Our Utah Adventure: Day Four, Part 1: Bryce Canyon "Peekaboo Loop" Trail

 This is a continuation of a travel series to Utah.  To start at the beginning, go  HERE.  The rest of the posts in chronological order are HERE,  HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE!

In last week's travel post, we finished our first day in Bryce Canyon with an incredible hike up "Wall Street".  After a good night's sleep we woke up at the crack of dawn and drove back to Bryce Canyon for one last hike.  There are so many trails in Bryce Canyon we didn't know which one to do next, so we asked our shuttle guide for her opinion.  I asked her "If you could only hike one trail in Bryce Canyon, which one would it be?"  She suggested "Peekaboo Loop" so that was the trail we took for our last hike in Bryce Canyon.

Peekaboo Loop is a long trail:  5.5 miles and has an elevation gain of 1571 feet.  It is not for the faint of heart, as it takes around 3 to 4 hours to complete.  If that is too long of a hike for you, it's available as a horseback ride too!  You will see the horses in some of the pictures below.

If I were ever to do this trail again, I would definitely do it by horseback as it was very long.  It is a beautiful trail, full of every type of landscape and terrain you could imagine!

There are breath-taking, panoramic views everywhere you look on this trail.

And there a lots of interesting architectural details like this tunnel, arches, and the "Wall of Windows".

The path can be steep at time, so once again the park rangers recommend hiking clockwise so that you are climbing up at the steepest parts.  We took our car inside the park this time since we would be headed out of town as soon as we were done with this hike.  We parked at Bryce Point and had to hike 1.5 miles down into the canyon before we even reached the loop.  There was plenty of parking very early in the morning when we arrived, but when it was time to leave there wasn't a single parking spot available and tons of cars desperately waiting for a parking space.  My advice is to get there bright and early if you want a parking spot, or take the shuttle!

Like other trails in the park, the "Hoodoo" formations were spectacular!  I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, being at Bryce Canyon feels like visiting another planet!

There's not much more I can say about this amazing trail and beautiful park, so I will just let the pictures do the talking!

This picture shows the famous "Wall of Windows".

I loved this arch on the trail and how it frames the beautiful scenery.

When we finished this trail, we were hot, hungry, and exhausted!  We got back in our car and headed on our way to our next and final destination:  Arches National Park, hoping to grab some lunch on the way!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Our Utah Adventure: Day Three, Part V: Bryce Canyon "Wall Street"

 This is a continuation of a travel series to Utah.  To start at the beginning, go  HERE.  The rest of the posts in chronological order are HERE,  HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE!

In my last two travel posts before I took my Holiday Break, I shared our adventure hiking the Queen's Garden Trail and Navajo Loop.  Today I will cover the last trek of that hiking adventure:  Wall Street!  Wall Street is the best trail in Bryce Canyon of the one's I hiked, and possibly the most famous.  It is named Wall Street because the narrow trail is surrounded on either side by tall hoodoos that remind one of the New York Skyscrapers.  This first photo shows the start of the trail from the top looking out into the canyon.

Wall Street is part of the Navajo Loop.  For safety and best views it is recommended to start at Sunset point and go down into the canyon, then take Wall Street back up.   We started from Sunrise Point, hiked the Queen's Garden Trail, hooked in to the Navajo Loop, and finished with Wall Street.  

You can reach Wall Street via the Navajo Loop in .3 miles (or 10 -15 minutes).  If you take the longer way like we did from the Queen's Garden Trail it is 1.25 miles to Wall Street (or 25-30 minutes).  Both routes have an elevation gain of 500 feet and are described as "moderate".

It is a steep hike up Wall Street, but the views are much more incredible hiking up and looking at the canyon and steps above you than if you hiked down.  It's also considered safer by the park and is recommended as many people have been hurt slipping on their way down the canyon.

The stairs and unique stone doorways made me think at times that I was in an archaic middle eastern city and not a national park.

Depending on the time of day you are hiking Wall Street, the lighting constantly changes the look and feel of the trail.  We were there late in the afternoon, and it was our last hike of the day.

It was fun to reach the top and look down at how far we climbed.

Of course my son had to explore every single nook and cranny!

The Wall Street trail is only open during the summer because it is so steep.

You can really get an idea of the magnificent scale of this place when you look at the picture of all the people below and how small they are in comparison to the rock formations surrounding them.

Be sure to spend some time on a "StairMaster" or Tread Mill set to a high incline, as you will definitely be working the thigh and glutei muscles!

It's really something else to be in the bottom of this canyon and look up into the sky!

Once you reach the top, be sure to spend some time looking down to see how far you've come, and also go to the scenic lookout of Sunset Point and see this gorgeous canyon view!

After finishing Wall Street we were done for the day!  After all, we spent the morning in Zion National Park hiking the Canyon Overlook Trail, then we drove to Bryce Canyon and hiked three trails!  That was enough walking for us!  We took the shuttle back to our hotel, cleaned up, had a nice dinner, then soaked our weary bones in the hot tub.  The next day, we were off again for our last and final trail in Bryce Canyon:  Peekaboo Loop!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Our Utah Adventure: Day Three: Part IV: Bryce Canyon "Navajo Loop"

 This is a continuation of a travel series to Utah.  To start at the beginning, go  HERE.  The rest of the posts in chronological order are HERE,  HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE!

In last week's travel post we started our hike into the canyon on the "Queen's Garden Trail".  Now, you can go back up the same way you came down or you hook into the "Navajo Loop" to get back to the rim of the canyon.  We decided we didn't want to just turn around and go back, so we took the Navajo Loop Trail back.

I enclosed a map of the trails as my explanation can get complicated.  Because he Navajo Loop Trail is a loop,  if you hook into it from another trail like we did you are going to miss half of it.  We went back up to the rim via the south side of the trail because we really wanted to see "Wall Street" (An amazing trail and the best trail in the park in my opinion.   I will feature it after Christmas break).  But because we took that part of the loop back to our car, we missed "Two Bridges".  "Thor's Hammer" can be seen from Sunset Point because it is so large, so we didn't miss that.

So in other words, this post will only cover half of the Navajo Loop trail because that is all we saw.  You can always google "Two Bridges, Bryce Canyon" if you want to see what the other half of the trail is like.

Navajo Loop Trail is very different than Queen's Garden or the Rim Walk.  You are deep in the canyon, but it seems more forestry, and you can actually find a little bit of shade here and there.  I thought the contrast of the evergreens growing among the rock was breath-taking.  I also marveled how they could grow at all in such a dry, rocky, landscape.

The loop is 1.3 miles and is only open as a loop in summer because Wall Street is too dangerous to hike other times of the year.

My "boys" always like to have fun taking pictures like this.

I enjoyed crawling into this little hole, can you see me?  Boy was I covered in dust after I did this!

Here's a close up of me in the same hole.

We did see horseback riders in the distance.  Can you see them in the upper center of this picture?  I had no idea you could horseback in Bryce Canyon.  If I took this trip all over again, I would definitely do this.  It's pretty hard hiking for five days, it would have been a nice break. I believe it costs around $65 per person.

It's always nice when they put benches on a trail, and this trail had a few shady stone benches to enjoy.  My son and I spotted this one and sat down for a few minutes to rest and wait for my husband to catch up.  He usually always trails behind us as he is always stopping to take photos.  When he caught up to us he laughed and said "Uh, I don't know if that's the best place to sit.  You should see what is above you".  Unbeknownst to us, we were sitting under a gigantic rock formation that looked like it could tip over at any moment! 🤣.   You'll be able to see it in the picture after this one.

I will be taking a two week Christmas break starting next week Monday.  My Utah travel posts will resume after the New Year.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!