The Figure 8 Loop at Bryce Canyon National Park combines 3 trails to form an epic adventure through the canyon. It is a 6.4 mile trail made up of the Navajo Loop, the Peekaboo Loop, and the Queen’s Garden Trail and is rated as strenuous. This is one of my all-time favorite trails that I have done anywhere.
We did this hike in late June, it was slightly cool when we first started the hike, but it warmed up fast. There’s not a whole lot of shade and no water available along the hike, so bringing water is a must. There is a restroom stop roughly halfway through.
We started at Sunset Point, which I would recommend, as this section is steeper and longer compared to the Queen’s Garden trail up to Sunrise Point. You have two options going down from Sunset Point as the Navajo trail is a loop. We opted to go the left, seeing Thor’s Hammer and Two Bridges opposed to going by Wall Street.
We made our way down all the switchbacks, down towards the bottom of the canyon. Seeing all the hoodoos down in the canyon from the top is cool, but it does not compare to walking among them inside the canyon.
When you get to the bottom, there are several paths you can take. You can circle back through Navajo Loop, you can go left to the Queen’s Garden Trail, or you can continue on to the Peekaboo Loop. To complete the full Figure 8 loop, continue on to Peekaboo. When you get to Peekaboo, you also have 2 options of going left or right. We decided to go right. Going to the right seemed to have less steep inclines than if we had gone the other way around. The Peekaboo Loop trail is also horse trail. We were passed by several horse-riding tour groups along this portion.
We then made our way back to the Queen’s Garden Trail, making the short side trip to see Queen Victoria. The last quarter mile or so up to Sunrise Point was a bit harder than I thought it would be. Some portions were quite steep. But we made it up to the top with more fantastic views down into the canyon.
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