Bryce Canyon in the smoke

Post-Narrows had everyone tired, but it’s a beautiful area. There was smoke from a wildfire in the air.

If you go

Bryce Canyon isn’t really a canyon — it’s a series of amphitheaters full of hoodoos, those orange rock spires. It sits high, between 8,000 and 9,000 feet, so it’s cooler than the other Utah parks and can get snow early. The Navajo Loop down into the hoodoos and back up Queen’s Garden is the classic short hike, and sunrise on the amphitheater is the one to set an alarm for. Late-summer wildfire smoke can haze the views, as it did for us.