Bryce Canyon - Figure 8 Combination Loop 9.19.15
We woke up about 7:15am and packed up camp. We hit the road at 8:08am, eating a dry breakfast of cereal in the car as we drove through Zion on state highway 9. We stopped at a grocery store in a small town along the way to get more bread and chips, arriving at Ruby’s Inn a little after 10am. We took the shuttle into Bryce Canyon, stopping first at the visitor center to get a park map with all of the hikes. The shuttle stopped running at 5:30pm so I wasn’t sure I wanted to do the 8 mile Fairyland Loop worried about catching the bus. Instead we picked the 6.5 mile Figure 8 combination of three hikes – Navajo Loop, Queens Garden, and Peekaboo Loop.
Hoodoos, the interesting rock formations found throughout the park
We took the shuttle to Sunset Point at 8,000’ and started down the Navajo Loop, passing the twin bridges. The hoodoos were quite the sight with the unique rock stacks everywhere in the canyon. There were a ton of people up around the rim taking in the views of the hoodoos, but a lot less people down on the hiking trails.
[Left] Twin Bridges. [Right] Hoodoos along the Peakaboo Loop.
We picked up the Peekaboo Loop trail next, continuing to hike through the hoodoos. Unfortunately Peekaboo Loop is also a horse trail so we had to avoid a lot of poop on the trail. The loop went up and down as it wound through the hoodoos.
[Left] Walking through some of the rock along the Peekaboo Loop. [Right] Windows viewpoint along the Peekaboo Loop, aka the holes in the rock wall.
After finishing that loop we continued to the Queens Garden where we saw a hoodoo that looked like a queen. We then continued up to the rim at Sunrise Point and hiked a half mile back along the rim to Sunset Point to catch the shuttle back out of the park.
[Left] The Queen Hoodoo in the Queens Garden, near center of the picture. [Right] View back down of the many Hoodoos.
GPS track here