Bryce Canyon National Park – Road trip in the American West #8

After a long drive yesterday, we treat ourselves to a well-deserved lie-in. We only have an hour of driving today, and I’m particularly motivated to drive, especially when I see there’s no one on the road.

This article is part of our series of articles on the American West road trip. If you haven’t read the previous travel diaries, here they are: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

Part 1: Travel Journal
Part 2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Journal

Day 13 of the road trip:

I don’t think I’ve been behind the wheel since our Iceland road trip. Driving on a straight road wouldn’t have appealed to me. Driving with impatient drivers tailgating me wouldn’t have either. This Escalante – Bryce Canyon road, full of curves but very quiet, is perfect.

Usually, we have breakfast at the hotel, but this one doesn’t offer it, so we settle for some fruit and little brownies. We only eat two meals a day: breakfast and dinner to save time. Every morning, I get free ice cubes where it says “ICE” (all hotels have it), and I fill my paper cup with iced tea Arizona. That way, I have some sugar along the way, but my drink isn’t too sweet either (the ice melts and dilutes it).

After the first few kilometers where I’m quite tense, I gain confidence afterwards. Our Nissan Sentra is automatic and it has this feature where the steering wheel vibrates when the car runs over the lane markings. American roads are pretty wide, so I have margin on both sides of the car, but it’s still nice to have that feature, especially on curves. I notice that all cars coming from the opposite direction have their headlights on, so I do too. We’re not sure, laws vary from state to state, so I’ll just follow the crowd and turn on my headlights haha. I’m constantly filming with my Osmo Pocket in dashcammode. I’m the slowest driver in the universe, and we arrive barely 1.5 hours later at Bryce Canyon National Park.

The first view we get of the park is majestic.

During high season, you have to visit the park by shuttle, but that’s not the case in November. Good, because I don’t like shuttles, they waste too much time.

We first stop at Fairyland Point. When I see that the road is still covered in snow, I have a moment of panic. Do we need to put on snow chains? Fortunately, no sign indicates that, so we can just drive slowly and that’s it. Being inexperienced, I park where the parking lot is most icy, and we have to be very careful getting in and out of the car hahaha

It’s so beautiful! And yet, this still isn’t the most beautiful spot in the place! The structures you see here are called hoodoos. That comes from the word “Oodoo” used by the Paiute, which describes the fear of faces and shapes in the rocks.

We still need to drive a bit to reach the entrance station where I show our America the Beautifulpass. I ask the attendant if the alert on their website is still valid (only the first 3 miles are open). He replies no, it’s much more open than that. In fact, the whole park is open; they had time to clear the snow from the road. Interesting! The alerts on the NPS website are not up to date.

Beforehand, I looked at satellite maps of the park on Google Maps and concluded that this park was small, not very varied, and the most beautiful part was the area called “Bryce Amphitheater”. It is bordered by Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, Sunset Point, and Sunrise Point (to be visited in that order), which offer different views of this area full of hoodoos. The map given by the attendant will confirm my intuition. He advises, if you only have 1 to 2 hours, to visit only the Bryce Amphitheater.

Usually, canyons are formed by rivers (like the Grand Canyon). Here, Bryce Canyon is formed by rain and snowmelt.

We drove to the end of the road to visit the southern part, but it’s less interesting.

Except for the Natural Bridge. I clearly think we should have visited during the day and then spent the night near Zion National Park, instead of staying a night here, but it’s not a big deal, we have plenty of time.

Before visiting Bryce Canyon, I thought the landscapes would resemble Göreme in Turkey with its fairy chimneys. On the contrary, here it looks more like sandcastles you build (badly) on the beach.

The main road is free of snow, but the pedestrian areas are covered with a thin layer of snow. Not slippery, but you can’t walk fast. I’m quite impressed by my Geox shoes. I bought the Nebula model, which is a bit more urban. It’s advertised as designed for “going around the world,” but I never really believed it until I came here and subjected them to sand, canyons, and now snow. They grip well, but these shoes aren’t warm enough when it’s -5°C.

On Google Maps, it looks like you have to hike a long way to reach the viewpoints, but that’s not the case. The viewpoints aren’t just 2 meters from the parking lot like in other parks, but you only need to walk 20-30 meters, often to access protected balconies that give you a 270-degree view of the surroundings. I strongly encourage you to do those 30 meters, even on the snow, because the view is really good.

So here, in the order recommended by the park guide, are the main points of interest:

Bryce Point

You can hear a tourist chatting with another, saying that in July, there can be a 2-hour wait to enter the park. The other replies “oh, it’s like Yosemite.” We feel so lucky to come off-season. The park next door, Zion National Park, posts an alert on its website about the wait there may be on Thanksgiving Day (which was a few days ago), and we also congratulate ourselves for hiding out in Moab during Thanksgiving.

Integration Point

I really like this one because there are 3 levels in total. The viewpoints are very well done and the walk isn’t that difficult. The structures are more varied here, I really like it!

Sunset Point

This is where we went to see the sunset. This viewpoint is very beautiful because a large part is still under snow. The sunset is announced at 5:20 PM; we now know, with this kind of plateau, that we need to be there 20 minutes early. We don’t see the sun itself but rather the light illuminating the valley with an increasingly orange glow, and the changing colors of the sky. We’re lucky to have an almost full moon in the right direction. As we’re admiring the scenery, a tourist arrives:

– Tourist 1: Is that the sun? It looks just like the moon!!
– Tourist 2: That’s the moon!
– Tourist 1: Where’s the sun then? I need to find the sun!
– Tourist 2 (speechless)

She must have thought that with a viewpoint named that (Sunset Point), there must be something related to the sun, so seeing the sun!

I report snippets of conversation because I’ve gotten into the habit of listening, from time to time, to the conversations of those around me (at restaurants or tourist sites). It’s linked to a purely linguistic habit. When I came to France for my studies, I sat down at a café with another Vietnamese person. He asked me if I understood the conversation at the next table. I said “no.” He told me that you could tell if you were good or not if you could understand conversations overheard at a café. First, because you have no context, and then you can’t see people’s faces. I noticed that during my first years in France, I watched the lips of my interlocutors to try to understand as much as possible. Listening isn’t enough when you have a basic level. Some foreigners noticed their comprehension level dropped when everyone wore anti-Covid masks because they could no longer watch lips to guess difficult words. Anyway, that’s how I listen from time to time to check my language level. I overheard a conversation at Seoul airport about espionage issues within top Korean companies (the man allowed himself to speak out loud because Koreans didn’t speak English well and wouldn’t understand him). I’m not the only one; there are Instagram accounts overheardla or overheardnyc where people report conversations overheard on the street, at the supermarket, or at restaurants. The funniest is a conversation between two friends: “you look great!” “oh I know, I went to a party at someone’s house and saw a nice facial cleanser that looked expensive. I stole it and it suits me so well!” – the conversation ends there, and in the comments, everyone is asking the brand of the facial cleanser in question ahahaha

Well, unfortunately, the sun hides behind a big mountain, and all we get is the soft light of the end of the day. It’s getting colder and colder, and just 20 minutes outside is enough for my feet to feel frozen. The car shows -5°C, but I’m not sure of the accuracy of that reading. I’m so glad I brought my Aigle coat with me (the one that followed me to Iceland and Canada), but my legs are cold. I should have added my warmest leggings.

The bravest can walk to Sunrise Point. But we’re too cold to go, and we skip it even the next day.

We check in at the hotel. The lobby is so beautiful, so warm with its fireplace that we already imagine ourselves there tonight, with our favorite books.

Unfortunately, the rooms are in another building; we’ll need to take the car to enjoy the fireplace here. Sniff. I bring the food up with me, afraid it might freeze in the car, but I leave our jugs and water bottles in the trunk. The next day, they’ll all be frozen and take all day to thaw. Our car will also be covered with a thin layer of frost, but we now have a scraper.

In the evening, we dine at a restaurant 6 km from the hotel (Bryce Canyon Pines Restaurant), we have to go that far because it’s the highest-rated in the whole town. The elk burger seems to be unanimous. Indeed, it’s delicious. I opt for a beef burger, also very good. The bread seems homemade. JB is just disappointed by the sauce on his mashed potatoes. Coleslaw or fries would have been a better choice. We finish with a lava cake and a hot chocolate topped with lots of whipped cream. I highly recommend it.

The rest of our trip, is right here

Part 2: Practical Tips

All our routes and points of interest are available on this Google Maps map. I’ve already explained how to use our custom maps here

• Hotel: Best Western Plus Ruby’s Inn (Booking link) €95 for two, breakfast included + tip
• Restaurant: Bryce Canyon Pines Restaurant $57 for two, tips included