Distance: 1.4-mile (2.2 km) loop
Hiking time: About 1.5 hours
Best season: April–October
Difficulty: Moderate
Topo maps: USGS Bryce Point; Trails Illustrated Bryce Canyon National Park
Finding the trailhead: The trail departs from a signpost at the central overlook point at Sunset Point.
Trailhead GPS: 37.623706, -112.167749
The Hike
This popular trail makes a short 1- to 2-hour loop from the rim at Sunset Point down to the floor of Bryce Canyon. The trail visits favorite hoodoo formations such as Wall Street, Twin Bridges, and Thor’s Hammer.
From Sunset Point the trail immediately descends along a paved path with safety railings along the edges. After about 100 feet the railing ends and the path splits, with two trails heading off to the right (south) and one trail heading off to the left (east). The left-hand path is the eastern leg of the Navajo Loop. The two right-hand paths consist of an upper and a lower trail.
The upper trail is a short spur to a window looking through a hoodoo wall down into the west portion of Bryce Canyon.
The lower trail is the first leg of the Navajo Loop; it begins a rapid descent along a series of long and short switchbacks down to the canyon floor. At the bottom of the switchbacks, the trail straightens out and makes a gradual descent through Wall Street, where two towering Douglas firs have been growing in the depths of the rift for more than 750 years. Eventually hikers gain enjoyable views of large hoodoo formations flanking both sides of the path. One such formation, Twin Bridges, is located on the right side of the trail about a mile into the hike. Beyond Twin Bridges the path ascends a series of switchbacks to return to the rim. Look for Thor’s Hammer to the north along this final section of trail.
The Navajo Loop is often combined with Queens Garden into one of the best 3-mile hikes anywhere.
