Quick Trip: The Under-the-Rim Trail

RYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Utah — When I was 13 years old, I traveled to the Western U.S. on a teen tour, which was like a traveling summer camp for teenagers. We hiked and camped through National Parks and visited major tourist attractions and cities throughout the West. When, during the tour, we hiked through Bryce Canyon National Park, I was amazed by the Canyon’s distinctive bright orange hoodoos: rock structures formed by erosion of the park’s sedimentary river and lake beds. I left feeling that Bryce was the strangest looking but most beautiful place I had ever visited.

When I return to Bryce again, I’m skeptical that the Park can live up to my teenage memories. But, when my friend Wini and I begin hiking the Park’s 23-mile Under-the-Rim Trail, it becomes obvious to me once again to me that Bryce is unique and gorgeous. Unfortunately, about halfway through our hike, we can’t find the river that we need to refill our water supply. Soon after, we mistakenly lose the easy-to-follow trail — I’m paying too much attention to the landscape and not enough to the trail — and we end up barely avoiding tumbling down the steep side of a scree-covered mountain. As we continue via a “shortcut” that I identify with GPS device, Wini and I fall multiple times, and I manage to scrape a bunch of skin off my arms. At one point, I even lose the GPS device. Wini begs that we turn around, and finally, I agree. When we eventually find the trail again, we’re out of water. We eat a dinner of trail mix and camp overnight near the trail. In the morning, we decide to abort our mission due to our lack of water, hike back to the Park road, and hitchhike back to my car.

Nevertheless, Bryce’s otherworldly scenery still managed to overshadow our disastrous experience — though I’m still embarrassed, considering how easy the Under-the-Rim-Trail is to hike. I plan to beat it someday soon. WB