Adventures In Utah: Bryce Canyon National Park - Queens Garden/Navajo Trail Loop & Peekaboo Loop

Adventures In Utah: Bryce Canyon National Park - Queens Garden/Navajo Trail Loop
 & Peekaboo Loop – 8 Miles – 4/14/21

Still buzzing from yesterday’s Fairyland Loop hike in Bryce Canyon National Park, we were ready for more adventures amongst the hoodoos. The trails we hiked today are the most popular ones in the park and the people were out in droves, but when you’re in Paris you visit the Eiffel Tower along with everyone else, don’tcha?

The combination of Queens Garden/Navajo Trail/Peekaboo Loop Trail/Rim Trails is a figure 8, two loops with a short connector in between.

We started the hike at Sunrise Point on the Rim Trail, feeling the chill above 8,000 feet elevation in mid-April. After a short distance on the rim, we turned left onto Queens Garden Trail and descended via switchbacks about half a mile. There were blind corners, mysterious doorways, and broad vistas, surprises all around.

Walls, fins and hoodoos – a great explanation and illustrations here

Gradations of tan/pink/orange/rust sandstone pinnacles like drip sandcastles at the beach

Walking out onto a fin for a photo op, every hiker patiently taking a photo for the next in line

Cathy going through a doorway

Approaching the Queen’s Garden, her Castle rising high on the left horizon

A short spur trail leads to Queen Victoria admiring her garden…
like the Tower Bridge yesterday, squint and use your imagination

Past the spur trail to see the Queen, the trail continues another .7 miles down to the base of the canyon where Bryce Creek flows through the forest. We turned left onto the connector trail leading to Peekaboo Loop, then turned right to hike the loop clockwise, where more blind curves and enticing doorways led us on.

This trail has some short, steep up-and-downs and is considered more strenuous than the Queens Garden and Navajo Trails – maybe because of its length (3 miles) combined with the trails to reach it? The main access point for the Peekaboo is from Bryce Point, and from there it's a 5.2-mile hike. It is well worth the effort to include this trail in your hike plan – after all, when are you coming back?

Two detailed descriptions of the Peekaboo Loop Trail are here and here.

The Cathedral

Looking over my right shoulder to Sunset Point –
we’ll be hiking up through that cleft to reach the rim

Wall of Windows on the Peekaboo Loop Trail

About halfway around the loop is the junction with the Under The Rim Trail. From here the trail turned northward and descended into Peekaboo Canyon, passing through majestic bristlecone pines.

At the completion of the loop, we retraced our steps on the connector trail back to the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop Trail junction. The west side of the Navajo Loop, which features the Wall Street slot canyon, was still closed (typically for the freeze-thaw cycles from November through April that cause falling rocks) so our only option was the east side, called Two Bridges - equally awesome!

A pretty bad photo of one of the Two Bridges

Looking up to where we're going. Did I mention that the east side of Navajo Loop is a series of
 tight switchbacks rising 500 feet in half a mile?

Looking back down from whence we came

What is the most iconic hoodoo in Bryce Canyon National Park?

Thor’s Hammer – a reason to stop and rest on the climb to the rim

Thor’s Hammer and the Three Gossips

At Sunset Point, the junction with the Rim Trail, we joined the throngs to look down where we had spent the day wandering, then hiked the last half-mile back to Sunrise Point to complete the journey.

Looking down on the Rim Trail from Sunset Point

Another view of the Rim Trail, Boat Mesa in the distance

Silent City

Bristlecone Point mesa

On the way back to our Airbnb, we stopped at nearby Tod’s convenience store. As the four of us entered, the man behind the cash register (owner Tod) hollered, “If you’re wearing a mask, I’ll charge you ten dollars!” Of course we were all wearing masks. Hmmm…

I just wasn’t sure if this was a challenge or a joke. I pulled down my mask and said, “How’s this?” and he laughed. We started a conversation and saw that Tod was a fun fellow not unlike my dad, who teased unmercifully until you called him on it. Turns out Tod had COVID in April 2020 “real bad” and it took him 8 months to recover his energy. He showed me his bruise where he’d just gotten his first vaccination. We agreed that we needed to get the shot.

Tomorrow we will visit Zion National Park (a difficult park to plan for, in my opinion). Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is closed to private vehicles, so the shuttle is the only option to trailheads for Angels Landing, the Narrows, and other popular trails. Shuttle tickets are very cheap but tricky for timing. Some were available to reserve months ago and the rest were available beginning at 5pm the day before your visit. Early shuttle times are most desirable to get ahead of the masses. I wasted some brain cells worrying about all this. Do we even want to go? (Yes.)

Back at the cabin wifi, I was able to score 9am shuttle tickets for tomorrow, so the plan is to tackle Angels Landing. The crowds are legendary and we all agreed that when we reach the junction to the summit, any or all of us may decide to skip it and continue hiking the West Rim Trail.

Our turn to cook dinner tonight, so Jim and I whipped up a chicken and vegetable stir fry. It must have been good because it disappeared!

Looking at the map of Bryce Canyon National Park, seeing how much we did not get to explore makes me yearn for a return visit. Imagine what an overnight backpack experience would be like…

“In every walk with nature
 one receives far more than he seeks.” 
 ~John Muir