Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden

Seeing Bryce from the rim is unforgettable; walking among the hoodoos is something else again. The Queen's Garden and Navajo Loop combination is the park's most popular hike and the best introduction to the amphitheater from below: about 2.9 miles round trip with roughly 600 feet of elevation change, linking two trails that drop from the rim into the heart of the formations and joining them with a flat half-mile of the Rim Trail between Sunrise and Sunset Points. The Navajo Loop on its own is 1.3 miles with about 550 feet of descent and climb, rated moderate and taking an hour or two. It has two sides. Wall Street descends through a deep, narrow slot between towering walls where a pair of Douglas firs grow toward a sliver of sky; it is closed during the months when precipitation combines with freezing nights, so in practice it is a summer route. Two Bridges, the other side, passes beneath a pair of natural rock bridges and is normally open year-round. From the bottom, the Queen's Garden Trail meanders through a garden of fantastical hoodoos to a formation said to resemble Queen Victoria, then climbs gently to Sunrise Point. The recommended direction for most hikers is to descend Queen's Garden from Sunrise Point, where the grade is gentler, and climb out via Navajo to Sunset Point. Wear sturdy shoes, take plenty of water, and remember that the climb back to the rim at 8,000 feet is harder than it looks. In winter, traction devices are essential on the switchbacks.

2026 has been a turbulent year on these trails, and it is worth knowing what happened. On February 25, rapid snowmelt and saturated soils triggered mudslides and a rockfall along the Two Bridges section, and the park closed the entire Navajo Loop while scientists and trail crews assessed the damage; Queen's Garden stayed open as the route into the canyon. On August 24 a flash flood swept through the amphitheater during a monsoon storm, catching hikers in the canyon — eleven were helped out and two were hospitalized for hypothermia — and the Navajo Loop was closed again for assessment. The park reopened it on August 25, but Wall Street and the Bryce Connector trail remained closed for safety, and Wall Street now enters its normal winter closure. Check the park's current conditions before you go, and ask at the visitor center.

Those events underline a few rules of thumb. The amphitheater drains through narrow washes, and summer thunderstorms can turn them into torrents within minutes; if storms are building, stay on the rim. Rockfall is a natural part of how the hoodoos form, so do not linger under overhangs and obey every closure sign. In spring and fall, mud on the trails can be slick, and in winter the shaded switchbacks of Navajo hold ice for weeks. None of this should put you off — on a good day, this is one of the finest short hikes in the national parks — but it pays to plan.

For the best experience, start at sunrise when the hoodoos glow and the trail is quiet, or late in the afternoon when the light warms again. Look for Thor's Hammer, the balanced hoodoo visible from the Navajo Loop near Sunset Point, and for the Queen Victoria formation at the end of a short spur in Queen's Garden. Strong hikers can extend the route by adding the Peekaboo Loop, a longer, steeper trail that shares the canyon floor, for a demanding but spectacular half-day. Afterward, lunch or a hot drink in Bryce Canyon City, just outside the park, is a short drive away.