Peekaboo Hike in the Depths of Bryce Canyon National Park

Date: April 5, 2021

Place: Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Coordinates: 37.628750, -112.166880

Length: 8.1 miles

Level: strenuous

 

 

On the first day of our 2021 visit to Bryce Canyon National Park we hiked a big 8.5 miles loop in the north part of the park. The chikas negotiated for a shorter hike on the second day so we selected a loop trail in the middle part of the park, with a possibility to extend it if they were okay about it. We parked at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and hiked our way to the Rim Trail and on it we walked a bit northward to Sunrise Point. 

Our hike as captured by my GPS

 

Already on the way to and on the Rim Trail we started seeing some wildlife. There were the little birds that have begun their spring activities. 

Mountain Bluebird

 

There were plenty of chipmunks running around on the ground, foraging between the rocks and on the trail itself, possibly looking for any leftovers dropped by humans.  

Uinta Chipmunk

On the rim trail I was once again overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of Bryce Canyon. With the colorful earth and the elaborate sculpting of the rocks done by eons of erosion. 

Bryce Canyon National Park

 

Bryce Canyon is not a true canyon but a high plateau that was eroded over a long time in an elaborate system of little canyons and creeks between elaborate rock formations. 

All those little creeks and tributaries that flow eastward from Bryce Canyon collect into the Pariah River, and eventually into the mighty Colorado River. 

From Sunrise Point we had a nice view down on the Queen's Garden - a most exquisite assortment of hoodoos laced with green little spring-supported meadows and tall pine trees. 

Queen's Garden

Not too far down below The Rim, the Queen's Garden is one of the most popular places in Bryce Canyon National Park. While the park didn't have very many people at the time due to the pandemic, the Queen's Garden Trail had quite a few other hikers. 

Queen's Garden Trail

Queen's Garden is high enough still to have a great point of view over much of Bryce Canyon, including much of the Rim line and the table mountains that are separated from the main plateau.

Although Bryce Canyon in large is not a true canyon, the slits between walls and clusters of hoodoos certainly were. 

Some of these slit canyons looked very alluring, but most of them were off limits, and rightly so, for safety of both people and landscape. 

We were also low enough at the Queen's Gardens to be looking up the higher tier of hoodoos, and to appreciate their size and grandeur. 

In the shade of the hoodoos and trees we were seeing more of the local residents as well. Pappa Quail and the elder chika soon got busy photographing the wildlife that presented themselves. 

White-breasted Nuthatch

Although they were primarily focused on birds, my family birders were also excited to see and photograph the multitude of chipmunks that were active in the Canyon. 

Least Chipmunk

 

 There were many chipmunks active there that day, and there were several species of them, some of species that we rarely see.  

Cliff Chipmunk

From the Queen's Garden we continued descending down towards the bottom of the Canyon, leaving most of the park visitors behind. 

The trail led us down to a wider valley that was matted with lovely green manzanita bushes and had a grove of healthy looking ponderosa pines. 

The Queen's Garden Trail stretches all the way down to the Tropic Valley Trail at the Canyon's floor. For the most of its length it is an easy walk on on a mild slope.

 

The trail meanders between and around hoodoo clusters, and we had ample good views up those gorgeous rock formations. 

High Window

From the lower parts of the Canyon we also had a nice view of the amphitheater of hoodoos below the Rim. I enjoyed the slowly warming day and the sunshine while seeing the snow that still painted white much of the slopes above us.  

Some segments of the trail didn't look like part of Bryce Canyon - they were out of sight of the hoodoo formations. They held their own beauty though. Lovely dry creeks lined with trees and pretty reddish soil.

There were animals active in these semi-forested areas. Birds were chirping in the trees, and numerous squirrels and chipmunks were foraging on the ground between the pines. 

Western Bluebird

At the Tropic Valley Trail junction we had to decide whether to go up again on the Navajo Loop Trail or to continue on a larger hike to the Peekaboo Loop Trail. It was still mid-morning, the weather was slowly warming up but not too hot yet, and so far we mainly walked downhill so it wasn't hard to decide to go on. 

The decision was also heavily influenced by the recommendation we got from the park's personnel, that the Peekaboo Loop Trail goes through what is considered the most beautiful rock formations area in the park. 

After reaching the Peekaboo Loop Trail we were once again going uphill. We were also on a more exposed part of the trail so the sun shone directly on us. All of a sudden the walking effort increased a a couple notches. 

While most of the pine trees I saw in Bryce Canyon looked thriving, some definitely had a more challenging existence. Every now and then I noticed a small and twisted bonsai-looking pine on a dry, exposed slope of gravel. Those trees were certainly most hardy beings. 

Here too I fell into my habit of anthropomorphizing the hoodoos. It was clear to me that in the rock wall in the photo below there were two stone women standing with their backs to each other, the left one reaching out her arm. 

We paused for a quick drink of water and I took the moment to look behind and to breathe in the enormous hoodoo amphitheater that we descended from. 

The trail curved again and now we were descending into the maze of hoodoos accessible by the Peekaboo Loop Trail. 

At one of the trail curves sat a lonely artist, patiently painting the inspiring landscape across the canyon (the smaller, local true canyon, that is). We stopped momentarily behind him to appreciate his workmanship before resuming our hike. 

Peekaboo Loop Trail

The hoodoos and the other rock formations were getting more unique and elaborate as we progressed into the Peekaboo area. 

Peekaboo Loop Trail

The trail leveled off then went again on the incline. We were quite high over the bottom of the Canyon still. Other than the the hoodoo cluster cliffs there were also gentle, manzanita matted slopes, with sparse stands of pine trees. 

On the up side of the slop were the hoodoo clusters that were not separated just yet, merely etched in the rock, marking what would be hoodoos in the near geological future. 

One of the nicest treats of the Peekaboo Loop Trail was waiting for us past the next curve of the trail. This was a large patch of ice cream cone shaped hoodoos. 

In this part of the park there were hoodoos so tall that many rock layer colors were part of these formations.  

Multi-layer Hoodoos

We were also walking next to rock walls. The walls were very solid but here and there they were disrupted by a slit gap, like a castle arrow shooting window. 

That was certainly an excellent peekaboo point of this hike. That gap was a window to yet another hoodoo fairyland that was outlandishly beautiful. 

Past the wall the trail were descending again, directly into that fairyland of hoodoos that was for sure the most beautiful area I have seen in this park. 

Peekaboo Loop Trail

Some of the hoodoo clusters got me transfixed. I slowed down, taking many close up photographs of these stone beauties. 

It was very difficult for me to choose photos for this blog post. Many I left in my folder, and even so, I probably went a little overboard here. 

A sole hoodoo pillar standing alone reminded me of the biblical story of Lot's wife. The hoodoos of course, are not made of salt.  

We passed a snow patch that was right by the trail. The day was warm but not overly hot. Nevertheless, the elder chika threw herself happily onto the snow. We waited until she cooled off enough and resumed the hike.  

Tropic Valley Trail

descending again, we passed below a tall wall of rock behind which was a wonderful view of yet another army of hoodoos. According to the map we still had quite a lot of downhill to go.

Peekaboo Loop Trail

The expected, map-projected downhill became a sheer reality as we found ourselves snaking down a steep, serpentine trail inside a deep, high-walled true canyon. 

Peekaboo Loop Trail

I was surprised to find the lower part of the canyon trail icy still. Thankfully, the stretch of icy trail wasn't very long or steep, but we did have to slow down and take crae not to slip. 

Peekaboo Loop Trail

We were at a deeper level of Bryce Canyon now, and from our new low place we had a fantastic view of the middle level hoodoo wall below which we emerged from the canyon. After a while the trail sloped downhill again and curve its way between stands of hoodoos. 

The trail leveled below the rock wall and for some distance we enjoyed an easy walk with the wall on one side and the grand view of the deeper part of the valley on the other side. 

After a while the trail sloped downhill again, and curved between stands of hoodoos, leaving the shelter of the large rock wall. 

Peekaboo Loop Trail

At some point we had a view of a high vista point up on the Rim. I asked Pappa Quail and he took a photo at the maximal zoom of his birding camera. 

We continued downhill below the double-layered wall of hoodoos. My family went ahead and I kept the pattern of stopping to take photos then running to catch up with them.  

As long as we were going downhill the chikas were happily at the lead, with their father following close behind. Me, with some distance, bringing up (or down, rather) the rear. 

Eventually the trail leveled off at the bottom of a red-walled canyon. The canyon is wide enough for a healthy population of ponderosa pines. The pines were very tall, stretching for the sunlight from between the canyon walls. 

At the canyon floor we sawmore of the little chipmunks that populate Bryce Canyon National Park. The chipmunk didn't seemed to be alarmed as we passed them by. 

Uinta Chipmunk

The trail curved and once again we were going uphill, at a mild slope at first. Ahead of us yet another cluster of rugged looking hoodoos. 

Peekaboo Loop Trail

Two of these hoodoos ahead of us were like fingers poking at the sky, or better yet, like creatures that stepped out of a Dr. Seuss' book.  

A vulture appeared above us and circled the sky with its graceful, lilting glide. Pappa Quail has long been ignoring these vultures - they are very common birds. At my request he did take a photo of that vulture we saw. 

Turkey Vulture

We continued on the mild uphill trail, making our way towards and below the cluster of hoodoos we saw from below. 

Peekaboo Loop Trail

At that point we were also high enough again to look over the layers of hoodoos that stood in nice, ordered wall lines between us and the Rim. 

As if it was possible, we reached the most beautiful area of hoodoos yet. These hoodoos were shorter and fatter, and separated by a maze of very narrow gaps and canyons. 

 

 These slits between the hoodoo clusters probably looked deeper than they actually were. Many of the trees that were growing at the bottom were tall enough to tower over the tops of these hoodoos. 

We followed the trail into this geological wonderland. I marveled at each and every rock formation that we walked by. My imagination ran wild. 

To my chikas these hoodoos reminded of ice cream cones. They were certainly voicing their desire for some real ice cream at the end of the hike. 

Peekaboo

Every now and then I looked away from the hoodoos, and in one of those times I spotted some tiny daisies blooming, barely visible on the background of the reddish gravel

Least Ground Daisy, Townsendia minima

The trail curved along the edge of this ice cream hoodoo cluster, and eventually started descending back toward the Tropic Valley Trail. We closed the loop on the Peekaboo Loop Trail. 

Now we were on our way back, walking the same section of the Tropic Valley Trail that we used to get to the Peekaboo Loop Trail. 

Tropic Valley Trail

The hoodoos looked different viewed on the way back. Or at least, I paid attention to those formations that I have missed on our way in. 

Before starting our way uphill back to the Rim we stopped for a short hydration and snack break. A bold ground squirrel stared at us from atop a big rock at the side of the trail. 

Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel

The squirrel wasn't the only wildlife that attracted our attention. There were birds in the trees and bushes that surrounded us. 

Townsend's Solitaire

Pappa Quail and the elder chika had their cameras up and trained on the trees. There were a number of birds in that area, all little, gray tree dwellers that were not easy to spot and even more challenging to photograph. 

Pygmy Nuthatch

We descended from the Rim on the Queen's Garden Trail but to ascend back we had the option of going up one of the arms of the Navajo Loop Trail. The chikas were getting weary and hungry so we decided on the shorter loop arm.   

Navajo Loop Trail

We weren't missing out on anything - there were plenty of fascinating sights along that part of the trail, such as the thin pine tree that grew on a high rock shelf in the crack between two hoodoos. 

After a mild start the trail led us into a deep, shaded canyon. There were side canyons jutting out and interesting rock bridges connected the rock walls of these side canyons. 

As narrow as some of these side canyons were, trees were still growing in them. Moisture is retained better in these slots but the tree has to grow quickly up to get sunlight. 

The main canyon where the trail was was much wider of course. Still, the trail had short switchbacks that snaked all the way from the bottom up. I was surprised to see how many people were on that trail, going up and down like the angels on Jacob's ladder. 

Navajo Loop Trail

The trail curves became much tighter near the top of the ascend. When I reached the top at I took a photo of the trail we just ascended. It really did fill the canyon from wall to wall. 

Back on The Rim Trail we started north to Sunrise Point. It was an easy enough walk, and it gave us plenty of opportunities to look down and beyond to the crazy beautiful terrain of Bryce Canyon. 

Bryce Canyon National Park is named after homesteaders Ebenezer Bryce and his wife Mary who were Mormon settlers that raised cattle in the valley below the hoodoos. 

Each corner of the park is unique but all of the view points tell the same story - of the sediments of a long gone ancient sea that became the canvas for Mother Nature's most artistic creation via erosion. I have seen magnificent hoodoo formations in other places, such as in Chiricahua Mountains National Monument, but the colorful rocks, and the sheer magnitude of this grand landscape truly make Bryce Canyon a must see place, and I am glad that I could. 

A little bluebird welcomed us as we neared the Bryce Canyon Lodge. We paused only long enough to take its photo. The chikas were eager for their promised ice cream. 

Western Bluebird

The rugged, colorful wilderness of Bryce Canyon National Park is but one place in the Grand Staircase of Utah. It is in the high point of that staircase - the top rock layers that make it. In the following year I got to see some of the lower stairs too, in Capitol Reef, Canyonland, and Arches National Parks. 

Bryce Canyon National Park

Knowing my passion, the elder chika captured a dwarf, bonsai-looking pine tree that hanged by a root on the edge of a hoodoo.

I didn't know that at the time of course, but these two hikes in the spring of 2021 were the last hikes I did below the Rim in Bryce Canyon National Park. I have visited Bryce Canyon National Park twice more since this trip, but only for a brief passing through sightseeing. I truly hope I'd get to hike in that wonderful park again soon.