You’re looking at hiking the national parks and you want to do as much as you can in one day at Bryce Canyon National Park? Let me share my favorite things you should experience for One perfect day at Bryce Canyon National Park!
Bryce Canyon is located in southern Utah near Zion National Park, Capitol Reef, and Escalante. If Bryce Canyon isn’t already on your list of places to hike I suggest you add it now! It is absolutely spectacular. Typically when adventurers like yourself hit the parks up in this area they try to do all four parks. I highly recommend spending at least one full day at Bryce Canyon National Park if your trip allows for it.
Start at Sunrise
If you especially are a Sunrise person this the day for you! We love hiking sunrise to sunset and Bryce is the perfect park for that.
Start at Sunrise Point for a glorious sunrise that overlooks the infamous Bryce Canyon Hoodoos. After sunrise head down the trail for the Navajo Loop to Queens Garden Trail hike. It is 2.9 miles total and includes two of the most popular hikes in the park. It is absolutely one of the most favorite hikes I’ve ever been on. You’ll spot one of the iconic points in the park Thors Hammer while on this hike. Starting at Sunrise point is recommended and you’ll end walking up the famous wall street area. Make sure to enjoy the view from the top!
After finishing this hike and getting refueled head to inspiration point. This is a short drive and then a steep but very short climb to the top with points to stop at 3 places to enjoy the view.
Once you’re done at Inspiration Point you are probably feeling exhausted and if its summer time you’ll be in the hottest part of the day so lets do the drive! There is an 18 mile drive you should NOT miss. There are 9 places to stop along the way up to Rainbow Point. where you’ll see Thors Hammer, an amazing bridge and so much more. Each one is different and highly worth the stop!
End with an Amazing Bryce Canyon Sunset
You started early enough in the day so you have some daylight to spend and we’re spending a perfect day at Bryce Canyon so keep going and soak in the sunset next! I would recommend driving back down to Bryce Point or Sunset Point and soaking in the view before calling it a day.
Obviously with a day packed like this you’ll want to make sure you bring more water then you think. We carry camelbaks on all our hikes with non-perishable snacks. I say this as a reminder because I actually suffered a bit of heat exhaustion while hiking in Bryce. It gets hot and hiking in this climate can be rough but its completely doable for anyone.
I finished the Navajo to Queens Loop Trail while hiking during the summer at Bryce Canyon and I want to tell you this was one of hardest hikes of my life.
Now when you read this please bare in mind that I did this hike when I was over 350lbs in the middle of summer at 8000+ elevation and I live in Florida. My house in Florida is about elevation 100 or so. The average person will have no issues hiking it and if you do struggle just take a breather and enjoy the view. Do not get intimidated by the elevation gain. I strongly suggest you do this hike when you visit Bryce Canyon for One Day. I struggled but it was insanely rewarding! This guide will hopefully help you plan your One Perfect Day at Bryce Canyon!
Looking for other parks to visit in the area? Check these options out below:
How Hard is Narrows at Zion National Park?
If you have more time in Bryce, All Trails is great for finding hikes. Its my favorite app to use and you can look up more photos of this hike and other various tips too!
