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Bryce Canyon History

Long ago, at the end of the Ice Age, the Paleo-indians hunted among the magnificent fins and hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. Puzzle pieces of ancient artifacts have been gathered leading scientists to believe that the Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) Indians lived in the Bryce Canyon vicinity over 2000 years ago. It is thought that they entered the area to harvest pine nuts and hunt rabbits, but the environment there was harsh and other places offered a better life. The next inhabitants were the Fremont Indians who stayed until the 1200s. More recently, it was the Paiute Indians that lived and hunted around Bryce Canyon. John Wesley Powell reported the names that the Paiute Indians had given to many of the rock structures in Bryce Canyon. In the 1870's, it was the Mormon pioneers that settled near Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon was established as a National Park in 1928 and named after Ebenezer Bryce, an early Mormon settler, who homesteaded in Bryce in the mid 1870's. In about 1880 Ebenezer and family left the Bryce Canyon area, moved to the Gila River Valley in Arizona and established the town of Bryce.  Ebenezer died the 26th of September, 1913 and is buried in the Bryce Cemetery.

Bryce Canyon was once covered by seas, mountains, deserts and costal plains

Long ago, the rocky area of of Bryce Canyon was once covered by sea, mountains, desert and coastal plains. The existing geological formations were all subject to the violent storms and changes that occurred over millions of years.

What's a Hoodoo?

A Paiute Indian myth says "the animal legend people who lived in Bryce Canyon long ago, displeased the coyote. Angered, he turned all the people to rock." Today, while visiting Bryce Canyon think of the legend when looking down into the amphitheaters and imagine the ancient people with their straight posture, in the form of hoodoos. The name Bryce Canyon in Paiute means:"bowl shaped canyon filled with red rocks standing up like men."

Directions to Bryce Canyon From Salt Lake City: Travel south on Interstate 15 past Beaver to UT 20. Exit on UT 20. Turn south on UT 89 and travel past Panguitch. Follow UT 89 to UT 12. Travel along UT 12 through Red Canyon to Bryce Canyon. Turn south on UT 63 to enter the park. From Las Vegas: Travel Interstate 15 past St. George to Exit 16. Drive through Hurricane, Utah. Follow Utah Highway 9 through Hurricane and to the only stop light in LaVerkin. Turn right at the stop light. Continue on Highway 9 to the south entrance of Zion National Park. Drive through Zion to the junction of UT 9 and US 89 at Mt. Carmel Jct. Turn north on UT 89, then exit on UT 12. Follow UT 12 through Red Canyon, turning south on UT 63 to enter Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon Road Map - Bryce Canyon Trail Map			The history of Bryce Canyon is capture among the abundant red sculptured hoodoos and the vast and differentia geological structures of the now, Utah National Park. The park has a rich history, but it's the geology that remains true to its very being.
	Lodging and services are available on the gorgeous east side of Zion National Park, where guests are close to Zion National Park (12 miles), Bryce Canyon National Park (60 miles), Cedar Breaks National Monument (45 miles), Coral Pink Sand Dunes (12 miles), and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (85 miles). It's where city traffic is absent and the skies are bright and clean.

Geological History of Bryce Canyon - Bryce Canyon's geological history is intriguing, as the current display of rock would suggest. Bryce Canyon will cast it's spell on humankind with the magnificence of hoodoo temples, twisted rock spires and hat capped domes. An incredible geological story is told as wide flat rocks, called fins, are molded into windows. The windows collapse and form the multitudes of hoodoos that make up the fourteen amphitheaters of Bryce.

Bryce Canyon is not really a Canyon - Do not let the name of this Southwestern Utah park fool you. Bryce Canyon is not really a Canyon at all. Instead it is a series of breaks in fourteen enormous amphitheaters that extend down one thousand feet and span twenty miles long, encompassing 36,000 acres. Bryce Canyon is the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, a high section of the Colorado Plateau. The tall, elegant limestone formations in Bryce Canyon literally crowd together to form magnificent castle-like scenes. Red Canyon, located in a section of Dixie National Forest, is 9-miles northwest of the entrance to Bryce Canyon. The hoodoos of Red Canyon are similar, but smaller and less detailed than those of Bryce Canyon. map

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Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah