Trip Date: November 8, 2020

2020 CALIFORNIA & UTAH ADVENTURE VACATION

Queen’s Garden – Peekaboo – Navajo Figure-8 Loop Day Hike

Sunrise Point
Queen’s Garden
Bryce Creek
Wall of Windows
The Cathedral
Wall Street
Sunset Point

Trip Report Summary

Region: Utah

Sub-Region: Southwestern Utah

Area: Bryce Canyon National Park

Starting & Ending Point: Sunrise Point Trailhead on Sunrise Point loop road (Elev. 7950 feet)

Way Points: Sunrise Point & Queen’s Garden Trailhead & Queen’s Garden & Bryce Creek & Wall of Windows Ridge & The Cathedral & Bryce Creek & Wall Street & Sunset Point & Bryce Canyon Rim & Sunrise Point (hike via Queen’s Garden Trail—Peekaboo Loop Trail—Navajo Loop Trail—Rim Trail)

Approximate Stats: 6.5 miles traveled; 1650 feet gained & lost; 4.3 hours elapsed.

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Queens Garden – Peekaboo – Navajo Figure-8 Loop – October 2021

Full Trip Report

By all accounts, the quintessential hike in Bryce Canyon National Park is a figure-8 loop that incorporates Queen’s Garden Trail, Peekaboo Loop Trail, and Navajo Loop Trail.  This marvelous 6.5-mile route begins on the high canyon rim, drops into Bryce Amphitheater, crosses Bryce Creek twice, and eventually climbs back up to the rim.  Along the way, the route showcases many of the park’s most incredible hoodoos and iconic landforms, such as including Thor’s Hammer, Queen Victoria, Fairy Castle, Wall of Windows, The Cathedral, and Wall Street.

The figure-8 loop can be conveniently started and finished at any of three viewpoints on the rim:  Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, or Bryce Point.  Eileen, Brooke, and I started our hike at Sunrise Point on a cold, gray, snowy morning.  From there, Queen’s Garden Trail led us down into the canyon.

We soon found ourselves weaving through a preposterous array of towers, pinnacles, shafts, fins, ridges, and buttresses.  Unlike most other national parks and monuments in Utah, Bryce Canyon is composed of limestone and siltstone rather than sandstone.  This geology gives Bryce’s landforms a distinctly bizarre appearance.  The different colors are caused by varying amounts of iron, magnesium, and other elements within the rock.

A short spur trail leads into Queen’s Garden, which is named for one particular hoodoo that closely resembles a London statue of Queen Victoria.

Upon reaching the canyon floor, we passed a junction with Navajo Loop Trail, crossed Bryce Creek, and continued hiking clockwise around Peekaboo Loop Trail.  This latter trail took us on a convoluted march up, down, and around an endless series of improbable formations.

In several locations, the hiking trails pass through arched tunnels that penetrate rock ribs.  Most of these likely represent natural portholes or weaknesses that were subsequently enlarged and shaped by the trail builders.

My favorite formation was The Cathedral—a limestone/siltstone hoodoo cluster that looks very much like a Gothic church composed of melting wax.

After closing the Peekaboo Loop, we crossed back over Bryce Creek and headed up the left (southwest) branch of Navajo Loop Trail.  This branch extends through an irregular slot canyon and then switchbacks steeply upward between high stone cliffs—an impressive feature aptly called Wall Street.

Above Wall Street, we passed the Navajo Loop junction and arrived at Sunset Point, which was now swarming with hikers and sightseers.  An easy stroll northward on Rim Trail then took us back to Sunrise Point (4.3 hours + 1650 feet from starting TH), where we ended our fantastic figure-8 loop.

Route Map

Photo Gallery

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