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Bryce Canyon National Park

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        Bryce Canyon National Park
   IUCN Category II ( National Park)
   Bryce Canyon National Park
   Location:       Utah, USA
   Nearest city:   Tropic, UT
   Coordinates:    37°34′0″N, 112°11′0″W
   Area:           35,835 acres (145 km²)
   Established:    September 15, 1928
   Visitation:     1,017,681 (in 2005)
   Governing body: National Park Service
   Bryce Canyon National Park
   Enlarge
   Bryce Canyon National Park
   Winter at Bryce
   Enlarge
   Winter at Bryce

   Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern
   Utah in the United States. Contained within the park is Bryce Canyon.
   Despite its name, this is not actually a canyon, but rather a giant
   natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the
   Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to its unique geological
   structures, called hoodoos, formed from wind, water, and ice erosion of
   the river and lakebed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange and white
   colors of the rocks provide spectacular views.

   Bryce is at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park and
   the Grand Canyon. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet
   (2400 to 2700 m), whereas the south rim of the Grand Canyon sits at
   7,000 feet (2100 m) above sea level. The area therefore has a very
   different ecology and climate, and thus offers a contrast for visitors
   to the region (who often visit all three parks in a single vacation).

   The canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was
   named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1875. The
   area around Bryce Canyon became a United States national monument in
   1924 and was designated as a national park in 1928. The park covers 56
   mi² (145 km²). The park receives relatively few visitors compared to
   Zion Canyon and the Grand Canyon, largely due to its remote location.
   The town of Kanab, Utah is situated at a central point between these
   three parks.

   The national park also lends its name to Bryce, the 3D modeling
   software which specialises in rendering this kind of rugged landscape.

Geography

   Bryce Canyon, seen here from Bryce Point, is a giant natural
   amphitheater. Ebenezer Bryce, the "discoverer" of the canyon is said to
   have described it as "a helluva place to lose a cow.".
   Enlarge
   Bryce Canyon, seen here from Bryce Point, is a giant natural
   amphitheater. Ebenezer Bryce, the "discoverer" of the canyon is said to
   have described it as "a helluva place to lose a cow.".
   Bryce Canyon follows a meandering course, oriented roughly north-south.
   Enlarge
   Bryce Canyon follows a meandering course, oriented roughly north-south.

   Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southern Utah about 50 miles
   (80 km) northeast and 1000 feet (300 m) higher than Zion National Park.
   The weather in Bryce Canyon is therefore cooler and the park receives
   more precipitation. A nearby example very similar to Bryce Canyon but
   at a higher elevation is in Cedar Breaks National Monument.

   The national park lies within the Colorado Plateau geographic province
   of North America and straddles the southeastern edge of the Paunsagunt
   Plateau west of the Paunsagunt Fault (Paunsagunt is Paiute for "home of
   the beaver"). Park visitors arrive from the plateau part of the park
   and look over the plateau's edge toward a valley containing the fault
   and the Paria River just beyond it (Paria is Paiute for "muddy or elk
   water"). The edge of the Kaiparowitz Plateau bounds the opposite side
   of the valley.

   Bryce Canyon was not formed from erosion initiated from a central
   stream, meaning it technically is not a canyon. Instead headward
   erosion has excavated large amphitheater-shaped features in the
   Cenozoic-aged rocks of the Paunsagunt Plateau. This erosion exposed
   delicate and colorful pinnacles called hoodoos that are up to 200 feet
   (60 m) high. A series of amphitheaters extend more than 20 miles (30
   km) within the park. The largest is Bryce Amphitheater, which is 12
   miles long (19 km), 3 miles wide (5 km) and 800 feet deep (240 m).

   The highest part of the park at 9,105 feet (2,775 m), Rainbow Point, is
   at the end of this scenic drive. From there Aquarius Plateau, Bryce
   Amphitheater, Henry Mountains, the Vermilion Cliffs, and the White
   Cliffs can be seen. Cope Canyon, where it exits the park in the
   north-east section is the lowest part of the park at 6,600 feet (2,011
   m).

Human history

Native American habitation

   Petroglyphs in Bryce Canyon indicate the presence of people in the area
   several thousand years ago, but little is known about them.
   Enlarge
   Petroglyphs in Bryce Canyon indicate the presence of people in the area
   several thousand years ago, but little is known about them.

   Little is known about early human habitation in the Bryce Canyon area.
   Archaeological surveys of Bryce Canyon National Park and the
   Paunsaugunt Plateau show that people have been in the area for at least
   10,000 years. Several-thousand-year-old Basketmaker-period Anasazi
   artifacts have been found south of the park. Other artifacts from the
   Pueblo-period Anasazi and the Fremont culture (up to the mid-12th
   century) have also been found.

   The Paiute Indians moved into the surrounding valleys and plateaus in
   the area around the same time that the other cultures left. These
   Native Americans hunted and gathered for most of their food but also
   supplemented their diet with some cultivated products. The Paiute in
   the area developed a mythology surrounding the hoodoos (pinnacles) in
   Bryce Canyon. They believed that hoodoos were the Legend People whom
   the trickster Coyote turned to stone. At least one older Paiute said
   his culture called the hoodoos Anka-ku-wass-a-wits, which is Paiute for
   "red painted faces".

White exploration and settlement

   It was not until the late 18th and the early 19th century that the
   first Caucasians explored the remote and hard to reach area. Mormon
   scouts visited the area in the 1850s to gauge its potential for
   agricultural development, use for grazing, and settlement.

   The first major scientific expedition to the area was led by U.S. Army
   Major John Wesley Powell in 1872. Powell, along with a team of
   mapmakers and geologists, surveyed the Sevier and Virgin River area as
   part of a larger survey of the Colorado Plateaus. His mapmakers kept
   many of the Paiute place names.
   Ebenezer Bryce and his family lived in Bryce Canyon, in this cabin,
   here photographed circa 1881.
   Enlarge
   Ebenezer Bryce and his family lived in Bryce Canyon, in this cabin,
   here photographed circa 1881.

   Small groups of Mormon pioneers followed and attempted to settle east
   of Bryce Canyon along the Paria River. In 1873 the Kanarra Cattle
   Company started to use the area for cattle grazing.

   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent Scottish immigrant
   Ebenezer Bryce and his wife Mary to settle land in the Paria Valley
   because they thought Ebenezer's carpentry skills would be useful in the
   area. The Bryce family chose to live right below Bryce Canyon
   Amphitheater. Bryce grazed his cattle inside what are now park borders
   and reputedly thought that the amphitheaters were a "helluva place to
   lose a cow." He also built a road to the plateau to retrieve firewood
   and timber and a canal to irrigate his crops and water his animals.
   Other settlers soon started to call the unusual place "Bryce's canyon",
   which was later formalized into Bryce Canyon.

   A combination of drought, overgrazing, and flooding eventually drove
   the remaining Paiutes from the area and prompted the settlers to
   attempt construction of a water diversion channel from the Sevier River
   drainage. When that effort failed most of the settlers, including the
   Bryce family, left the area. Bryce moved his family to Arizona in 1880.
   The remaining settlers did manage to dig a 10 mile (16 km) long ditch
   from the Sevier's east fork into Tropic Valley.

Creation of the park

   Bryce Amphitheater and the nearby forest form a spectacular view.
   Enlarge
   Bryce Amphitheater and the nearby forest form a spectacular view.

   People like Forest Supervisor J.W. Humphrey promoted the scenic wonders
   of Bryce Canyon's amphitheaters, and by 1918 nationally distributed
   articles also helped to spark interest. However, poor access to the
   remote area and the lack of accommodations kept visitation to a bare
   minimum.

   Ruby Syrett, Harold Bowman, and the Perry brothers later built modest
   lodging and set up "touring services" in the area. Syrett later served
   as the first postmaster of Bryce Canyon. Visitation steadily increased,
   and by the early 1920s the Union Pacific Railroad became interested in
   expanding rail service into southwestern Utah to accommodate more
   tourists.

   At the same time, conservationists became alarmed by the damage
   overgrazing and logging on the plateau along with unregulated
   visitation were having on the fragile features of Bryce Canyon. A
   movement to have the area protected was soon started, and National Park
   Service Director Stephen Mather responded by proposing that Bryce
   Canyon be made into a state park. The governor of Utah and the Utah
   Legislature, however, lobbied for national protection of the area.
   Mather relented and sent his recommendation to President Warren G.
   Harding, who on June 8, 1923, declared Bryce Canyon National Monument
   into existence.
   Bryce Canyon Lodge was built between 1924 and 1925 from local
   materials.
   Enlarge
   Bryce Canyon Lodge was built between 1924 and 1925 from local
   materials.

   A road was built the same year on the plateau to provide easy access to
   outlooks over the amphitheaters. From 1924 to 1925, Bryce Canyon Lodge
   was built from local timber and stone.

   In 1924, members of U.S. Congress decided to start work on upgrading
   Bryce Canyon's protection status from a U.S. National Monument to a
   National Park to establish Utah National Park. A process of
   transferring ownership of private and state-held land in the monument
   to the federal government started, the Utah Parks Company negotiating
   much of the transfer. The last of the land in the proposed park's
   borders was sold to the federal government four years later, and on
   February 25, 1928, the renamed Bryce Canyon National Park was
   established.
   In 1928 the canyon became a National Park. It now has this visitors'
   center.
   Enlarge
   In 1928 the canyon became a National Park. It now has this visitors'
   centre.

   In 1931, President Herbert Hoover annexed an adjoining area south of
   the park, and in 1942 an additional 635 acres (2.57 km²) was added.
   This brought the park's total area to the current figure of 35,835
   acres (145.02 km²). Rim Road, the scenic drive that is still used
   today, was completed in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
   Administration of the park was conducted from neighboring Zion Canyon
   National Park until 1956, when Bryce Canyon's first superintendent
   started work.

More recent history

   The USS Bryce Canyon was named for the park and served as a supply and
   repair ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet from March 7, 1947, to June 30,
   1981. She was the only ship in the United States Navy to be decorated
   with the Gold E, having won five consecutive efficiency awards.

   Bryce Canyon Natural History Association (BCNHA) was established in
   1961. It runs the bookstore inside the park visitor centre and is a
   non-profit organization created to aid the interpretive, educational
   and scientific activities of the National Park Service, at Bryce Canyon
   National Park. A portion of the profits from all bookstore sales are
   donated to public land units. Since BCNHA's inception in 1961,
   donations have exceeded $3.5 million.

   Responding to increased visitation and traffic congestion, the National
   Park Service implemented a voluntary, summer-only, in-park shuttle
   system in June 2000. In 2004, reconstruction began on the aging and
   inadequate road system in the park.

Geology

   Erosion of sedimentary rocks has created natural arches, as well as
   hoodoos and other features.
   Enlarge
   Erosion of sedimentary rocks has created natural arches, as well as
   hoodoos and other features.

   The Bryce Canyon area shows a record of deposition that spans from the
   last part of the Cretaceous period and the first half of the Cenozoic
   era. The ancient depositional environment of region around what is now
   the park varied:
     * The Dakota Sandstone and the Tropic Shale were deposited in the
       warm, shallow waters of the advancing and retreating Cretaceous
       Seaway (outcrops of these rocks are found just outside park
       borders).
     * The colorful Claron Formation that the park's delicate hoodoos are
       carved from was laid down as sediments in a system of cool streams
       and lakes that existed from 63 to about 40 million years ago (from
       the Paleocene to the Eocene epochs). Different sediment types were
       laid down as the lakes deepened and became shallow and as the
       shoreline and river deltas migrated.

   Several other formations were also created but were mostly eroded away
   following two major periods of uplift:
     * The Laramide orogeny affected the entire western part of what would
       become North America starting about 70 million years ago and
       lasting for many millions of years after. This event helped to
       build the ancestral Rocky Mountains and in the process closed the
       Cretaceous Seaway. The Straight Cliffs, Wahweap, and Kaiparowits
       formations were victims of this uplift.
     * The Colorado Plateaus were uplifted 10 to 15 million years ago and
       were segmented into different plateaus — each separated from its
       neighbors by faults and each having its own uplift rate. The Boat
       Mesa Conglomerate and the Sevier River Formation were removed
       following this uplift.

   Hoodoos can form strange shapes due to random fluctuations in erosion
   patterns and variations between the rock strata.
   Enlarge
   Hoodoos can form strange shapes due to random fluctuations in erosion
   patterns and variations between the rock strata.

   Vertical joints were created by this uplift, which were eventually (and
   still are) preferentially eroded. The easily eroded Pink Cliffs of the
   Claron Formation respond by forming freestanding pinnacles in badlands
   called hoodoos, while the more resistant White Cliffs formed monoliths.
   The pink colour is from iron oxide and manganese. Also created were
   arches, natural bridges, walls, and windows. Hoodoos are composed of
   soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily
   eroded stone that protects the column from the elements. Bryce Canyon
   has one of the highest concentrations of hoodoos of any place on Earth.

   The formations exposed in the area of the park are part of the Grand
   Staircase. The oldest members of this supersequence of rock units are
   exposed in the Grand Canyon, the intermediate ones in Zion National
   Park, and its youngest parts are laid bare in Bryce Canyon area. A
   small amount of overlap occurs in and around each park.

Biology

   Mule Deer are the most common large animals found in the park.
   Enlarge
   Mule Deer are the most common large animals found in the park.

   The forests and meadows of Bryce Canyon provide the habitat to support
   diverse animal life, from birds and small mammals to foxes and
   occasional bobcats, mountain lions, and black bears. Mule deer are the
   most common large mammals in the park. Elk and pronghorn antelope,
   which have been reintroduced nearby, sometimes venture into the park.
   More than 160 species of birds visit the park each year, including
   swifts and swallows.

   Most bird species migrate to warmer regions in winter, but jays,
   ravens, nuthatches, eagles, and owls stay. In winter, the mule deer,
   mountain lion, and coyotes will migrate to lower elevations. Ground
   squirrels and marmots pass the winter in hibernation.

   There are three life zones in the park based on elevation:
     * The lowest areas of the park are dominated by dwarf forests of
       pinyon pine and juniper with manzanita, serviceberry, and antelope
       bitterbrush in between. Aspen cottonwoods, Water birch, and willow
       grow in along streams.
     * Ponderosa Pine forests cover the mid-elevations with Blue Spruce
       and Douglas-fir in water-rich areas and manzanita and bitterbrush
       as underbrush.
     * Douglas-fir and White Fir along with Aspen and Engelmann Spruce
       make up the forests on the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The harshest areas
       have Limber Pine and ancient Great Basin Bristlecone Pine holding
       on.

   Bryce Canyon has extensive fir forests.
   Enlarge
   Bryce Canyon has extensive fir forests.

   Also in the park are the black, lumpy, very slow-growing colonies of
   cryptobiotic soil, which are a mix of lichens, algae, fungi, and
   cyanobacteria. Together these organisms slow erosion, add nitrogen to
   soil and help it to retain moisture.

   While humans have greatly reduced the amount of habitat that is
   available to wildlife in most parts of the United States, the relative
   scarcity of water in southern Utah restricts human development and
   helps account for the region's greatly enhanced diversity of wildlife.

Activities

   Most park visitors sightsee using the 18 mile (29 km) scenic drive,
   which provides access to 13 viewpoints over the amphitheaters.

   Bryce Canyon has eight marked and maintained hiking trails that can be
   hiked in less than a day (round trip time, trailhead):
   There are marked trails for hiking, for which snowshoes are required in
   winter.
   Enlarge
   There are marked trails for hiking, for which snowshoes are required in
   winter.
     * Mossy Cave (one hour, Utah State Route 12 northwest of Tropic), Rim
       Trail (5–6 hours, anywhere on rim), Bristlecone Loop (one hour,
       Rainbow Point), and Queens Garden (1–2 hours, Sunrise Point) are
       easy to moderate hikes.
     * Navajo Loop (1–2 hours, Sunset Point) and Tower Bridge (2–3 hours,
       north of Sunrise Point) are moderate hikes.
     * Fairyland Loop (4–5 hours, Fairyland Point) and Peekaboo Loop (3–4
       hours, Bryce Point) are strenuous hikes.

   Several of these trails intersect, allowing hikers to combine routes
   for more challenging hikes.

   The park also has two trails designated for overnight hiking; the 9
   mile (14 km) long Riggs Loop Trail and the 23-mile-long (37 km) Under
   the Rim Trail. Both require a backcountry camping permit. In total
   there are 50 miles (80 km) of trails in the park.
   Horse riding is available in the park from April through October.
   Enlarge
   Horse riding is available in the park from April through October.

   More than 10 miles (16 km) of marked but ungroomed skiing trails are
   available off of Fairyland, Paria, and Rim trails in the park. Twenty
   miles of connecting groomed ski trails are in nearby Dixie National
   Forest and Ruby's Inn.

   The air in the area is so clear that on most days from Yovimpa and
   Rainbow points, Navajo Mountain and the Kaibab Plateau can be seen 90
   miles (140 km) away in Arizona. On a really clear day the Black Mesas
   of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico can be seen some 200 miles
   (320 km) away. The park also has a 7.3 magnitude night sky, making it
   the one of the darkest in North America. Stargazers can therefore see
   7500 stars with the naked eye, while in most places fewer than 2000 can
   be seen due to light pollution (in many large cities only a few dozen
   can be seen). Park rangers host several public stargazing events and
   evening programs on astronomy, nocturnal animals, and night sky
   protection. The Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival, typically held in
   June, attracts thousands of visitors.

   There are two campgrounds in the park, North Campground and Sunset
   Campground. Loop A in North Campground is open year-round. Additional
   loops and Sunset Campground are open from late spring to early autumn.
   The 114 room Bryce Canyon Lodge is another way to overnight in the
   park.
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