Back

The prettiest, most colorful canyon that's not a canyon in Southern Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park is a forest of colorful limestone—a truly bewitching place full of orange slot canyons and red arches and of course the famous multicolored spires called hoodoos. But it's not a "real" canyon because it's not formed by flowing water. No, it's all thanks to frost-wedging and rainwater. Water seeps into fractures then freezes and expands at night; then rainwater dissolves the limestone all in creation of the beautiful backdrop you see today.

Nowhere else in the world can you find such an abundance of these craggy creature-like formations. Sounds unbelievable but when you take a healthcare job in Utah just head south and you'll get to see it for yourself.

Take the guided rim hike around Bryce Canyon Amphitheater where you'll hear stories smattered with geology and wildlife. Then there's the Under the Rim trail for the more experienced hiker. It takes you on a 23-mile overnight backpacking trek to the stunning Rainbow Point.

All year-round you can accompany one of the park's "Dark Rangers" for a 1-2 mile moonlit hike. And there's even an astronomy program where they teach you all about the unparalleled night sky far from any light pollution.

Almost all of Bryce Canyon's roads and trails stay open during winter. All trails are BYOSS (bring your own snow shoes) though. You can go solo or with a park ranger but either way you get to experience an orb-stretching blue horizon and endless views of snow-stained red rock.