Inventory Flow Meets Hoodoo Magic: Bryce Canyon National Park
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to hike with nine people with a seventy-year age span, our first day in Bryce Canyon has the answer. It’s less of a scenic stroll and more of a living diagram for operations management. Picture it: four adults, five kids, and one very excitable dog named Poky — all trying to make it from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point without leaving anyone behind or losing their will to hike.
Day one was a classic warm-up
We went slow as molasses. Not because anyone was particularly dragging — but because the very act of staying together creates drag. When you can split into four adult-led groups, you’ll inevitably end up waiting at trail bends like a bottlenecked warehouse, everyone at different stages in the queue. Someone stops for a water break, someone else to admire a rock, another for a snack, and before you know it, your forward momentum has dissolved into micro-pauses that turn a 45-minute walk into a half-day seminar on patience.
Poky came along that day, snuffling pine needles and looking longingly over the canyon edge. It was a lovely teaser of Bryce’s surreal hoodoo landscape, glowing orange in the afternoon sun. But our attempt to drive to Rainbow Point and hike the Bristlecone Loop ended in slush and slick trails. I was absolutely intrigued by a conifer who may have sprouted not long after Jesus was born — but with the trail a mess of mud and melting snow, we passed. The views were beautiful, but it felt like we missed the full Bryce magic. Not a bust — but definitely a slight miss.
Day two made up for it
We went faster, farther, and deeper — literally. The grandparents, Mom, Lorelei, Jack, and Adeline kicked things off with a stop at Mossy Cave at the northern end of the park, a perfect family-friendly hike complete with a waterfall cutting through red rock. Then, energy still high, they tackled the loop from Sunset to Sunrise — this time not on the rim, but down into the canyon itself. The Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop delivered the full Bryce experience: winding trails, silent spires, and enough switchbacks to make your quads take notice.
It was a bruiser, but worth it — hiking among the world’s largest collection of hoodoos is like stepping into a sculpture garden crafted by wind and time. And compared to the previous day, the whole group moved like clockwork.
Lessons learned?
Sometimes the first day is a wash. Sometimes you skip the ancient tree and come back in another season. And sometimes the best hikes come when you stop trying to keep everyone together and let people move at their own pace.
Bryce Canyon, we’ll be back — and next time, we might even get to meet that 2,000-year-old bristlecone.
