Bryce Canyon: Queens Garden/Navajo Loop

The Queens Garden/Navajo Loop is the most popular trail in Bryce Canyon National Park. It is a somewhat steep descent into the hoodoos with a nice up close look at Queen Victoria herself! Er, actually a hoodoo that looks a lot like her. Then a steep ascent up the Navajo Loop trail passing by a neat feature called Two Bridges and an awesome hoodoo called Thor’s Hammer. It is a very crowded trail, but it is seriously worth doing. If you want a shorter, easier option, you can do the Queens Garden trail, and return the way you came to Sunrise Point. That will be 1.8 miles and 357 feet of elevation gain.

Quick Details:

Length: 2.9 mile loop plus some of the rim trail. I came to about 3.85 miles total (with a little exploring Sunset Point as well).
Difficulty: DR5 there is some serious UP.
Elevation Gain: About 600 feet.
Restroom: No, but there is one at the nearby lodge or general store.
Dogs? No. Dogs are not allowed on the park trails.
Other Info: Fee area. Also, like most trails in Bryce you start at the top, work your way down then have to climb back up. This can be a a little tricky for some people.

To Get Here:

The park recommends doing it clockwise so starting at Sunrise Point and coming up Sunset. Point. Sunrise Point is the first viewpoint past the fee station.

The Trail:

As I mentioned you start at Sunrise Point. From the main parking area follow the Rim Trail south for about 2/10’s of a mile until you see the trailhead sign. Do not go down the Horse Trail.

Trailhead sign.

Heading down. There are steep drop offs on this trail, but it is a very wide trail. I am pretty terrified of heights and I didn’t have too much trouble heading down here.

Almost immediately you start getting a great view of the hoodoos.

Soo pretty.

A little closer.

A couple windows.

Another window.

Making a quick descent.

Hoodoos though the hoodoos.

People on the trail below.

Red rocks and trees.

Some cool hoodoos.

Little tree on a hoodoo.

Probably the worst section of trail for the Queens Garden section and it isn’t bad at all.

Looking through the hoodoos.

Gnarly tree hanging on.

View out of Bryce Amphitheater.

Switchbacks.

Neat hoodoo below.

I love the purple undertones.

Little hoodoos.

Looking out again. I love when we start getting to the bottom.

The trail again.

Couple of windows.

Hoodoos!

I like this hoodoo.

From below.

This one just to show how crowded this trail is.

Getting down below the hoodoos.

I really like this one.

Airplane through the hoodoos.

The first of 3 tunnels you pass though.

My mind kind of got stuck on these and I just kept wondering, where there originally smaller openings that they widened, or did the original trail go around some of these fins and they dug the tunnels to divert for safety? Erosion control? I haven’t dug too much, but I can’t really find an answer. What I can find is the trail was created in the early 1900’s before there was any understanding, or protections for natural areas so, it is possible they just blasted through because, well, it was in the way.

More hoodoos.

Smaller ones.

Hoodoos high above.

I don’t know why, but I love the look of trees amongst the red rocks.

More hoodoos.

The 2nd tunnel.

Loving the views.

More hoodoos.

The 3rd tunnel.

Hoodoos galore!

I think we are looking at the back side of the queen here (lowest white hoodoo).

Little closer.

It is incredible down here.

Little closer to the back end of the queen.

The hoodoos are just incredible down here.

Going through the 3rd tunnel. Goodness, I didn’t realize just how many pictures I took down here.

They don’t say how far it is to the Queens Garden, but it is super short, probably about 200 feet or so.

Into the gardens.

Little window above.

First view of The Queen.

More incredible hoodoos.

Cute little chipmunk friend.

The fin with The Queen (far left).

A little closer.

Comparison to the statue that gave this formation it’s name.

side note, I totally didn’t see her riding a camel until I read this. haha.

But now I can’t un-see it.

Of course, there are other interesting hoodoos to see here as well.

If you want a shorter, easier trail, head back to Sunrise Point. if you want more of an adventure, and a challenge, head towards Sunset Point.

The 3rd tunnel has a little window above it.

From here you follow a wash for a little while.

I absolutely do not remember this little narrow section. Neat!

Trees and hoodoos.

More hoodoos.

Trees and red rocks.

There is a little alcove here that I think would probably be awesome in the summer, I am absolutely baffled as to why it is so crowded today. It is windy and kind of chilly today. Landis had to remind me that not everyone goes hiking every weekend. right, right. Alright, you do you.

More trees and hoodoos.

Another view of the hoodoo I liked.

I see a face in that hoodoo to the left.

Crossing a wash.

Little window. I don’t know why, but I love these.

Now there is a short section of beautiful forest to walk through.

One of these hoodoos is not like the others.

Pretty orange soil.

Pretty forest and hoodoos. Its awesome being at the bottom of the amphitheater.

The path down here is wide and fairly flat. It’s a good break for a minute, and you are going to need it cause it’s about time to start heading back up.

I think this is looking out of the amphitheater.

Almost to the other side.

A black hoodoo.

Getting closer.

More hoodoos.

And we have reached the main trail junction. From here you can go up the Navajo Loop Twin Bridges trail, or the Navajo Loop Wall Street Trail, or you have do a significantly longer loop and add the Peek-A-Boo Loop which I understand is referred to as the Figure 8 Combination (6.8 miles total).

Last time we did this trail (abut 12 years ago, wow) we went up Wall Street and I kind of wanted to do that again because wall street is really cool! However…

It is still closed for winter. I guess there is a lot of falling rock in winter. Oh well, so, we’ll get a new experience today! Nothing wrong with that. Plus, I was already considering hiking up to see Two Bridges, so now we’ll see that along the way.

Plus, it is just a smidge shorter.

More hoodoos.

Now we head UP.

Hoodoos and trees.

Looking out of the little canyon.

Neat little alcoves.

Hoodoos.

Looking out again.

Looking up the canyon. It is starting to get very crowded in here.

Tree growing in one of the many narrow side ‘canyons’ between the fins.

Oh we made it to Two Bridges already.

Yep. That is 2 bridges.

I don’t think they technically qualify as a bridge as they are not over water, but I wouldn’t call them arches either. However, the general consensus is an arch is an opening that spans from the ground up. So yea, technically arches. Anyway, I am really glad we got to see this feature. It’s neat.

Please follow the signs and do not climb on them. They look awfully fragile.

This short segment is kind of a slot canyon. But not as deep as Wall Street.

A little higher up.Love seeing the trees work their way up to the light.

Starting to get a little tougher.

Its cool hiking through the hoodoos.

This one to show the amount of people on the trail through here. Holy crap, they were not kidding about most popular trail!

Looking up again.

Tight crack.

Another one.

Looking down canyon.

Now we just have the switchbacks to climb back up to the rim.

Oh boy…

Looking down again.

The cliff walls.

More up.

Looking down again.

Nearing the top… or so I thought.

At the top of the switchbacks… you have more switchbacks.

Then you can see Thor’s Hammer and more hoodoos!

Thor’s Hammer again.

More hoodoos.

Closer to Thor’s Hammer.

With more hoodoos.

Different angle.

I didn’t get a picture but this segment of the trail made me a little nervous and I was struggling. It’s wide, but just so many people and the expanse of the amphitheater made it a little rough on me. It’s been a long time, but I don’t recall struggling when we came up Wall Street. I think the open view is less intense. I think if we did this one again, I start at the top here.

Another angle.

Little windows.

I think this is the best angle of Thor’s Hammer.

Again.

Another purple patch.

View out of the amphitheater.

The next switchback.

At the top of this one there is some fencing so it’s just those 2 switchbacks that kind of suck.

View into the canyon from the top of that last switchback.

Looking into Wall Street.

Panoramic.

After exploring Sunset Point a little, now we just have the half mile back to Sunrise Point to the car.

Thor’s Hammer can be seen from the rim.

View across the canyon. I think that formation across the way is what we can see from our room.

The trail we did below. Landis asked if you could see The Queen from up here and as far as I knew, you couldn’t however…

Not much further along, there she was!

Digital crop. So she is tiny from up here, and a telephoto lens would be better to see… or well, just go down the trail and view her from below.

View out again.

The Queens Garden again.

Again. It is amazing the sights you see when you do some exploring with you soul mate.

The garden again.

We made it back to Sunrise Point just in time to see a group of riders going down the horse trail.

This trail was absolutely incredible! Even with the crowd, even with the short section that made me a little uncomfortable, I made it! We saw new formations that I have never seen before, and even the Queen from up above! My only complaint is just how crowded the trail was at parts. But then again, there was a nice section that was not crowded. Walking down amongst the hoodoos was incredible though. I want to remove 1 squirrel for the crowd, and 1 for how tough it was, But, I will add one for amazing views. I am going to end with 9 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, this one was a little tougher than I remember, and honestly, last time we did it, we didn’t hike as often as we do now. But there was a long climb in open sun up a lot of switchbacks. Not to mention, you start at the top, and have to come back up. Going with a DR5.

Dogs are not allowed on the trails in the park, so leave Fido at home, or in the hotel  NOT in your car.