Improvisation Day
Saturday, March 25
2. Bryce from below (Peekaboo Loop)
Our short visit to Keyhole had only consumed about 30 minutes. We had lots more time to burn today, and we continued east, out of the park and into the area of Long Valley - an area containing the small towns of Carmel, Orderville, and Glenville. On the east side of this valley are the Elkheart Cliffs, home to several short slots that seemed interesting.
We attempted to find the start point to a canyon called Sand Wash (near the town of Carmel), but we had trouble spotting the way through some private land. With some darkening clouds approaching from the southeast, the thought came to us that maybe we should attempt to work around the weather by heading a bit further north and east. We continued north on US-89, and by the time we were approaching the junction with UT-24 near Panguitch, I began to think - "why don't we just do something interesting in Bryce?". It would be safer than exploring a slot in potentially rainy weather and the position on the eastern side of the high Paunsaugunt Plateau might afford us something of a rain shadow. Arn agreed, and so we were off, headed for an unexpected visit to Bryce Canyon National Park.
End of Bryce Way
We chose to explore Bryce via a novel route - from below, from the little town of Tropic, which sits below and to the east of Bryce. Unknown to most people, there is a rarely-used trail that heads up into the park from one of the town's upper streets (all other access to Bryce Canyon's trails is from the plateau rim above).
We easily located the trailhead in Tropic (at the upper end of Bryce Way, a town street that turns into gravel in its upper reaches), and it was virtually empty (one other car was parked there). Compared to the hundreds of cars that were likely entering Bryce from above, this was extremely secluded. On the upper side of the parking lot was the park fence and boundary line, along with a small but clear sign indicating the Tropic Trail.
Bryce Boundary
We crossed over the cattle fence and started our walk up the Tropic Trail. Wide, graded, and with only a slight incline, it headed in a straight and very easy manner up through forest towards the main Bryce amphitheatres. Gradually we began to see low versions of the famous pink and orange cliffs, and after about only 30 minutes of very easy walking, we reached the bottom end of Bryce's tight little trail network. What a pleasant way to get into the park! (Note that at busy times of the year this entrance is probably used for horse traffic).
We were playing it by ear, not having any particular itinerary. This was Arn's first visit to Bryce, so it was all new to him.
We ended up choosing to veer left, soon reaching the bottom end of one of the park's signature hikes, the Peekaboo Loop Trail. This is a 3-mile circuit that takes in (and cuts through) some of the parks beautiful formations.
Virtually all of the trails in Bryce are wide, nicely graded and switchbacked. In other words, easy walking. We soon climbed up into the thick of the excellent formations: hoodoos, towers, pinks, purples, and mauves. Patches of snow here and there added further contrast to the scene, but there were actually very few spots on the trail where it was actually underfoot (Bryce often holds snow well into April, so I had actually expected to encounter more of it).
We pleasantly wandered in and out of the formations of the lower Peekaboo loop - The Fairy Castle, past an interesting corkscrew pine, through neat little trail tunnels. Presently we arrived at the upper end of the loop, and began our return down the other arm. This arm was higher and closer to the rim of Bryce, closer to the major formations.
Our supposition about the weather seemed to have had merit: we did not encounter any rain and above there were actually occasional patches of blue sky. Once in a while a rent in the clouds would allow a brilliant splash of light to play across the fantastical landscape. In some ways it was better than a completely sunny day.
Cinnamon Roll Switchbacks
We encountered a few groups of people here and there, often wearing non-winter footwear, and we concluded that even the higher trails weren't that snowy or treacherous, or we wouldn't be seeing them. Still, overall foot traffic was fairly low - a nice respite from the overcrowding in Zion.
We also encountered several hikers who had gotten themselves confused about where they were on the park's trail network. Typically they thought they were on one of the other park's loops and were suprised to find themselves on the Peekaboo loop. We informed them that they had inadvertently chosen a much longer itinerary than they had thought, pointed out where they were on the map, and sent them on their way.
The beautiful interplay of dark clouds, brilliant sun, and the amazing formations kept us pleasantly occupied as we wandered back northward on the Peekaboo Loop. A final crescendo of hoodoos beneath sunset point was a fitting finale. The ranks upon ranks of ordered colored pinnacles looked very reminicent of chinese terra-cotta warriors.
Colors against the plateau
Beyond Sunset point, the trail wound down through increasingly plain scenery, with craggy hoodoos giving way to simple colored slopes. Soon we reached the completion of our loop, and began the easy stroll down along the Tropic trail to our car.
This below-the-rim access to Bryce is pretty attractive, if you are so inclined. The approach is a bit longer, but the walking is easy, the trail is quiet, and.... there's no park entrance gate.
Interactive trackmap with photo points - Peekaboo from below - click map to view
Peekaboo Loop via Tropic - Hike Data
Start Time:
12:11p.m.
End Time:
3:19p.m.
Duration:
3h8m
Distance:
9.76 km
(6.06 mi)
Average Speed:
3.1 km/hr
(1.9 mph)
Start Elevation:
6868ft
(2093m)
*
Max Elevation:
7757ft
(2364m)
*
Min Elevation:
6868ft
(2093m)
*
End Elevation:
6885ft
(2098m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
1220ft
(372m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
1223ft
(373m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
