Ebenezer Bryce and his wife Mary were sent to the Paria Valley by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Wikipedia records; he homesteaded in 1874 and moved his family to Arizona in 1880. He is “reputed to have said” that the amphitheatres were a “helluva place to lose a cow”, the article says, citing a 1999 reference book; no first-hand record of the remark is given. The Paiute who lived here called the stone figures the Legend People, whom the trickster Coyote turned to stone for their bad deeds; one Paiute described the hoodoos as “red painted faces”.
Dark, and alive. The International Dark-Sky Association designated Bryce Canyon a Dark Sky Park in 2019, Wikipedia records; under its sky, rated at magnitude 7.4, about 7,500 stars can be seen. The park holds the largest protected population of the Utah prairie dog, a threatened species reintroduced here.
The field notes
Down among the hoodoos
Two short trails drop from the rim into the main amphitheatre: the Navajo Loop from Sunset Point and the Queens Garden trail from Sunrise Point, each taking one to two hours, Wikipedia records. Both climb back to the rim, which stands at over 8,000 feet. At Rainbow Point, the end of the scenic drive, the Bristlecone Loop takes about an hour.
A shuttle in season
A voluntary park shuttle began in June 2000. In 2026 it ran from 3 April to 18 October, from the Shuttle Station in Bryce Canyon City, every 15 minutes or so, at no charge beyond park admission, the Park Service says (shuttle page, updated 14 May 2026); private cars may still drive the park road, with parking limits for vehicles 23 feet or longer during shuttle hours.
A hoodoo with its cap stone against the sunrise.
Photograph: Tim Golder via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
Looking down into the Navajo Loop slot from the rim at sunset.
Photograph: Jim Witkowski via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
Hoodoos under snow.
Photograph: nick boyer via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
Low light raking across the fins at sunrise.
Photograph: Alain Bonnardeaux via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
- Be up at the edge before the sun, with something hot to drink, and watch the crowd change colour from the back row.
- Walk down among them, and stop now and then on the way back up to look at what you came down through.
- Stay for the dark, find somewhere to lean back, and give your eyes a long while to catch up.
- Give every stone figure a name. (Named a handful, then looked up. From behind they all looked so alike that a pair of them now share a name, and neither has complained.)
- Keep to the trail and off the figures. They are somebody’s story before they are anybody’s photograph.
A hoodoo’s cap stone. Many of the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon wear a small cap of harder rock, often a magnesium-rich limestone called dolomite, Wikipedia’s article on hoodoos records; the cap protects the softer column beneath from erosion, and its weight gives the pedestal strength, so the spire stands as long as its cap does. They are seen from the rim and from the trails into the amphitheatres, and are not to be climbed or touched.
Tally, in the marginI admired the figures all through breakfast and paid no attention whatever to their hats. It was well after lunch when I saw that the hats were doing the work, and the figures were only standing underneath, keeping out of the weather.
Getting there
How to get there. By road, on Utah Highways 12 and 63; the park is about 50 miles north-east of Zion, Wikipedia records. The Park Service lists airports at Cedar City (80 miles), St. George (125 miles), and Las Vegas and Salt Lake City (each about 270 miles from the park).
When to go. Late spring to autumn are the easier seasons. The park is high and cold: after snowstorms the main road closes temporarily at mile marker 3 while plows clear the higher sections, closures that typically last a day or more, by the Park Service’s conditions page as indexed. The rim is cold at sunrise in every month.
What to arrange ahead. As of 20 October 2026, the Park Service’s fees page (updated 14 May 2026) gives $35 for a private vehicle, $30 for a motorcycle and $20 a person on foot, and says non-US residents aged 16 and over pay a $100 nonresident fee on top of the entrance fee unless they hold an annual or America the Beautiful pass (the non-resident annual pass is $250). The free park shuttle ended its 2026 season on 18 October. Book lodging in and near the park ahead for summer weekends.
Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here. The hazards are the park’s own: high elevation, cold nights, and steep trails that crumble after storms. The park’s alerts page lists closures. The CDC publishes guidance on travel to high elevations; talk to your doctor before a trip like this if altitude is a concern.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Bryce Canyon National Park?
Bryce Canyon National Park is in southern Utah, on the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, about 50 miles north-east of Zion National Park, Wikipedia records. It is reached on Utah Highways 12 and 63.
Is Bryce Canyon actually a canyon?
No. Bryce Canyon in Utah is not a canyon cut by a river but a collection of giant natural amphitheatres along the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, filled with rock spires called hoodoos, Wikipedia records.
How were the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon formed?
The hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, Utah, are carved mainly by ice wedging: the National Park Service says temperatures cross freezing on over 170 nights a year, and water freezing in cracks prises the rock apart. A harder cap rock protects each spire’s softer column.
How much does it cost to enter Bryce Canyon National Park?
Bryce Canyon National Park charges $35 for a private vehicle, $30 for a motorcycle and $20 a person on foot, and non-US residents aged 16 and over pay a $100 nonresident fee on top, the National Park Service’s fees page said on 20 October 2026.
Who was Bryce Canyon named after?
Bryce Canyon in Utah is named for Ebenezer Bryce, a Latter-day Saint settler who homesteaded nearby in 1874. He is reputed to have called it a “helluva place to lose a cow”, Wikipedia records, though no first-hand record of the remark is given.
How high is Bryce Canyon?
The rim of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah stands 8,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level, and its highest point, Rainbow Point, is 9,105 feet, Wikipedia records; the park is about 1,000 feet higher than Zion.
Is Bryce Canyon good for stargazing?
Yes. Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah was designated an International Dark Sky Park in 2019; its sky is rated at magnitude 7.4, and about 7,500 stars can be seen, Wikipedia records.
Is there a shuttle at Bryce Canyon?
Bryce Canyon National Park runs a free shuttle in season from Bryce Canyon City; in 2026 it ran from 3 April to 18 October, about every 15 minutes, the National Park Service says. Private cars may also drive the park road.