Camping in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Your ultimate guide to exploring Bryce Canyon for nearly free. Did you know that the original Piute people who lived here thought that the Hoodoo's (tall rock formations) were people who were turned to stone by the sneaky coyote??
Before we begin, here is a quick breakdown of our costs for Visiting Bryce Canyon:
Lodging/camping: Free
Food: $30 Total (We brought our own snacks & mountain meals from home that we cooked on our jetboil, as well as ate one meal at a local restaurant just outside the park gate)
Entrance Fee: $35
Tank of Gas: ~$60
Travel Patch Souvenir: $7
Total: $132
*Note: We already owned all of the required gear for backpacking/camping/hiking etc. so those costs were not added into our final breakdown.*
The Trails you CAN NOT miss:
One of the great parts about Bryce is that it has trails for all levels and ages of hikers/explorers. You can see a large majority of the Park on hikes that are not too long or too strenuous, so if you are looking to get into hiking/backpacking, or to bring kids, this is a great starter park. Most of the trails also connect into one another, so you can cover a lot of ground at once and not have to back track and start over for each viewpoint you want to reach.
Sunrise & Sunset Points:
I would argue that these two points are the easiest and most stunning hikes/viewpoints in all of Bryce. Right as you enter the park you will see signs directing you to Sunrise point. Once you park it is a quick walk to Sunrise point. From Sunrise point to Sunset Point is another easy and flat 1.1 miles around the rim of the canyon with benches to sit on and enjoy the views along the way. From Sunrise Point it drops down into the Queens Garden Trail, or if you continue along the rim to Sunset Point, it will drop into The Navajo Loop. The Navajo loop and Queens garden connect down within the canyon, so basically choose if you want to go clockwise or counterclockwise and make the loop! It is recommended that you go clockwise (starting with The Queen's Garden) as this incline is a lot easier to go down than up. Total The Navajo Loop, Queen's Garden, and both sunrise points will be about 3 Miles.
Navajo Loop:
As I mentioned above, the Navajo loop connects either from heading down from Sunset Point, or at the end of the Queens Garden. We started the Navajo Loop from Sunset Point. Navajo Loop was hands down my favorite part of the trail system we did! Navajo loop is where you will find the iconic switchbacks that everyone takes a photo with! We got lucky having it all to ourselves in the middle of the day!
Wall Street:
You will pass Wall Street right at the beginning of The Navajo Loop. As of February 2022 when we visited it was closed due to a rockslide.
The Queens Garden:
The two ways to enter the Queens Garden are from either the end of the Navajo loop, or by heading down into the canyon from Sunrise Point. I would recommend the second option so you aren't walking up such a steep hill back out, unless you like that kind of thing. Heading out on Navajo has switchbacks to make it less steep
Mossy Cave Trail:
Mossy Cave Trail is a very short 0.8 mile hike that is great for kids and has a high reward for a small walk!
The Rim Trail:
Remember how I mentioned that all of the trails connect? Well think of those like the branches and the Rim Trail like the Tree Trunk that they all come from. There is an upper and a lower rim trail that takes you around the entire canyon. It does not connect in a loop though, so don't plan on ending up back at the same place without retracing your steps. This is a fun one to go as far as you would like and then turn around when you think you've seen it all.
Where to boondock (AKA camp for free) Near Bryce Canyon:
There aren't a lot of hotels or Airbnb's to stay at near or in Bryce, so I recommend camping. Also, it's free!
Tom's Spring Road:
This area has a large number of campsites off of the road that are very easy to get to. It is about 10 miles or so from the entrance of Bryce Canyon National Park. Tom's Spring Road starts at highway 12 at the southern end, which is about 5 miles from the town of Bryce. As you drive into the Dixie National Forest you can camp along the side of the road as long as you stay within 150 feet of the road. There are many other forest roads in this area as well that you can camp at besides just Tom's Spring Road. It's a great area for a free stay! There was still A LOT of snow on the ground in February, so come prepared.
Corral Hollow:
This area has a handful of campsites near Red Canyon. This area is the first mile of NF-121. You will branch off of highway 12 about 7 miles west of the town of Bryce. The road will change names a few times as you drive through the Dixie National Forest. Technically speaking as this is all BLM land, you can camp anywhere along this stretch of road, but it seemed as though most campers stuck to the first few miles of the road. As you get further up the road it gets rougher and you eventually will need a high clearance vehicle.
Links to gear you'll need to make sure you bring:
Good Hiking Boots:
These are the boots my husband and I have and we have loved them through and through. Columbia has high quality products that don't break the bank! And they last!
A camelback:
I love that you can get a drink without stopping and taking your backpack off all the time, as well as use it as a backpack for your other snacks and things.
A tent for Camping:
A good quality Zero Degree Sleeping bags:
A Jetboil or knock off brand like we have below:
A sleeping pad:
I sleep on this one and sleep as well as you can on the ground lol.
A quality Lighter:
You will need to add lighter fluid to this one.
Learn from our mistakes:
One mistake we made was purchasing our annual park pass online on the way to the park, and not realizing they have to mail it to you. So we ended up still paying the $35 entrance fee because they don't have a system to look it up with. So, I still recommend buying an annual National Park Pass (It's $80/year and gets you into EVERY national park) instead of paying $35 at each park for one day. Just make sure you buy it well ahead of time unlike us...
Comments