BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK
The Amphitheater Fig 8 Hike
Sept 2007 - 72 photos
The Amphitheater Fig 8 Hike
Sept 2007 - 72 photos
On the 14th of September, 2007, Dale Wing and I drove down to Bryce Canyon National Park. The first day I hiked down the Fairyland lower trail to look at Tower Bridge, while Dale hiked the upper rim trail. Later in the day we drove around the park checking out the View from the rim.
Early Saturday morning we watched sunrise from Bryce Point, then drove over to Sunset Point where the Navajo trailhead is located. In looking at the Bryce maps I had decided that I wanted to hike down one leg of the Navajo loop trail from Sunset Point and come back up one side of the Queen's Garden loop to Sunrise Point, shown as 2.9 miles total. I had also wanted to hike down the Under-the-rim trail from Bryce Point to see the Wall-of-Windows up close. That trail was closed by a rock slide, so I was unable to make that hike. Anyway, I decided to do the loop from Sunset Point down and back up to Sunrise Point.
Early Saturday morning we watched sunrise from Bryce Point, then drove over to Sunset Point where the Navajo trailhead is located. In looking at the Bryce maps I had decided that I wanted to hike down one leg of the Navajo loop trail from Sunset Point and come back up one side of the Queen's Garden loop to Sunrise Point, shown as 2.9 miles total. I had also wanted to hike down the Under-the-rim trail from Bryce Point to see the Wall-of-Windows up close. That trail was closed by a rock slide, so I was unable to make that hike. Anyway, I decided to do the loop from Sunset Point down and back up to Sunrise Point.
I proceeded down the Navajo trail and came to the trail junction that split for the Navajo loop. The trail through Wall Street was closed by another rock slide, so I went down through Switchback Canyon and when I got down to the bottom of the Navajo trail, I found a sign that said Peek-a-Boo Loop trail. I got the map out and saw that it went up below Fairy Castle and past the Cathedral then over to the Wall-of-Windows and under Bryce Point, then back past Fairy Castle again. Hey, I can still see Wall-of-Windows. I decided at that point to take this trail as it looped right back to where I was. The sign said 3 miles, that's not too bad.
I found out later that when doing the combinations of these trails, it is called the Figure 8 hike. When Navajo and Queen's garden hikes are put together it makes the top circle and the Peek-a-Boo loop hike becomes the bottom circle of the figure 8. The trip arround it all was less than the maps showed at 5.9 miles. My GPS tracker showed a total of 4.72 miles and a change of 697 feet. Not a bad hike at all.
I found out later that when doing the combinations of these trails, it is called the Figure 8 hike. When Navajo and Queen's garden hikes are put together it makes the top circle and the Peek-a-Boo loop hike becomes the bottom circle of the figure 8. The trip arround it all was less than the maps showed at 5.9 miles. My GPS tracker showed a total of 4.72 miles and a change of 697 feet. Not a bad hike at all.
CLICK for GPS map of Hike
Deciding to take the Peek-a-Boo trail turned out to be one of the best choices I ever made. This hike was the best hike I have ever done and I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed it. First the scenery was fantastic, and the terrain was ever changing. There were many kinds of trees, with the Bristlecone pines being most prevalent. Then there was the quiet solitude, perfect temperature, and a fairly clear sky. I didn't see anyone for the first hour then occasionally a few people passed going the opposite direction. Once I passed a mule train going the other way. If you can't hike this trail, then mule back would be the way to do it. If you love the outdoors, then this is one hike, (or mule ride), you should definitely plan on.
I took close to 500 photos while at Bryce, 253 of them were on this hike into the Amphitheater. It was too many to put here on my webpages and deciding what to show and what to leave out was hard. Just getting it down to 72 was difficult. I decided to show photos that were different than what one normally sees from above, to show it more as a hike. Once again, this was the best hike of my life, but I will let the pictures tell the story and you decide if I am right.
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- 72 photos -
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Related Photos
Trip to Bryce Canyon National Park, 2007
View from the Rim, Tower Bridge hike, Mossy cave & falls
View from the Rim
Tower Bridge hike
Mossy cave & falls
I used a Canon EOS 20D, 8.2 Megapixel SLR Camera with a Canon EFs 17-85mm wide angle to 5x zoom and a Canon EF 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens for close-up photos.
Dale used his Canon Digital Rebel Xti with the EFs 17-85mm and 100-400mm zoom lens.
Original photos were taken at aprox 3050 x 2000. These photos are set to 750 x 500 for faster loading. You are welcome to look at or download any of the photos. If you use them on any other webpage, please give credit and refer back to me.
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Trip to Bryce Canyon National Park, 2007
View from the Rim, Tower Bridge hike, Mossy cave & falls
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View from the Rim
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Tower Bridge hike
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Mossy cave & falls
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I used a Canon EOS 20D, 8.2 Megapixel SLR Camera with a Canon EFs 17-85mm wide angle to 5x zoom and a Canon EF 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens for close-up photos.
Dale used his Canon Digital Rebel Xti with the EFs 17-85mm and 100-400mm zoom lens.
Original photos were taken at aprox 3050 x 2000. These photos are set to 750 x 500 for faster loading. You are welcome to look at or download any of the photos. If you use them on any other webpage, please give credit and refer back to me.
Dale used his Canon Digital Rebel Xti with the EFs 17-85mm and 100-400mm zoom lens.
Original photos were taken at aprox 3050 x 2000. These photos are set to 750 x 500 for faster loading. You are welcome to look at or download any of the photos. If you use them on any other webpage, please give credit and refer back to me.