Utah, USA - Bryce Canyon National Park

These wheelchair access travel notes refer to Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah and my experience visiting the park as a wheelchair user. Hopefully, they will be of some use to any other disabled traveler interested in visiting the park.

The US Parks service is generally pretty good at providing information about their parks and accessibility. Before visiting any national park I recommend checking out their web site (and gleaning as much information as you can).

For Bryce, you can drive into the park ($25 charge per car). I stayed in the park lodge accommodation run by Xanterra (see this review). There are also many accommodation options outside the park (for example, the Best Western Bryce Canyon, see review here).

The park is set on the edge of a plateau, and an 18-mile road stretches along the edge with many lookouts to see the incredible scenery. Most of the main action takes place in and around the park lodge location.

The visitors center (at the entrance gate) and the lodge are both handicapped accessible and have accessible restrooms. There are also accessible restrooms at Sunset Point lookout. There are accessible campsite locations also.

There are not a whole lot of options for hiking (wheeling). There is a paved path between Sunset Point and Sunrise Point lookouts by the lodge. Unfortunately, unlike the Grand Canyon rim trail, this rim trail is raised at both ends and drops in the middle so there is no way of avoiding a climb. (The Grand Canyon rim trail falls from East to West, so if you are in a chair, start at the Eastern end of the trail). Sunrise point has a very steep incline to tech viewing platform that cannot be managed in a chair without assistance. This includes coming down as the path surface is gravelly and very slippy!

The rest of the viewpoints are accessible to wheelchairs only by car or shuttle. All are accessible to some degree although Sunrise, Bryce and Inspiration all have steep inclines that may need assistance. If you have time, see them all as each gives a different perspective on the park. However, if you don't want to haul yourself in an out of a car at every point, then the "must see" lookouts that are fully accessible to a lone wheeler are Rainbow (at the very end of the road), Natural Bridge (don't miss this if you visit!) and Sunset. If you have time for only one, then do Sunset point - it will give you a sense of the magic of this place.

There is a short paved path at Paria point that is also worth looking at.

During the summer season a shuttle runs through the park. I am told this is fully accessible although it was not running when I visited. If so, this is a good option for getting around.

The restaurant in the lodge is fully accessible and open for breakfast, lunch and dinner (reservations required for dinner).

AS an aside, contrary to what you might expect, Sunrise Point is not the best place to watch the sunrise, and Sunset Point is not the best place to watch the sun set! (Try Bryce point for sunrise, although Sunset Point would be pretty good too, and Inspiration point for sun set. The sun set isn't such a big deal in this Eastward facing park).

There are various ranger led activities. I had a geology talk at Sunset Point, a ranger led rim walk and a night sky presentation by the "Dark Rangers". (Bryce has very little light pollution so it's a good place for star gazing). All of these are accessible although some may have problems looking into the telescopes for the star gazing session if you are small, or unable to lift yourself in the chair. If you are interested in this I would recommend doing what I did not do, and talk to the rangers in advance about your needs.

If you are one of the lucky ones who can ride a horse then a horse ride into the park would be spectacular (I imagine). Personally, I have tried horse riding but with my dodgy balance and lack of sensation I found the experience nerve-racking. I would definitely not recommend trying horse riding for the first time in this park - experienced riders only need apply!

Check out the park web site here, and prepare for a lot of hauling yourself in and out of your car and up and down rough paved paths, and wear old clothes because you are going to get covered in dust! And have fun!

Strongly recommended.