The thousands of multihued limestone ‘hoodoos’ rising from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau were thought by the Paiute Indians to be the petrified remains of the ‘legend people’, turned to stone for their evil ways and frozen in time forever by a vengeful god. To Mormon settler Ebenezer Bryce, who lived here in the late 19th century, the natural amphitheatre was “a helluva place to lose a cow”.
To millions of visitors every year, Bryce Canyon is a veritable fantasyland, where whimsical spires of endless shades and sizes change by the minute as the clouds and sun slide overhead. The formations come in every possible hue of white, pink, red and purple; just wait a minute as the light shifts, and it can all change before your eyes.
Bryce Canyon National Park itself isn’t very big—at only 56 square miles—but it’s a gem. The views from the rim at 9,100 feet are astonishing, especially at sunrise, since much of the canyon faces east. You can take the easy 18-mile scenic drive following the park’s rim
The thousands of multihued limestone ‘hoodoos’ rising from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau were thought by the Paiute Indians to be the petrified remains of the ‘legend people’, turned to stone for their evil ways and frozen in time forever by a vengeful god. To Mormon settler Ebenezer Bryce, who lived here in the late 19th century, the natural amphitheatre was “a helluva place to lose a cow”.
To millions of visitors every year, Bryce Canyon is a veritable fantasyland, where whimsical spires of endless shades and sizes change by the minute as the clouds and sun slide overhead. The formations come in every possible hue of white, pink, red and purple; just wait a minute as the light shifts, and it can all change before your eyes.
Bryce Canyon National Park itself isn’t very big—at only 56 square miles—but it’s a gem. The views from the rim at 9,100 feet are astonishing, especially at sunrise, since much of the canyon faces east. You can take the easy 18-mile scenic drive following the park’s rim or opt to hike among the formations and works of art on any of the 60 miles of trails. There are short walks like the Queen’s Garden (two miles) and longer trails like Fairyland Loop (eight miles); or head down to Wall Street and ponder its towering ‘skyscrapers’.
Zion, the oldest and perhaps most beautiful of Utah’s parks—and that’s saying a lot—was named after an ancient Hebrew word meaning ‘sanctuary’. Entering Zion Canyon for the first time, it’s easy to see why, even if it is hard to believe that it was the pretty little Virgin River that carved these 1,000-foot walls of delicately hued sandstone. Some of the largest chunks of rock you’ve ever seen also awed 19th-century Mormon settlers, who gave them names like Angel’s Landing, the Three Patriarchs, the West Temple and the Great White Throne.
You’ll have to park to enter the canyon’s true heart, since the road up Zion Canyon is open only to the free shuttle buses. The 229-square-mile park is laced with trails, starting with short paved walks in the dramatic chasm of Zion Canyon. If the Grand Canyon is all about standing at the rim and looking down, here inspiration comes to those who travel along the bottom and look (or hike) up. Zion is also known for its slot canyons, and few miss the 16-mile Zion Narrows, where hikers splash up or down the shallow waters of the Virgin River. Parallel cliffs soar 2,000 feet overhead, only 30 feet apart in places. In the Kolob Canyons, the westernmost section of the park, a 14-mile trail leads to 310-foot Kolob Arch, possibly the largest free-standing arch in the world.
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