24 May 2026 7 min read NP Tour 2025

Bryce Canyon Is Magic | The Big 2025 Parks Tour, Part 10

Trying to convey the sheer magnitude, the overwhelming mystique, and the pure magic of Bryce Canyon National Park is impossible. But I'll try...

Thanks to a lengthy stay at Sanctuary, I felt well rested, energized, and ready to swap my cozy Airbnb bed for the forest floor again. I'm not sure what compelled me to choose Bryce Canyon National Park as my next destination, but I hold absolutely zero regrets about that decision. Which is a strong statement, considering this would end up being my last stop (albeit a lengthy three day one) before heading home, and I wouldn't make it to Zion.

Throughout this somewhat impromptu and fluid road trip, I had been sending highlight emails to friends and family. There was a substantial delay in writing and sending the one about Bryce Canyon. I was disappointed with the vast majority of the photos and videos I walked away with. Not only that, but I was struggling to put the magic of that place into words.

In fact, as I write this entry more than 6 months later, I’m still dumbstruck and mostly speechless about it. Fortunately, this time around I'm armed with a companion video which might push the needle of mystique and wonder a bit further.

Please enjoy this musical companion clip!

But still, aside from perhaps a high-end 360-degree recording played back on a high-end VR headset, you simply can't experience what happens when all your sense are fully engaged while your peripheral vision is consumed by this landscape.

As an amateur photographer and nature enjoyer, Bryce Canyon National Park definitely qualifies as the most challenging I’ve ever tried to capture. Trying to convey the magnitude of it, the depth, the scale, the spectacle, is so difficult.

I honestly can’t tell you how it felt to drive up to Rainbow Point at 9300ft, see the bizarre structures and pink cliffs and red rocks from a distance high above, and then hike down into the midst of it all the next day (below).

Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park, displaying a range of colors from creams and whites to oranges and reds, catching the sunlight.

How do I explain how otherworldly and downright magical it looks when a long row of white hoodoos (above) becomes brilliantly backlit by the late afternoon soon? The glow it produces is hypnotic, and I would drive all the way back there just to see that in person, one more time. Even for only 5 minutes.

I'm not exaggerating when I say it was a spiritual experience.

How do I explain how it feels to stand in front of this natural bridge (below) that appears solid, but in reality could collapse tomorrow with the right combination of dramatic weather? This landscape is so dynamic that if you travel there tomorrow, you may not see it exactly as I saw it.

That applies to so much of this park. Especially the thousands of whimsical hoodoos you see everywhere, shaped by eons of wind and water and erosion, that seem to be balancing precariously on their foundations.

Even if I had the perfect set of photos and videos to show you, I would still insist you go see it for yourself. It’s a really special place, and I’m baffled why it has significantly fewer visitors than nearby Zion National Park.

But you know what? Perhaps that's for the best :)

Maybe I can't perfectly convey how awesome this place was, but I know two things for certain: I absolutely adore hoodoos, and I will absolutely be going back in the near future.

Epilogue

After 3 days and 2 nights basking in the wonder of Bryce Canyon, I returned home feeling a bit under the weather, but with my spirit fully recharged. It didn't take long for me to miss it. Snow Canyon State Park and Bryce Canyon ended up being the most memorable highlights for me – and neither of them had been on my original list of destinations!

When I settled back in to my routine at home, I took a stab at reviving Linux For Everyone. I tried to immerse myself back into the tech life, hoping I could still swim in that pool instead of being polluted by it. I tried to find purpose there. Tried to convince myself that it wouldn't always be a time-consuming grind. That producing enough videos to make a meager enough revenue stream to survive on wouldn't result in burnout.

It did. And the burnout struck fast and without any mercy.

Once I stepped away and viewed it all from a more objective lens, I realized with absolute certainty that the current version of Jason isn't meant to live within these four walls. That amazing road trip last year only increased my wanderlust, and the trailhead for the next season of my life is just around the corner.

As of this writing, in one week I'll be calling the open road my new home. On June 1st, the season of the nomad begins.