Horseback Riding into Bryce Canyon

The Bryce Canyon Half Marathon was over by 9:00am, and that day Jordan and I didn’t feel like hiking. After a delicious breakfast at our lodge Ruby’s Inn, we opted for the next best thing, horseback riding! We both love horses and my parents do too, so we thought a ride through the canyon would be a great way for all of us to see the sights. My mom made reservations with Canyon Rides. They have a stable right at the Lodge in Bryce Canyon. I would **HIGHLY** recommend booking a ride with these guys. They were phenomenal.

Since I have a few years of riding experience (I rode Western from age 6-14!) and they put me on a feisty horse named Rooster. Apparently the only horse he liked was Jordan’s horse Spur, so the put me at the end of the line.

Even though he was spunky, Rooster was a great horse.

The ride began at the stable right near the rim of Bryce Canyon. We got on our horses and rode down into the Canyon. These rides may not be for those with fear of heights! The horses love to walk right on the edge of the trail, which sometimes included a steep drop off.

They don’t allow any backpacks on the ride, however, if you have a Camelbak or hydration pack they do allow it. Jordan and I both had our hydration packs on because we needed to rehydrate after the race. Three hours on horseback in the hot Utah sun would not have been a good time to get dehydrated.

It was a beautiful day and such a fantastic way to see all the amazing hoodoos in Bryce. The ride took us all through the Canyon. It was a three hour ride that rode the Navajo loop (also a hiking trail), as well as the Peek-a-boo loop.

I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves.

The views were jaw-dropping. We also covered way more ground than we would have have hiking, since we had run a half that morning. It was so worth the $$. I loved every minute of it.

After dinner and relaxing a bit, we decided to spend the evening driving around the National Park. We stopped at most of the turn offs on the main road, including Natural Bridge.

Pretty awesome!

For sunset, we stopped at Rainbow Point, the highest point in Bryce Canyon National Park. From here, we could see Aquarius Plateau, Bryce Amphitheater, the Henry Mountains, the Vermilion Cliffs and the White Cliffs.

It was just incredible to see yet another amazing sunset here. Bryce Canyon will go down as being one of my favorite places. I need to come back to do some actual hiking here. Utah is pretty amazing.