Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden Trail

Note: As of March 2020, this hike is closed at Two Bridges! You can get about .1 miles down the Navajo Loop, and then it’s closed due to rockfall. Please note that portions of this loop may close due to weather and freezing overnight temperatures. Other trails in the areas can still be used to make a full loop. This hike is considered by many to be the best way to see the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon. The views from Sunrise Point and Sunset Point on the rim area stunning, but you will experience an entirely different Bryce Canyon from the canyon floor while looking up at the hoodoos. You start by hiking down Wall Street, a narrow canyon with high rock walls on either side. Soon after, you will reach the flat canyon floor with the option to finish the Navajo Loop or continue on along the Queens Garden Trail to see more of the canyon. If you have time, hike on to Queens Garden where you will see some of the most spectacular formations in the park. After you final ascent up to the rim you will arrive at sunrise point with a final view of the canyon. Hoodoos go through several stages: First they start as plateaus and water erodes away the sides until they become fins. Once the things become fairly skinny, holes will erode in the middle of them, creating a window. Finally, after more erosion, the top of the windows will break away leaving a hoodoo in its place. In Bryce, most erosion occurs from "frost wedging". Rain seeps into cracks of the rocks, and when the temperature drops the water freezes and expands, which creates larger cracks in the rocks.