Bryce Canyon (Part 3 - Navajo Loop)

     Our second day at Bryce Canyon was a day of hiking. We were up early again making some hot chocolate to combat the 30-degree air as the sun came up. Some deer were wandering through the campground. Few people saw them as they were all still sleeping, missing the best part of the day.

     We took the shuttle into the park today, catching the first one that came by the campground. We learned a bit about the history of the park from the shuttle driver. The first people to inhabit the area were the Pauite. The first white settlers to the are were Mormon pioneers in the 1850s. One homesteader named Ebenezer Bryce built a road to some of the overlooks and the people of the area began to call it Bryce's Canyon. Bryce was a Scottish shipbuilder who immigrated to America to follow the Mormon immigration to the Salt Lake Valley.

Ebenezer Bryce

photo by FindAGrave.com

     In 1916, Reuben C. Syrett, known as Ruby, brought his family to southern Utah. They lived in the Panguitch area, but had a ranch on the plateau near the canyon area. Ruby was told about the canyon near his ranch and decided to take the family for a Sunday visit. They were so impressed by what they saw that they decided to open a lodge and show the canyon to the world. By 1919 they had obtained permission from the state government to build what was called "Tourist Rest" near the edge of the canyon.

Ruby Syrett

photo by Ruby's Inn

     The federal government and conservationists quickly noticed the area and made plans to preserve it. In 1923, just four years after Tourist Rest was constructed, Bryce Canyon became a National Monument. By 1928, it was officially a National Park. The National Monument status brought federal government control and new regulations, forcing the Syrett family to give up Tourist Rest. Near the site of Tourist Rest was built the Bryce Canyon Lodge by the government, but Ruby Syrett wasn't done yet. He saw that a road would have to be built to access the remote area so he offered up part of his ranch for the road to be built. Once the agreement was made, he rebuilt Tourist Rest in 1923 along that access road, this time calling it "Ruby's Inn." By 1934, the road to the park was completed and since then every visitor to the main part of the park has gone by Ruby's Inn on their way into the park. The Inn was the site of the first post office in Bryce, with Ruby Syrett as the first postmaster, and still hosts the post office today. Ruby's Inn has grown over the years, now including a second hotel, gift shops, restaurants that include Ebenezers Barn & Grill named after Ebenezer Bryce, and the RV & Campground. It's a pretty cool story of a family that got the canyon noticed, almost lost everything to the government, and yet manged to restart and come out even better, building a business that is still growing to this very day over 100 years later.

     We enjoyed the history lesson, but our favorite part of the shuttle ride was the driver's excitement. He called our arrival to Bryce Point like a ring announcer as we rounded the corner to bring the vista into view.

      We hopped off the shuttle at Sunset Point, the only viewpoint we didn't visit yesterday. It was very busy yesterday as a lot of the more popular hiking trails start here, not to mention it is a really good view. We wanted to hike one of those trails today. We planned to start at Sunset and drop down Navajo Loop into the fins and hoodoos, before taking in the Queens Garden Loop as well. We started with a few minutes of just enjoying the view at Sunset Point before we dropped off the rim onto the trail.

View from Sunset Point

     We were excited to put our boots in the dirt and head down into the rock formations. Navajo Loop is a simple 1.66-mile loop trail, starting and finishing at Sunset Point. The initial drop off the rim is used to both enter and exit the loop. When we reached the split for the loop, we took the right fork, going counter-clockwise around the loop. It is fairly steep descending right away as you quickly drop below the rim and begin some sharp switchbacks to drop into the cracks between the rock fins. The trail is wide and smooth, almost packed as hard as concrete from the type of dirt in the area and the high amount of foot traffic this loop sees. This is one of the most popular loops in the park due to the short distance of the loop and the spectacular views along the way. It was a bit crowded as we dropped into the first crevice known as Wall Street.

Thor's Hammer rock formation in the center

Looking down the trail as it enters Wall Street

Switchbacks the whole way

Nearing Wall Street

Between the fins of rock at Wall Street

Tree in the crack

     After we went through the crack of Wall Street, things opened up a bit and the trail flattened out. The loop doesn't stay flat for long though as you quickly go back into a different crack in the rocks and begin climbing back out, again up numerous switchbacks.

Tall, tall trees

Out of the canyon and through the trees

Two Bridges, a pair of natural bridges within the canyon. Lighting was rough in here.

Going up

     Once back to the top, we had some better views of Thor's Hammer and some different angles of the amphitheater in front of Sunset Point.

Thor's Hammer rises on the left with a great view of the amphitheater beyond it.

Another angle of Thor's Hammer

Two windows in this fin with Thor's Hammer behind. These windows are the start of hoodoo formation. The window on the left looks like a fish or arrowhead.

Nearing the top of Navajo Loop

Some fall yellow creeping into the views as we near the canyon rim.

     We grabbed a snack and refilled our Camelbaks at Sunset before hiking the Rim Trail half a mile north to Sunrise Point where we began the Queens Garden Trail. More on that portion of our hike in the next post.