One of the biggest reasons I don’t want to leave Utah is the accessibility to so many national parks. We took the kids to Bryce Canyon in November and had a blast. The first day we hiked from Sunset to Sunrise point, and the second day we hiked Navajo Loop and Queen’s Garden together. Each day was a total of 2-3.5 miles.
OVERVIEW
Where: Bryce Canyon, beginning from Sunset Point
Grown-up difficulty: easy
Five year old difficulty: easy (but watch out near the cliffs!)
To see: hoodoos, evergreens, twisty trees, red rocks and blue skies
Busyness: depends on time of year. Not busy in November.
I can’t find a good Alltrails for this hike, but here’s a NPS link.
DETAILS
We drove straight to Bryce from our home in Utah County. We went right to Sunset point and had lunch. I’d packed sandwiches and fruit before leaving and after several hours in the car, the kids were ready to get out. I love having a larger cooler with a strap (we use one similar to this all the time, but I dream of one of the YETI coolers!), and these Ziploc lunch containers. We ate close to the parking lot, cleaned up and changed the baby’s diaper, and went on our hike. It was so windy and my hat blew off, past the fence.
The trail was mostly good, but I have anxiety and there were a few points (right at the beginning, and close to Sunrise point) where I was freaking out a bit. I walked in front and put my husband in charge of the 5 year old so that I wouldn’t compulsively yell at them. We loved looking at the hoodoos, the green trees poking out around them, and the naturally occurring windows through some rocks.
We talked about the different foliage around, the varied landscape, how water is such a driving force behind land formations. It was cold enough that the deciduous trees had all lost their leaves, and we got to examine the various evergreens around. One of our favorite things to bring on adventures are these Pocket Naturalist Guides. The wildlife one is probably our favorite, but we love the tree & wildflower and bird ones too.
As always, the two year old took a nap in the Kinderpack. It has the best sleepy dust.
We needed some good baselayers for this, and good hiking shoes. Need winter gear help? Check out my posts on Adult Gear and Kids Gear.
REVIEW
Faves: the contrast of the hoodoos and sky, being able to see for miles.
Gear: I appreciated my hiking boots. We used the KP as always, daypacks for snacks, warm clothes for late fall.
What’s your favorite national park? Mine isn’t Bryce, but it was fun.