5 Things to do in Bryce Canyon National Park For Newcomers

For anyone visiting this amazing place for the first time, know that there’s many things to do in Bryce Canyon National Park and in this post you will learn about the top 5 (now 6) activities. I’ve been to this park 2x so far (once during the winter and once during the fall) and I’ve absolutely loved it here.

6 Best Things to do:

Do the Queens Garden trail and check out Sunrise Point Overlook
Head down the Queens Garden trail (3 miles)
Head back up the Navajo Loop Trail (1 mile)
Enjoy the beautiful overlooks at the top of Navajo Loop Trail
Explore Mossy Cave. It is outside of the park
Bonus: Do the Bryce Canyon scenic drive

In total, you’re looking at 5 miles of hiking in this one day itinerary in Bryce and it may not seem like a lot, but trust me, it’ll be fulfilling. These 5 miles will take you deep into the park and give you some great views, awesome hiking experiences and a lot of photogenic opportunities of the amazing panorama Bryce Canyon National Park has to offer. And just as well, the experience of being there is an adventure in itself.

Best Times to Visit:

The best times to visit Bryce Canyon National Park are spring (April to June) and fall (September to November) when temperatures are mild, and the crowds are smaller. During these seasons, you can enjoy pleasant weather for hiking, vibrant colors in the landscape, and stunning sunrises over the park’s famous hoodoos.

Summer (June to August): Offers warm weather and extended daylight hours but is the busiest season. Arrive early to avoid crowds and afternoon heat.
Winter (December to February): A quieter time with snow-dusted hoodoos creating a magical landscape. However, some trails may be icy, so prepare accordingly.

Why I like visiting Bryce Canyon in winter: Though it can get very cold during this period, the park is much less crowded and the snowy covering the park makes the red/orange rock shine even brighter in my opinion. The photos I’ve taken here are mainly from the winter visit, so I’d love to know what you think!

1) Start by checking out Sunrise Point Overlook:

You will get a beautiful view of basically the entire park and see how unique Bryce Canyon looks compared to pretty much any other Mighty 5 National Park in Utah, and probably the world. If you’re not into hiking, this kind of overlook area might be just what you need to really take in the views from the park and be satisfied with your visit. For me personally, I wanted to get into the park and explore it more, and thus began the second area of this park’s exploration:

2) Next, do on the Queens Garden Trail (the best Bryce Canyon hike):

The Queens Garden trail is probably the most famous and best hiking trail to explore in Bryce Canyon in one day and it’ll take you through caves, canyon overlooks, the bottom of the canyon, and even the famous zig zag hike (mentioned later on). For at least 1 mile, you’ll be entering the heart of the park and going through incredible scenic hikes that are actually quite simple to navigate through. You’ll enter small tunnels too and cross a small stream when you reach the bottom of this trail. And really, I do recommend stopping and enjoying the views, it’s worth it. Again, the Queens Garden trail is in my opinion one of the top trails to take in this park to get the most out of it if you’re tight on time. I have also added this hike to my list of the best hikes in Utah to try.

Note: This is a loop trail, but it will mix together with a section known as the Navajo Loop trail later on.

3) The Navajo Loop Trail will lead you to the famous Bryce Canyon zigzag trail:

The Navajo Loop trail will help you return back up to the parking lot without having to backtrack and see the same sights in Bryce Canyon (unless you really want to do that). But this trail will also take you through a very famous zigzag hike upward which you may not see too well here because there’s snow, but this is the place.

This is actually a very popular location that you may see a bunch of Instagram photos from and I was fortunate enough to do it (I was worried I wouldn’t get a chance). You’ll be hiking upward on the Navajo Loop trail for about a mile. And I have to say the cold made hiking through this area so much better for me personally as I was sweating very little but enjoying the cold breeze there at the same time. It wasn’t bitter cold, but pleasant and if you’re like me then you might want to visit this place in the winter too.

4) Returning back to the parking lot (You’ll see this amazing overlook):

The Navajo loop trail, which leads to the zig zag hike will take you back to the overlook area and parking lot where you started on the Queens Loop trail. Once you finish the Navajo Loop trail, you’ll return to the large parking lot close where you originally began you trip. And there’s several viewpoints you can check out in spots up there that I recommend you take some time to do because they also give you a different but full view of the park. And this was where I had the above picture taken. There really are a lot of areas in Bryce Canyon to take awesome photos from and this certainly is one of them.

5) Visit Mossy Cave outside Bryce Canyon after (there’s a waterfall there):

Apparently not many people know about Mossy Cave, but it’s a small trail that I believe is outside of Bryce, but still within that same kind of landscape. We accidentally spotted signs for this place while driving through after finishing our time in Bryce. We didn’t actually think much of it, considering the sign was so small for it that it didn’t seem important. But because our next destination was too far to explore that same day, we decided to turn back and end the day exploring Mossy Cave and we were truly happy that we did!

This is a very short, but very pleasant scenic hike. It has red sand, bridges, beautiful views and even a nice waterfall called Tropic Ditch Falls as well as a cave you can explore (the actual Mossy Cave). I just saw signs for it as I was headed to my next destination and decided to stop there. In our case, when we went here, the cave was filled with ice as you can see which I think adds more beauty to it.

6) Finish the one day trip with the Bryce Canyon National Park scenic drive:

It’s almost embarrassing for me to admit that I actually missed this activity in Bryce, but you don’t have to. This is the most amazing scenic drives in Utah that you can do and in this case inside the park once you finish the hiking trails I shared above and it’ll probably take you an hour to do with all the stops you’ll likely want to make. Just so you know, the road is identified as road 63 or Bryce Canyon National Park road.

You’ll cross Bryce Natural Bridge (one of the most famous arches in Utah), Ponderosa Canyon (great overlook of Bryce) and finish at Yovimpa Point, where you will also have the option to explore another popular day hike in Bryce (if you have time) called Riggs Spring Loop trail (which by the way I have added as the next hike I explore the next time I visit Bryce Canyon).