Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden: Bryce Canyon's Classic Hike

The best view at Bryce Canyon isn’t from the rim. It’s from 550 feet below it, standing in a narrow corridor of pink and orange rock with canyon walls towering on both sides and a Douglas fir growing out of the dirt where it shouldn’t exist at all.

That’s Wall Street. And it’s why you start at Sunset Point.

How to Structure the Loop

Most visitors do this trail as a one-way loop between two trailheads: start at Sunset Point, finish at Sunrise Point. The two points are about a half-mile apart along the flat Rim Trail, so walking back to your car takes 10 minutes.

Start at Sunset Point. Here’s why.

The Navajo Loop descends from Sunset Point through Wall Street on tight switchbacks. That descent is steep, and you want to do it on fresh legs, not at the end of 2.9 miles when your quads are already spent. The Queen’s Garden return from the canyon floor to Sunrise Point is the more gradual option. Save the easier climb for the end.

If you’re hiking with kids or anyone who might struggle with steep descents, consider starting at Sunrise Point instead. The Queen’s Garden descent is far more manageable for less confident hikers. You’ll end up climbing Wall Street, but at least you can see where you’re stepping on the way up.

The trail is well-marked and hard to lose. Rangers keep it in good shape.

Wall Street

Nothing prepares you for how abrupt the Wall Street section feels. You’re on a rim trail with wide views, then suddenly the switchbacks pitch sharply down and two massive hoodoo fins rise on both sides of you. The gap between them narrows to about 20 feet. The rock climbs hundreds of feet above.

Douglas fir trees grow at the base of those fins. They’re old, twisted, and improbably large given that they’re living in a crack in the rock at the bottom of a canyon. The combination of the trees and the enclosed walls makes this section feel unlike anywhere else on the Colorado Plateau.

The descent takes about 10 minutes. It’s steep enough to require attention on each step, and the trail surface is compacted rock and clay. When dry, it’s manageable. When wet, it turns greasy. The park closes Wall Street when there’s ice or standing water on the trail. Don’t skip that closure and try it anyway. People fall.

Trekking poles make the descent more comfortable, especially on the sharpest switchback turns. Plant them downhill and lean into them.

The Canyon Floor

You hit the canyon floor and the whole experience changes. From the rim, the hoodoos look like an abstract pink maze. Down here, they’re immediate. You walk between them, not above them. The spires rise higher than your field of vision can easily track. The rock is orange and rust and salmon depending on the light.

The Bryce Amphitheater has the highest concentration of hoodoos found anywhere in the world. The geology is specific to this plateau: alternating hard and soft limestone layers, freeze-thaw cycles doing erosive work over millions of years, and the right angle of exposure to wind and water. What you’re walking through exists because of a very particular set of conditions that came together in exactly this place.

Spend time on the canyon floor. Most hikers rush through it. Stop and look up.

Queen’s Garden and the Return

The Queen’s Garden section is the return leg, and it’s the gentler half of the loop. The trail climbs back toward the rim at a steady but manageable grade, weaving between hoodoos along the way.

About halfway up, there’s a formation that rangers named for Queen Victoria. It’s a squat, rounded hoodoo at the top of a short spur trail. Whether it actually resembles Queen Victoria depends on your imagination and possibly the time of day. The resemblance is stronger in the softer light of morning or late afternoon. The formation itself is worth the short detour.

The climb out on the Queen’s Garden side is not easy. You’ll gain elevation steadily for most of the return leg. But it’s nowhere near as steep as the Wall Street descent, and the trail surface is more forgiving.

The Altitude Problem

Bryce Canyon sits at 8,000 feet at the Sunset and Sunrise Point trailheads. That’s high enough to affect most visitors who drove in from lower elevations.

The symptoms are predictable: headache, slight shortness of breath on the uphill sections, feeling more tired than the distance should justify. These aren’t signs of a serious problem for most people. They’re your body adjusting to less oxygen per breath than it’s used to.

The fix is straightforward. Drink more water than you think you need. Go slower on the uphill sections. If you arrived that day from somewhere near sea level, expect the return climb to feel harder than 550 feet of gain should.

Most symptoms resolve after one night at elevation. If you’re planning multiple days at Bryce, the second day’s hike will feel significantly better than the first.

Clay and Seasonal Closures

The hoodoos at Bryce are limestone and clay. When it rains or snow melts, the clay trail surface becomes dangerously slippery. This is especially true on the Wall Street switchbacks where a slip has consequences.

The park closes Wall Street when conditions are unsafe. Check the Bryce Canyon NPS website or the park entrance board before you start. This closure happens in spring when snow melts and after summer rainstorms. It’s a real closure, not a suggestion.

May through October is the main hiking window. June through August sees afternoon thunderstorms that can arrive quickly. Start early to finish before noon if possible.

The Early Morning Advantage

Sunrise Point faces east. The first light of morning hits the hoodoos directly, turning the limestone a deep orange-red before it fades to the standard pink. This happens fast: 20 to 30 minutes of the best color before it bleaches out in the full morning sun.

Getting on trail at 6:30 a.m. in summer also means you’re ahead of the crowds. By 9 a.m., this trail gets busy. By 11 a.m. on a summer weekend, the parking lots at Sunset and Sunrise Points fill and the park redirects visitors to shuttles.

For photographers, the morning light from the rim at Sunrise Point before the hike is worth the early alarm. Walk to the rim edge at first light. Take the photos. Then start the descent.

The direct recommendation: do this loop clockwise, starting at Sunset Point, on a weekday morning in late May or early September. The crowds are manageable, the clay is dry, and you’ll hit the canyon floor when the light is at its best through the hoodoo spires.

Frequently Asked Questions