Great Sleeps, Good Eats, & Sights to See: Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park  79 miles E of Cedar City, (435) 834-5322.  $25/car/good for 7 days.  Not a true canyon, Bryce is actually a series of ravines carved from limestone with red rock spires--known as hoodoos--left behind.  The Fairyland Overlook, located just outside the park entrance, is one of the best viewing spots.  Thor’s Hammer--the park’s tallest hoodoo--is best viewed from Sunset Point and can be seen up close by hiking a short way down the steep, echoing Navajo Loop Trail.  There are many more spectacular view points at the top, and many more trails that wind down into the dramatic canyon leading through the multicolored rock formations.  Shuttles are available.  An elevation of around 8,000 feet and lack of city lights makes Bryce famous for good star-gazing. 

●The Lodge at Bryce Canyon  (877) 386-4383, (435) 834-8700.  114 rooms.  Open Apr-Oct.  Restaurant (B-L-D; $$).  Built in the 1920s by Gilbert Stanley Underwood--the same architect who designed Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Lodge and Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Lodge--this atmospheric  park lodge is furnished with replicas of its original hickory-wood pieces.   A row of rocking chairs on the long front porch invite resting.  Rooms are in two-story motel-style buildings and in cabins.  The lodge dining room has a rustic-yet-refined dining room, in the style of the 1930s, and serves a tasty menu.  When I ate there recently I dined on a strawberry and greens salad with goat cheese, beef short ribs braised for 6 hours in chipotle barbecue sauce, and a gorgeous fresh fruit tart with cream Anglaise.

More things to do in Southern Utah.

images c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers