Things You Need to Know before Hiking Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is one of the most surreal places I have ever been too. It genuinly feels like you are on a totally different planet. It's so breathtaking and beautiful and the sights never seem to stop! My mom and I went on a little vacation get-a-way to hike both Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park (more on that later)! We started our adventure out with Bryce, and it was honestly my favorite part of the entire weekened!

We had an amazing time exploring and going through the canyon. We ended up doing the Figure 8 Loop since it covered some of the most known sections of Bryce: The Queens Garden, Peekaboo Loop, and Wall Street. It's about 6.3 miles and you really go into the canyon! We got there as soon as the park opened (7 am) and there wasn't a whole lot of people! We didn't actually see a whole lot of people through the Queens Garden and the Peekaboo Loop, but it got insanely crowded in Wall Street and up along the Canyon Rim! Here are some of the tips and tricks that we learned going through this amazing hike!

1. Water, water, water!

I would say that once you're deep in the canyon, Bryce becomes less and less touristy! Which is great for the experience, but for things such as bathrooms and water fountains...well they're pretty limited. We had full water bottles with us when we went down, and had about half when we began the Peekaboo Trail. Now, the Peekaboo Trail is a lot of ups and downs and inclines and all the good stuff to make your butt and legs sore the next day. We pretty much ran out of water by the end of that trail, and there wasn't another station until back out of the canyon! If we could do it again, we would definitely have 2 waterbottles on us (or bigger ones!). There was also no restrooms within the canyon (there is one on the Peekaboo trail, but it was closed for winter!).

2. Eye Drops!

This one might sound a little weird, but trust me. I wear contacts when I'm out doing physical activites or anything like that because I hate having to worry about my glasses. I had brought an extra pair of contacts with me, just in case, but we also brought eyedrops which were a life saver. It can get very, very windy within the canyon. Sand and dirt starts blowing like crazy and there were moments were we had to stop and sheild our eyes for a second! The eye drops were so helpful for when our eyes felt gritty and began to itch!

3. Check the weather!

We always check the weather of somewhere before we up and travel to that destination. We were so glad we looked before we left because our idea of weather in a canyon versus what it actually was, was way off. Each morning, it was about 45 degrees! Throughout the day, it got to about 65-70. It was the most perfect hiking weather, but it was chilly when we first started off. I would recommend, especially if you went around the same time we did (early October) to bring a lightweight jacket to have with you! I brought a light sweater that kept me warm when we started our hike, and I was easily able to pull it off and tie it around my waist when I started to warm up. The winds are also super cold, which was nice!

4. Sunscreen!

This was something we did NOT think about, and regretted a lot. What makes it funnier was that my mom had some in her backpack the entire time! Since it was so cold, and we were pretty distracted with trying to look at all the incredible sights, we didn't even realize that the sun was beating down on us all day. I had a pretty nasty shoulder and scalp sunburn and my cheeks got pretty red too! We definitely used this in Zion, but there's way less shade in Bryce, so I would make sure to pack some sunscreen!

These are my top tips for getting yourself ready to go hike! Of course there are a lot more (like be prepared for some sandy shoes), but these were the biggest ones that impacted us the most! It was such a beautiful day and the entire canyon is just breathless. I also recommend taking pictures of all the plaques you see. Trust me, if you take those pictures to the vistor center...there's a little something in it for you!