American Parks II · Farstep pack

Bryce Canyon · Sunset Point in 3D

The amphitheatre of hoodoos

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA

Bryce Canyon is not a canyon but a row of amphitheatres in the edge of a plateau, filled with hoodoos: spires of limestone and siltstone laid down in lakes 40 to 55 million years ago. On about 200 days a year the temperature swings across freezing, and ice wedges the rock apart. This walk stands at Sunset Point.

Where: Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA
Rock: The Claron Formation, 40 to 55 million years old
Freeze and thaw: About 200 days a year
Shape: A row of amphitheatres, not a canyon

Official site

Walk Bryce Canyon · Sunset Point in 3D

A real-time 3D model, built from open elevation data and published measurements. Loads 2.3 MB when you start.

Bryce Canyon · Sunset Point

Walk it yourself. Works on this phone.

Part of the American Parks II pack: a one-time unlock in this browser.

Terrain from open elevation data · a 3D reconstruction, not a photograph · tags as in the app

What you'll find in the walk

Gold markers in the scene open these cards.

Hoodoos
Known
The spires are carved from the Claron Formation, limestone and siltstone laid down in lakes some 40 to 55 million years ago. Iron and manganese give the oranges, pinks and whites.
Frost and rain
Known
On roughly 200 days a year the temperature here swings across freezing. Ice wedges the rock apart, and rain rounds off what is left. Bryce is not a canyon but a row of amphitheatres in the edge of a plateau.
A place to lose a cow
Folklore
Ebenezer Bryce, who settled below the rim in the 1870s, is remembered for calling it "a hell of a place to lose a cow".