50 States Before They Graduate: Bryce Canyon, Utah

Y’all, I just want you to know that even though our pictures are beautiful, they aren’t going to even come close to showing how beautiful Bryce Canyon is in real life. If I could go back again tomorrow, I totally would. It is definitely one of my all-time favorite spots we’ve visited. Besides being gorgeous, it was just a great family day for us.

 

We started on a ridge trail, Sunrise Point. On a whim, we decided not to just view the canyon from the top of the ridge, but to follow a trail into the canyon. We climbed down into the canyon on the Wall Street side of the Navajo trail. We think we went about a mile and a half round trip on the trail, which was just the right amount for our littles. As you might imagine, traveling down was the much easier, more enjoyable part. Traveling back up we knew they would be more tired and their excitement a bit dimmed, so we tried to be smart about when we turned back. Our older boys wanted to go deeper into the canyon and I think they could’ve, but, of course, we wanted to account for the needs of our whole family.

 

The terrain and views were simply breathtaking. I was in awe of the Limber Pine trees growing at the canyon’s edge with roots seemingly floating above the earth. We spotted lots of little chipmunks skipping all around the rocks. My second oldest was especially fascinated by them and tried a few times to follow them, but he quickly learned they are much more adept at traveling over the rocks than he. They also didn’t stick to the trail. 🙂 For the most part, this trail felt very safe. However, there were moments of rocks sliding under our feet, so we were very heads up – keeping our littles close and on the inside of the trail. We took breaks as needed. We learned later the Navajo trail has the highest number of falling rock. Oops. Definitely didn’t mean to take that unnecessary risk! The trail is rated moderate, but we were all able to do it easily.

 

After an ideal day at Bryce Canyon, we found dinner at nearby Ruby’s Inn. We stopped for the night in Moab, Utah.

How about some fun facts? Did you know Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon? According to their site, it’s technically an eroded escarpment of the Paunsaugunt Plateau with about a dozen horseshoe-shaped canyons around the eastern edge. The largest is named Bryce Canyon. The pinnacle shaped rock formations through the park are called “hoodoos.”