Bryce Canyon is so beautiful in the winter. Credit Brian B. Roanhore, NPS.
Bar G Chuckwagon: Relive yesteryear through traditional songs of the Old West. Hear favorites like Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Cool Water, Ghost Riders, and many more. Throw in some down- home cowboy cooking and some comedy entertainment. Ruby’s Inn Rodeo: Ruby’s Inn hosts the Bryce Canyon Country Rodeo every summer. Join the fun and excitement at the Bryce Canyon Country Rodeo. Watch the bronco busters and cowboys display their skills as they perform in this Western competition. The rodeo is held nightly, Wednesday – Saturday, through the summer at Ruby’s Inn Rodeo Grounds.
Bryce Canyon winters are so harsh that even modern year-round habitation is difficult. Yet Paleoindians hunted huge mammals here at the end of the Ice Age. Pueblo peoples hunted game in the forests and meadows of the plateau. Paiutes frequented the plateau to harvest pine nuts and conduct broad scale rabbit hunts called rabbit drives. Mormon pioneers diverted water from the plateau top into the valley below by digging a 10-mile long irrigation ditch through the forests and rocky cliffs of what would later become the park. Their efforts made the dry valleys below the cliffs of Bryce suitable for agriculture and gave them reason to name the town of Tropic, Utah. Speaking of winters, there are reasons to visit the region during the winter. With the stark white of freshly fallen snow, red rocks, blue sky, and evergreen trees--some say Bryce Canyon is even more beautiful in winter. Here at 8,000 feet the scenery changes dramatically in the colder months, providing unique opportunities to see the park and requiring a very different packing list. In addition to daily activities like snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and winter hiking the Bryce Canyon Winter Festival and Christmas Bird Count are two popular annual events. If you yearn for something in addition to outrageous scenery and drop-dead gorgeous vistas, there is some man-made entertainment in the region: Tuacahn Amphitheater: Spectacular outdoor musical with a backdrop of red sandstone cliffs reaching 1,500 feet high.
Tourist rest 1920; early homesteaders in the area that is now Bryce Canyon National Park built a permanent lodge near the rim.
Early camping in Bryce Canyon.
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