Bryce Canyon National Park

Following the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, Bryce Canyon National Park is eighteen mile long, up to five miles wide, and in place, 800 ft deep. Elevations in the Park range from 6,600 to 9,100 ft - the highest point in the park being Rainbow Point.

The Park was first established on June 8, 1923 as a National Monument. A year later it was redesignated a Utah National Park. Eventually, on September 15, 1928, the area was doubles in size to 35,835 acres, and given the name by which it is known today.

Geology

The park's landscape originated about 60 million years ago as sediments in a large body of water, name Lake Flagstaff, by geologists. Silt and calcium carbonate and other minerals settled on the lake bottom.

These sediments consolidated and became the Claron Formation, a soft silty limestone with some shale and sandstone. Lake Flagstaff had long since disappeared when the land began to rise as part of the Colorado Plateau uplift about 26 million years ago.

Uneven pressures beneath the plateau caused it to break along fault lines into a series of smaller plateaus at different levels known as the "Grand Staircase." Bryce Canyon National Park occupies part of one of these plateaus - the Paunsaugunt.

The Pink Cliffs on the east side contains the erosional features for which the park is famous - hoodoos. Variations in hardness of the rock layers result in these strange features, and traces of iron and manganese provide the distinctive coloring. The hoodoos change constantly, with the cycles of freezing and thawing, snowmelt and rainwater which dissolve weak layers, pry open cracks and carve out the forms. The plateau recedes at a rate of about one foot every 50-65 years.

Prehistoric and Historic Indians

Prehistoric Anasazi Indians lived in the lower country surrounding Bryce about 1500 years ago, and probably made frequent trips into the park area to hunt game and gather pinon nut and other wild foods. After the Anasazis' mysterious disappearance from the Southwest around AD 1300, nomadic groups of Paiute Indians came to dominate the region. Primarily a hunting-gathering culture, the Paiute also raised crops and utilized irrigation systems, using methods that they possibly learned from past encounters with the more culturally advanced Anasazi. They used this land primarily on a seasonal basis.

Early on, Paiute Indians letting their imagination run wild, read so much into these rock forms that they developed an enchanting legend about them. They believed that this area was the home of the Legend People - exotic lizards, birds and manlike creatures, and that this was once a beautiful city built for them by Coyote. The Legend people displeased Coyote because they worked too long making their city beautiful. Coyote was angry, and he turned over the paints they were using, and he turned the people all to stone. They are still standing there, stone rows of them. And their faces are painted with the war paint they were using when Coyote was angry and threw it in their faces. They call this place Unka-timpe-Wa-Wince-pock-ich, which means "red rocks standing like men in a bowl-shaped canyon.

Although we do not use the Paiute name for the park, many of the other names for the formations in the area are still in use today. Paunsaugunt is Paiute for "Home of the Beaver".

Historical Background

The Kanarra Cattle Company and several sheepmen used the plateau adjacent to Bryce for grazing in the early 1870s, but the first permanent settler in the area was Ebenezer Bryce, pioneer cattleman, who took up a homestead in the fall of 1875. He left 5 years later for more promising areas in Arizona. The name of the park and his remark "Well, it's a hell of a place to lose a cow," commemorate his efforts. A later settler, Ruben "Ruby" Syrett, recognized the tourist potential and opened a small loge near Sunset Point in 1919, then Ruby's Inn in 1924. Enthusiasm for the scenic beauty led to the creation of Bryce Canyon National Monument in 1923.

Driving Tour

Fairyland Point provides the first view of the canyon. This viewpoint bring onlookers extremely close to the spires and pinnacles. It is possible to descend into Fairyland Canyon, a huge amphitheater, via the Fairyland Loop Trail. Early visitors to the area thought that the formations in this section, especially at a distance, resemble the images of heathen deities.

Sunrise and Sunset Points overlook the canyon that is specifically referred to as Bryce Canyon (although it is really an amphitheater). Of the two viewpoints, only one has been appropriately named. Sunrises can be seen from Sunrise Point, but for a view of a Sunset, go to Inspiration Point, which is higher that the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The two points are connected by a half-mile paved section of the Rim Trail. Queen's Garden Trail leaves from Sunrise Point; and Navajo Trail from Sunset Point. From these points, areas more than 100 air miles away can be seen, limited only by the curvature of the earth. Off in the distance, to the northeast, and outside of the park is the Aquarius Plateau, the highest plateau in North America. It rises to an elevation of more than 10,000 ft. Sunset Point also offers a view of Boat Mesa, an area that is described by naturalists as an ellipse. Approximately 320 degrees of the mesa is exposed, and cliff faces plummet 800 ft.

Inspiration Point provides a fantastic view towards Sunrise Point of the "Silent City". Weathering along vertical joints has cut many rows of narrow gullies, some more than 200 ft deep. Below is an area of old-rose battlements and spires, and on the right is the Wall of Windows.

Paria View offers a look at the Paria River Canyon, White Cliffs (of Navajo Sandstone), and Navajo Mountain (some 80 miles away). The plateau rim in the park forms a drainage divide. Precipitation falling west of the rim flows into the East fork of the Sevier River and the Great Basin; that land east of the rim rushes through the Pink Cliffs to the Paria River and on to the Colorado River and finally the Pacific Ocean.

Farview Point allows you to see levels of the Grand Staircase that include the Aquarius and Table Cliff plateaus to the northeast, Kaiparowits Plateau to the east and southeast, and the White Cliffs to the southeast. Look beyond the White Cliffs to see a section of the Kaibab Plateau that forms the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona - 99 miles away. The Kaiparowits area was the last unexplored section of the United States. Not until the late 1960s with satellite photography, was it accurately mapped.

Bryce Natural Bridge lies just off the road on the left 1.7 miles past Farview Point. The span is 54 ft wide and 95 ft high. Most likely it formed due to weathering from rain and freezing, rather than by stream erosion as with a true natural bridge. Once the opening reached ground level, runoff began to enlarge the hole and to dig a gully through it.

Aqua Canyon Viewpoint, 1.4 miles past Natural Bridge, is located at an elevation of 8,800 ft. Agua is the Spanish word for "water", and Agua Canyon marks a divide of the region's water table. From the Agua Canyon Viewpoint two prominent monoliths can be seen; however the Hunter and the Rabbit may require a little imagination to recognize.

Ponderosa Canyon Overlook, 1.8 miles farther, offers a panorama similar to that at Farview Point.