Both can easily be visited in one half of a day. One favorite hike is to two slot canyons, Spooky and Peek-A-Boo. Many of these slot canyons are difficult to reach, some even taking a full day or longer, but a few are easier to get to and can be just as rewarding. Besides its waterways, arches and other fabulous rock formations, it is home to spectacular canyons - including hundreds of slot canyons. ![]() Grand Staircase boasts some of the Southwest’s most impressive scenery, accessible not only by traveling its scenic byways and backways but also by setting out on foot. Established in 1996, it encompasses about one million acres. Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument is located in south central Utah. Both sections are similar in that they start with a steep climb then have other short, sharp elevation changes the main difference is that the east path is more varied in scenery, mixing hoodoos with wooded ravines (which hold snow for a longer time after winter), while the west part encounters just the eroded formations and gives better views of the plateau rim.The mouth of Peek-A-Boo Canyon can only be reached by scrambling up the sandstone. After following the valley downstream a way, and passing another junction with a horse trail from Queens Garden, the connecting path reaches the north end of the Peekaboo Trail, from where the next junction (with the alternative approach route from Bryce Point) is 1.7 miles via the west part of the loop or 1.3 miles via the east. When snow is melting the creek's tributaries carry differently-colored water, reflecting the color of the rocks where it originates. The description below starts from this intersection.īeginning at the signed junction at the far side of the Navajo Loop Trail and the path from Queens Garden, another path heads south and crosses the upper end of Bryce Creek, a small but fast flowing stream in spring and early summer but completely dry later in the season. Considered the easiest way to descend from the rim, this trail drops steeply by 320 feet to the garden - a sheltered basin beneath a curved row of pinnacles - and then continues, now more level, around a hillside to the junction at the end of the Navajo Trail. This is the trailhead for the popular Navajo Trail, and walking either half (0.6 miles) reaches a four-way junction, the other branches being a short connector to the north end of the Peekaboo Trail, and a link to the third approach, via the equally busy Queens Garden Trail from Sunrise Point. The path may be closed during spring to allow post-winter maintenance, as is the case for the second approach, starting at Sunset Point. The shortest approach is from Bryce Point, from where a 1 mile path drops 600 feet to an intersection at the southern end of the loop, en route passing a junction with the Hat Shop Trail. The Peekaboo Trail can be accessed from three places on the plateau rim. ![]() The only negative aspect, for hikers, is that the trail is also used by mules. It may be hiked all year but is easiest once most of the winter snows have melted, usually by mid April. Although fairly level overall, the Peekaboo Trail has many short, steep climbs and descents and is a little more strenuous than might be expected. In addition, this trail is the furthest from the trailheads hence receives the fewest visitors, so hiking is more peaceful in this respect the route is second only to the longer Fairyland Loop Trail to the north. A network of hike and horse trails wind through the ravines and ridges, accessed from three points on the rim, so a variety of loop hikes are possible, but the best path is probably the Peekaboo Trail, itself a 3 mile loop, but viewable via a minimum hike of 5 miles if starting from Bryce Point as well as giving many amazing views of the main collections of hoodoos, both near and far, the path also crosses forested terrain, lower down the hillside, where the more isolated formations contrast with the green and shady surroundings. The most spectacular part of Bryce Canyon National Park, with the largest and densest formations, is the two mile section between Sunrise Point and Bryce Point, centered on the upper drainage basin of Bryce Creek.
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