After our brief trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, we headed north to Bryce Canyon National Park. We ended up spending 6 days at a dispersed area – Tom’s Best Spring Road. The area was wonderful – very close to the national park with plenty of big, private sites and the roads were in great shape.
The first full day in the area, I went for a ride on the Thunder Mountain trail. Thanks to Andrea for shuttling me! I was able to start the ride from camp, and she picked me up 5 minutes down the road at the end. It was probably ~12mi total, and the views were a great primer for the area.
The next day we went into Bryce and hiked the Queen’s Garden/Navajo Loop Trail. It was a good hike, around 3mi round-trip. If you are looking to get down into the formations, I would recommend it. However, if you are short on time a hike all along the rim would be the best way to spend your time.
The next day we went for a drive all the way to the southern end of the main park road. There was a storm rolling in from the southwest, so it was really cool seeing the rain on the horizon.
On our last day in the park, we just went for a walk along the rim – from Sunrise Point all the way to Bryce Point. This had the best views by far, and there were very few people walking the rim compared to just viewing at the points or doing the Queen’s Garden/Navajo Loop. I highly recommend this.
After our time at Bryce Canyon National Park, we headed down to Capitol Reef National Park. We really enjoyed the park – it’s probably in my top 2 parks in Utah.
-Kyle