When I was first planning my trip to the American Southwest, I had visions of warm, sunny weather and perfect hiking conditions. It’s the same way I plan all of my trips. The thought of rain and cold weather hadn’t even crossed my mind. This is especially evident if you look at the jam packed itinerary I planned. There was no room for do-overs if the weather didn’t cooperate, so my mom and I would have to make the best of whatever we were given. Unfortunately we got to experience Bryce Canyon in the rain, fog, and cold.
For the most part, we had perfect weather for the entire trip. Temperatures were mild, the sun was out, and we hardly saw any rain. That was until we got to Bryce Canyon. I spent the week leading up to our visit to Bryce Canyon watching the weather forecast and hoping for a change. It never did.
The night before, my mom and I sat in our hotel in Bryce Canyon City and looked at the weather forecast for the next day. The forecast showed rain at Bryce Canyon for nearly the entire day, but we noticed that it wasn’t predicted to start until 9:00am. Luckily, my mom and I are both early risers, so getting up early to try to beat the rain at Bryce Canyon was no big deal.
The Morning Begins
We got up early, ate breakfast, checked out of our hotel, and headed straight to Bryce Canyon National Park. By 7:30, shortly after sunrise, we were in the parking lot for the amphitheater. If you were to visit on a day with better weather, I can imagine that this parking lot gets very full. But with the early hour and the not so ideal weather, getting here and find a parking spot was a breeze. We walked right up, passing very few people along the way. Only a handful of people had gotten here earlier than us. I’m guessing they wanted to see the sunrise, but given the intense cloud cover today, there wouldn’t have been much to see.
Even without warm colors of sunrise, there still was beautiful scenery. There’s a reason that Bryce Canyon is one of the most visited national parks in the United States. The landscape is just so unique.
We took our time walking along the canyon rim between Sunrise Point and Sunset Point. There’s several viewpoints along the path that allow you to see inside the canyon. You’ll see be able to the iconic hoodoos from a few angles. It is unlike anything else I’d ever seen. And, most importantly, it was still dry at this point.
Our Original Plan Goes Out the Window
Our original plan for the day was to hike the Queen’s Garden/Navajo Loop trail. Even though I was really looking forward to this trail, we made the decision to skip it. I was really bummed about this, and still am even after the trip. However, I know it was the right decision.
Neither my mom nor I are big hikers. Yes, we’d been hiking in national parks across the southwest for the past week, but that doesn’t mean we are hardcore hikers. At that point in time, we were kind of wimps. The idea of hiking down, through, and back up and out of Bryce Canyon in the rain would have been a recipe for disaster. I know that one day I’ll go back to do this hike. But I think it’s important to know when to cut your losses. If you’re going to be miserable the entire time, is it really worth it?
Our New Plan – Bryce Canyon’s Scenic Drive
Instead, we focused our time on driving the scenic drive. The rain at Bryce Canyon hadn’t started yet. We decided that the best way to salvage the day would be to try to see as much of the park as we could from the scenic viewpoints before the rain started. Once the rain started, we’d be forced to admit defeat and give up on exploring Bryce Canyon. Our goal was to make it as far back into the park as possible. We said we would only stop at lookouts that looked amazing. Our favorite was the lookout over Natural Bridge.
Now here’s the thing. We had been road tripping around the southwest for a week at this point and we had done numerous scenic drives. There were stunning views along the eastern side of the Grand Canyon and all over Capitol Reef and even more. After driving along the Bryce Canyon Scenic Drive, there was no debate. This was our least favorite scenic drive of the entire trip. The scenic drive weaves you through forest along the rim of the canyon. It sounds great, but you can’t actually see the canyon from the road, so your views mostly consist of the forest.
That’s not to say it wasn’t nice. There is some beauty, but it’s just not the same. It just didn’t have the same jaw dropping beauty that so many other scenic drives had. It’s also important to note that halfway into this drive, my mom and I noticed something.
This scenic drive reminded us of a state park near our home. I drove through that particular state park multiple times a week for several summers while working in a concession stand in the park.
Any scenic drive that reminds you of your first job where you worked for scooping ice cream for tourists is not going to be as enjoyable as something that offers jaw dropping views of something you could never find at home.
We had just made it to the very end of the scenic drive when the rain at Bryce Canyon started. In a strange way it was a relief. Had the rain held off any longer, I would have been kicking myself for not powering through and doing the hike I really wanted to do. It had been less than an hour since we left the trailhead and started the scenic drive. There was no way we would have made it through the trail without getting soaked. It just confirmed that we made the right decision to skip the hike.
After a quick celebration of our good decision, we took some pictures at the end of scenic drive and stared working our way back to the visitor center. We stopped at every view point, just long enough to jump out of the car, take a few pictures, before running back to the warmth and dryness of our car. Did I mention that not only was it raining, but the temperatures were in the low 40s? Visiting Bryce Canyon in the rain, fog, and cold temperatures are just not ideal.
We Need a “New” New Plan
By 10:30 we were back in the visitor center. At this point, we knew we needed to come up with a new plan. A day of hiking and exploring was just not really possible in this weather. We checked the forecast again, just in case, but nothing had changed. There was still a prediction of heavy rain at Bryce Canyon . Oh, and plenty of cold temperatures and wind.
So we got on our phones and to develop Plan B (technically Plan C at this point).
After a little looking online, I found a coffee shop that was not too far away. We deserved a break after the long week of driving, hiking, and just being constantly on the go. So we jumped in the car and drove 20 minutes down the road to Bryce Canyon Coffee Company in the town of Tropic. What better way to brighten your day than some hot chocolate, a homemade dessert, a good book, and shelter from the rain at Bryce Canyon.
By 1:00, it was raining even harder. More and more people were coming into the coffee shop to try to escape the weather outside. It would have been nice to stay longer, but the coffee shop was very small. It was time to move on and let other people take shelter from the rain.
We had another hour drive ahead of us to our next hotel, so we hit the road and crossed our fingers that even if we were early, they would have a room ready for us. Thankfully, our room was ready and the hotel was very understanding about our early check in. We weren’t the only people here early because we got rained out of a national park. At least we had a car, unlike the soaking wet motorcycles in the parking lot.
We grabbed some sandwiches from the Subway across the street before making ourselves comfy in our nice warm and dry room. We knew we weren’t going to venture outside again.
Thoughts On Our Day
Once the rain started that day, it hardly let up. There was one brief thirty minute break in the late afternoon when the rain stopped and the sun shone through the clouds. My mom and I stared outside and wondered if we should try to find something to do. In the end, we decided that it was ok to just take an afternoon and relax. That turned out to be another good decision, because not even thirty minutes after we first saw the sun, it was back to the torrential downpour.
This was not the day I had imagined when I was first planning this trip. I only thought about how cool it was going to be hiking inside the canyon and seeing the hoodoos and all of the other amazing rock formations up close. But things don’t always go according to plan and you have to be able to go with the flow. The spontaneous lazy afternoon ended up being a perfect way to recharge before our last, very packed, full day of this epic road trip.
Being naturally early risers really helped and I’m thankful we got to see some of Bryce Canyon. That said, I look forward to exploring the park with the sun shining. Then I’ll actually get down into that canyon.
2024 Update – I did make it back to Bryce Canyon on a long weekend trip to southern Utah. The good news is that there was no fog, the bad news is there was a solid 3-4 inches of fresh snow. So while it may not have been the hike I was envisioning, I did make it down into Bryce Canyon.
Advice for Your Rainy Day at Bryce Canyon
So, if it looks like you’re in for a rainy day at Bryce Canyon, here’s what to do:
First, check the weather and find out exactly when the rain at Bryce Canyon will start. If there’s any window where there won’t be rain at Bryce Canyon, be prepared so you can take full advantage of it. For us, that meant we had to get as much exploring done before 9:00 am.
Second, do your research ahead of time. We found Bryce Canyon Coffee Company in Tropic, but there are several other options for rainy days at Bryce Canyon if you’re willing to do some research. If all else fails, take advantage of a Bryce Canyon rainy day and relax and recharge.
Finally, prepare yourself and accept that you might not be able to do everything you wanted. As I said earlier, if you’re going to be wet and miserable while hiking uphill out of Bryce Canyon, do you really wan to do it? Know your limits and realize it’s ok to say no.
Continue Your Adventure
Bryce Canyon: Are you traveling when the weather is not foggy and rainy? Learn how to spend one day at Bryce Canyon National Park.
Utah: Along with Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion National Parks make up Utah’s Mighty Five.
Utah Travel Guide: Start planning your trip to Utah, including Utah’s Mighty Five, with my Utah Travel Guide.
American Southwest Itineraries: For an epic road trip, featuring all of Utah’s National Parks plus the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, check out this 10 Day Itinerary. If you don’t have ten days, spend a long weekend at Zion and Bryce Canyon.
More Like This: For more epic canyons, try Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park, or West Virginia’s New River Gorge National Park.
I love your positive attitude! And you are correct, we did need a lazy day by that point!