Sunrise Point offers trail access and views of the Queen’s Garden area of Bryce Canyon.
Sunset Point is the trailhead for the Navajo Trail which leads into Wall Street Slot Canyon.
It offers views of Bryce Amphitheater, Queen’s Garden, Fairyland, and areas to the North.
Directly below Sunset Point is the famous solitary hoodoo known as Thor’s Hammer.

This page has 60 detail and scenic images from Sunrise Point and Sunset Point.

Click an image to open a larger version.
Use your back button to return to this page.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Bryce Canyon Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Link to the Sunrise Point and Sunset Point Gallery:

Sunrise Point & Sunset Point

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise 0484
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The view across the purplish-pink fins at Sunrise Point into Queen’s Garden
on a misty late September morning at sunrise. In the distance is Bryce Point.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Dawn 0440
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Manganese oxide in the limestone is the source of the purple cast to these Queen’s Garden fins, seen here at dawn.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Dawn 0430
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The rim of Bryce Canyon from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point at dawn, with Inspiration Point and Bryce Point on the cliff.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise 0461
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The first long rays of sunrise illuminate the Queen’s Garden. The orange-red hoodoos are limestone with iron oxide.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise 0462
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Queen’s Garden and hoodoos below Sunset Point. Inspiration Point overlooks the fluorescent hoodoos from the top right.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise 1789
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This wider view of the Queen’s Garden and Bryce Amphitheater from Sunrise Point was taken
five days and about an hour later than the previous images, at the end of the sunrise with high
clouds diffusing the early morning light. The red-orange limestone from which these hoodoos
were formed are part of the Pink Member of the Claron Formation, rich in iron oxides. The
lighter cliff at the top of the image, with Bryce Point at the left center and Inspiration Point
at the upper right are part of the Upper Member, which is lighter due to less impurities.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise 5547
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The Queen’s Garden from Sunrise Point in the first long rays of sunrise, taken in late August during a different session.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise 5556
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Bryce Canyon is a location which I used to teach shooting and processing techniques to several groups of photographers.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise X1910
(525 KB)

A wide view of the Queen’s Garden area from the purple fins to the fluorescing Upper Member Cliffs at sunrise in late June.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise X1924
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Detail of the Queen’s Garden and the Silent City hoodoos below Bryce Point and Inspiration Point, taken 5 minutes later.

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunrise X1915
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The purplish-pink fins at Sunrise Point and Queen’s Garden as the first rays of
sunrise glance into Bryce Canyon in late June. Bryce Point is at the upper right.
Detail of the iridescent fin and apse at left are shown further below on this page.

Bryce Canyon Dead Tree at Sunrise Point 5315
(724 KB)

The view to the Northeast from the rim South of Sunrise Point in Winter.
A photogenic tree skeleton provides a foreground subject to the distant view
of the Chinese Wall and Fairyland hoodoos on the left, Sinking Ship Mesa and
Aquarius Plateau at left center. Tropic Valley and the Table Cliffs are in the center
and the Mormon Temple formation and Bristlecone Point are at the upper right.
Red-orange rock blanketed in snow with a bright blue Utah sky. Magnificent.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Bryce Canyon Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Link to the Sunrise Point and Sunset Point Gallery:

Sunrise Point & Sunset Point

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos at Sunrise Point 0459
(612 KB)

The Queen’s Garden and Silent City hoodoos below Inspiration Point at sunrise in late September.
High clouds and the morning mist diffused the light, softening the shadows and reducing fluorescence.

Bryce Canyon Queen’s Garden Hoodoos at Sunrise 0479
(712 KB)

The same area of the Queen’s Garden and Silent City hoodoos below Inspiration Point
shown in the image above, but 9.5 minutes later after the sun emerged from behind the
clouds. Strong low angle light creates harder shadows and causes the rock to fluoresce.

Bryce Canyon
Queen’s Garden Hoodoos at Sunrise 0478
(816 KB)

The area in the lower left center of the previous image, taken one minute earlier after the sun emerged from behind the high clouds, and the strong low angle light illuminated the hoodoos.

Bryce Canyon
Queen’s Garden Hoodoos at Sunrise 5563
(807 KB)

Detail of the hoodoos in the upper left center of the image above, taken at nearly the same time of the morning but during an August session several years later.

Bryce Canyon
Queen’s Garden Hoodoos at Sunrise X1940
(555 KB)

Two detail shots of the hoodoos at the lower left of image 478 above, taken during a sunrise in late June several years later.

Bryce Canyon
Queen’s Garden Hoodoos at Sunrise X1957
(709 KB)

These two images show the changes in color of the limestone as the sun hits the hoodoos. These were tricky exposures.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos at Sunrise X1955
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Detail of Silent City hoodoos below the cliff between Inspiration Point and Bryce Point,
shown at the top left corner of image 479 above. This image was taken at sunrise in late June.

Bryce Canyon Landscape Queen’s Garden X1963
(869 KB)

Detail of fluorescent hoodoos in the Queen’s Garden at the end of a late June sunrise.

Bryce Canyon Iridescent Fin at Sunrise X1959
(589 KB)

An iridescent purplish-pink fin in the Queen’s Garden area, taken in late June near the end of the sunrise.
The fin has erosion windows which will eventually become hoodoos. Manganese oxide causes this color.

Bryce Canyon Iridescent Fin at Sunrise 0468
(505 KB)

The iridescent fin in the Queen’s Garden, taken on a misty morning in late September at the end of the sunrise.

Bryce Canyon Iridescent Fin at Sunrise 5564
(572 KB)

This image of the Queen’s Garden fin was taken in late August, again near the end of the sunrise on a clear morning.

Bryce Canyon Iridescent Fin at Sunrise X1964
(592 KB)

The purplish-pink fin and the landscape beyond, taken at the end of the late June sunrise with
a hiker approaching the top of the fin. The Paria River Valley south of Tropic is in the distance.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Bryce Canyon Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Link to the Sunrise Point and Sunset Point Gallery:

Sunrise Point & Sunset Point

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point Fins 6670
(555 KB)

Fins at the top of the Queen’s Garden Trail just below Sunrise Point, with
a view towards Bryce Point in the distance at the upper right of the frame.

Bryce Canyon Queen’s Garden Sunrise Point 6665
(682 KB)

A wider view of the fins at the top of the Queen’s Garden Trail. In the distance are Queen’s Garden and Silent City hoodoos below Bryce Point (top left) and Inspiration Point (top right).

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunset 6559
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The Sunrise Point fins at sunset. The purple-pink limestone colors which are so vivid in the morning look entirely different in the low glancing golden rays of sunset (as do the cliffs).

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point at Sunset 6551
(533 KB)

A wider angle view of the Sunrise Point fins at sunset, with part of the Queen’s Garden which is
traversed by the Navajo Trail in the center and part of the Silent City and Bryce Point at top right.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos at Sunset X1904c
(712 KB)

The hoodoo formation for which the Queen’s Garden area was named. The hoodoo
at left resembles a famous 1887 Bassano portrait of Queen Victoria, and is called
the Queen Victoria Hoodoo. This image (the XL version) is a detail crop from the
larger SXL image which shows the formation in the context of the surrounding
hoodoos, taken with a telephoto lens from Sunset Point at sunset in June.

Bryce Canyon Queen Victoria Hoodoo 5351c
(639 KB)

A detail crop of the Queen Victoria hoodoo taken from the
Queen’s Garden Trail on a clear cold afternoon in late December.

Bryce Canyon Queen’s Garden Sunset Point 6784
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Queen’s Garden hoodoos from Sunset Point. Beside the trail at the upper right is the hoodoo unofficially known as ET.

Bryce Canyon Queen’s Garden Sunset Point 6777
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Queen’s Garden hoodoos from Sunset Point. In the lower right of the frame is the Queen Victoria formation.

Bryce Canyon Queen’s Garden Sunset Point 6783
(769 KB)

A detail shot of the Queen Victoria formation (lower right)
and the nearby hoodoo group as seen from from Sunset Point.

Bryce Canyon Landscape Sunset Point 1942
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The Queen’s Garden landscape from Sunset Point. The rear side of ET is at top center, Gulliver’s Castle is at top right.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point 1944
(847 KB)

Detail of the dense hoodoo group in the Queen’s Garden, just to the left of the ET hoodoo in image 1942 (shown at left).

Bryce Canyon Landscape Sunset Point 1940
(715 KB)

The view North from Sunset Point shows part of Wall Street at the lower right,
the Queen’s Garden hoodoos in the center of the image. In the distance at the
upper left is Fairyland, the Chinese Wall and Boat Mesa. At the upper center is
the Aquarius Plateau on the distant horizon with Sinking Ship Mesa below, and
to the right of Sinking Ship Mesa is the Mormon Temple and Bristlecone Point.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Bryce Canyon Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Link to the Sunrise Point and Sunset Point Gallery:

Sunrise Point & Sunset Point

Bryce Canyon Bryce Creek Sunset Point 6785
(847 KB)

A mid-day view down the dry bed of Bryce Creek from Sunset Point at the end of August.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point at Sunset 6528
(706 KB)

Hoodoos near the East end of the Navajo Trail, taken with an 85mm (short telephoto) lens at sunset from Sunset Point.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point at Sunset 6531
(674 KB)

A group of hoodoos near the canyon wall, also shot with the 85mm (short telephoto) lens at sunset from Sunset Point.

Bryce Canyon Landscape
Sunset Point at Sunset 6523
(678 KB)

A colorful section of the canyon wall, also taken with an
85mm (short telephoto) lens at sunset from Sunset Point.

Bryce Canyon Landscape
Sunset Point at Sunrise 0500
(635 KB)

The same section of canyon wall, taken with a 180mm
(medium telephoto) lens at sunrise from Sunset Point.

Bryce Canyon Landscape Sunset Point at Sunrise X1943
(781 KB)

The same section of canyon wall,  taken with a 135mm (medium telephoto) lens
at sunrise from Sunset Point a few years later and an hour earlier in the golden light.

Bryce Canyon Thor’s Hammer 1948
(561 KB)

The solitary hoodoo known as Thor’s Hammer is one of the more well-known hoodoos at Bryce Canyon, since it is near the rim at Sunset Point where almost all visitors can see it.

Bryce Canyon Thor’s Hammer 6775
(522 KB)

The image above was taken in the early afternoon. The image at left was shot near noon, with the sun directly overhead.

Bryce Canyon Thor’s Hammer 1959
(426 KB)

Two detail shots of Thor’s Hammer taken near noon.

Bryce Canyon Thor’s Hammer 1957
(428 KB)

These images were all taken at slightly different angles from the rim at Sunset Point, each with a different composition.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Bryce Canyon Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Link to the Sunrise Point and Sunset Point Gallery:

Sunrise Point & Sunset Point

Bryce Canyon Wall Street Fins Hoodoos 6787
(707 KB)

Hoodoos and Fins in the Wall Street area, shot from the rim at Sunset Point.

Bryce Canyon Wall Street Fins and Hoodoos 6780
(682 KB)

Detail of some of the Wall Street fins and hoodoos, including
some erosion features on the slope below Sunset Point at mid-day.

Bryce Canyon Wall Street Fins and Hoodoos 1952
(716 KB)

Some of the Wall Street fins and hoodoos. Light hoodoos are more pure limestone, the orange fins are rich in iron oxides.

Bryce Canyon Wall Street Fins and Hoodoos 6774
(767 KB)

A set of fins in Wall Street that is well on its way to becoming a row of hoodoos. Note the well-defined sedimentary layers.

Bryce Canyon Wall Street Fins and Hoodoos 6781
(704 KB)

Wall Street fins and hoodoos. In the foreground fin, you can see an eroded window. The
capstone of this window will eventually collapse like the area at the left end of the fin, and
as the fin erodes further, a row of hoodoos will form, similar to the fin seen at center left.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point 1931
(556 KB)

Hoodoos at the upper edge of a fin at Sunset Point, overlooked by Inspiration Point on the cliff.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point X1865
(653 KB)

A dense group of Silent City hoodoos in Bryce Amphitheater below Inspiration Point from Sunset Point in late afternoon.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point X1869
(676 KB)

This section of the Bryce Amphitheater contains the highest concentration of hoodoos on Earth.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point X1859
(766 KB)

Densely clustered Silent City hoodoos in the Bryce Amphitheater below Inspiration Point,
shot from Sunset Point in the late afternoon in June. The red-orange hoodoos are part of the
Pink Cliffs of the Claron Formation. The lighter cliffs above are part of the Upper Member,
which is composed of limestone that has less iron oxide impurities, thus the lighter color.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point X1877
(676 KB)

Hoodoos at the top of a series of eroded fins at Sunset Point, shot in the late afternoon in June.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point X1880
(692 KB)

Detail of a prominent section of the Silent City hoodoos just north of and below Inspiration Point, late afternoon in June.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point 1950
(690 KB)

The same section of hoodoos in the Silent City section of Bryce Amphitheater, taken near noon in late September.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point 1954
(596 KB)

A colorful section of hoodoos near the canyon wall, also shot from Sunset Point near noon in late September.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point 1937
(689 KB)

A section of fins and hoodoos eroding from the canyon wall, taken from Sunset Point about 45 minutes before noon.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos Sunset Point X1882
(711 KB)

The same section of fins and hoodoos taken from a little further from Sunset Point in
late afternoon in June. These two images provide a good illustration of the differences in
the color saturation between the high-angle light at noon and the low-angle light near sunset.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Bryce Canyon Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Link to the Sunrise Point and Sunset Point Gallery:

Sunrise Point & Sunset Point

Click the display composite above to visit the Queen’s Garden Trail page

Click the display composite above to visit the Navajo Trail page

Click the display composite above to visit the Fairyland Canyon page

Click the display composite above to visit the Bryce Canyon Landscapes page

Click the display composite above to visit the Bryce Canyon Rim Views page

Click the display composite above to visit the Bryce Canyon Flora and Fauna page