Utah Bryce Canyon National Park map and highlights

Bryce Canyon Utah on the map. National Park Bryce Canyon (Utah) on the map of USA    

Bryce Canyon, Utah    

Established: 1928   Acreage: 35,835    

Bryce Canyon National Park is located in south-central Utah, due  north of the Grand Canyon. Paiute Indians described this region as 'Red  rocks standing like men in a bowl-shaped canyon.' The many shapes and  forms in stone have conjured up all sorts of images: walls and windows,  minarets, gables, pagodas, pedestals and temples. It is not known when  the land was first seen by white men. James Andrus and his party passed  through the area in 1866, and there is little doubt that other parties  had also seen Bryce Canyon but their reports escaped notice.    

Bryce Canyon is not a canyon at all, but a spectacular  amphitheater carved by erosion by water in the 50 to 60 million-year-old  rocks of the Pink Cliffs. These cliffs are the uppermost step in the  Grand Staircase that rises to the north between Grand Canyon and Bryce  Canyon National Parks. The staircase is a series of cliffs, all  retreating to the north as the super-imposed rock layers of southern  Utah are eroded. The capstone of the Grand Staircase is the Pink Cliffs  (9100 feet) — ancient lake deposits once more than 2000 feet thick, but  now eroded away to 800 to 1300 feet.    

The tallest cliffs among the steps of the Grand Staircase are  the White Cliffs (2200 feet), which are really tan in color but look  white in sunlight. The Vermilion Cliffs are a brilliant, dark red and  can be seen while either walking through Zion Canyon or driving along  the road to the Grand Canyon. Near the south entrance to the park are  the rocks of the Chocolate, or Belted, Cliffs. From sunrise to sunset,  the visitor is dazzled by vivid color. The reds and yellows are caused  by iron oxide in the rocks, the purples and lavenders by manganese.    

The forests and meadows of Bryce Canyon are home to a wide range  of animal .species. At the bottom of the food chain is a large rodent  population—chipmunks, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, mice, gophers and  other species—that feed on seeds and nuts. These small mammals are  preyed upon by badger, skunk, bobcat, weasel, ring-tailed cat, gray fox  and coyote.    

Mule deer are the largest species of mammals that roam Bryce  Canyon. Gone now are the large mammals that once existed here—grizzly  bear and timber wolf—and many more are rare—elk, cougar, bighorn sheep,  and blond bear. Man has wiped out their numbers, and, sadly, the park is  not large enough to offer adequate protection for these vanishing  species.   

Bryce Canyon, Utah on the map. National Park Bryce Canyon  (Utah) on the map of USA