Bryce Canyon (Rim Run)

Andrea running the rim trail in Bryce Canyon National Park

Southern Utah Summer Vacation

Part 6 of 7 - Bryce Canyon (Rim Run)

[Table of Contents for the entire trip]

The rim trail at Bryce Canyon National Park is probably one of the most spectacular stretches in the entire world. Like all national parks, the trail is close to the parking areas and therefore gets a bit crowded.... later in the day. If you aren't a lazy bones jones and wake up at a reasonable hour, you pretty much have the whole thing to yourself.

On July 4th, Andrea and I started at Sunrise Point a little after daybreak and ran to Bryce Point along the rim of the park (then back). Its a challenging run (lots of steep ups and down) but the views are worth every step. We went very slow, partly because we were tired from the previous four days, but also because the views are SPECTACULAR and you want to stop and check them out every few seconds. 

During the entire run I just kept thinking "wow, this is really where I am running right now, this is real." It almost looks too good to be real... check out these photos and try and tell us you don't want to get our and go for a run right now...

Andrea took this photo of me - one of my favorite photos ever. It doesn't get much better than this!

Its not often that I want to stop during a run, but on this route, you have to stop and soak it in.

Taking in the views from Bryce Point

Smoke from the fires to the east

Can you spot me? (Hint - on the ridge to the left, in ViziPRO orange as always)

The entire rim trail is 5.5 miles (one way) from Fairyland Point to Bryce Point. We started in the middle (Sunrise Point) and ran out to Bryce Point and back. I then continued on to Fairyland Point and ran back to our hotel from there on the XC ski trails.

Here's a few shots of what the trail near Fairyland Point looks like (taken the day before)...