Although I had been in southern Arizona and Las Vegas many years ago, I had never had the opportunity to see a real canyon up close and personal until this year.
For sheer WOW! factor, Bryce Canyon was a great place to start. Its unique hoodoos, or rock formations created by centuries of wind and water, must be seen to be believed.
Aside from standing on the rim to admire the jaw-dropping views (there is a nice rim trail as well), the best way to appreciate the canyon is on its numerous trails.
We descended on the Wall Street trail, which offers a series of steep switchbacks through towering rock walls to the bottom of the canyon. Once there, we headed onto the Peekaboo Loop trail. The first part of the trail is uphill but at a fairly gradual pace. It's best to take your time anyway, as every twist and turn of this scenic trail offers marvelous views of hoodoos both nearby and at varying distances across the canyon. Coming back up to the rim, a friend and I chose the Navaho Loop trail. This was a nice change from the Wall Street trail we'd used for our descent, as it offered unobstructed vistas all the way to the top. Needless to say, our cameras were in overdrive the whole time.
What I really enjoyed was walking out from my cabin at the lodge to the rim of the canyon at night and enjoying the sight of the sparkling stars and the Milky Way. It was also worth it to haul myself out of bed the following morning to watch the sunrise over the hoodoo-filled canyon.
This is an adventure not to be missed!