Descriptive Essay: A Trip To Bryce Canyon National Park

The last leg of the journey led us to Bryce Canyon National Park – 52 square miles of strange rock formations and other worldly views.

My fellow adventurers and I had packed up our belongings in Zion and headed to Bryce. It took about two hours of straight road, nothing complicated – after trying to find a spot in Zion, we wanted to be super early with the hope of not fighting for a site. Much to our surprise we had the whole campground to ourselves. After settling in at Sunset Campground ($30/ night) – food was a priority. As it was our fourth day of camping perishables were starting to run low – so our options were slim. In town before the entrance to the park were some shops, tourist traps, a gas station, and some food options. NOTE: the only diner is in fact not a diner, but a repurposed Burger King that now sells pizza, burgers, and hot dogs.

There are a plethora of activities to do in Bryce –hiking, horseback riding, sightseeing, and even Snowshoeing in the winter. The landscape is a Ponderosa Pine forest, but when the canyon starts the forest literally goes away and becomes desert. We walked the rim for quite some time because there was so much to absorb. The hike chosen was the Tower Bridge considered a moderate hike. The Tower Bridge takes you downhill the whole way down and uphill the whole way back, but there was so much in one hike! You could get an overhead view of the Queen’s Garden (the most famous spot); you could walk along the China wall and then finally the Tower Bridge.

The China Wall was probably my favorite. That section of the hike that was just that a long, looming wall.

That night temperatures plummeted to 34°F which we all knew was a possibility, but somehow we just neglected to believe. We had the clothes and the heavy, heavy sleeping bags, but our tents were not meant for late fall/winter camping. Ooops. The best part of the campsite - the heated bathrooms. Ah, in the morning it was