Southern Utah is just one big outdoor playground! Even in winter, it is just so beautiful you simply can’t resist getting outside.
For more years now than we can even remember, a group of my girlfriends and I head to Bryce Canyon for our annual “Cross Country Ski Trip”. I put “Cross Country Ski Trip” in quotes because some years there is just no snow and it becomes a hiking trip instead. But this year – No hiking! Just glorious, beautiful snow and sunshine. Just the way we like it.
Ruby’s Inn at the very entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park has been catering to visitors needs since 1916, twelve years before Bryce even became a National Park! And so it continues. You can rent everything you need for a day of Cross County Skiing or Snow Shoeing right at Ruby’s Inn. They even have an Ice Skating Rink.
The trails are not groomed very far into the Park, but you can snowshoe or cross country ski Bryce right to the rim of the Fairyland Trail. There are miles of groomed trails behind Ruby’s Inn and across the street where you can go to the very edge on or off trail.
Each year we try and plan our trip around the full moon if possible. Because as pretty as the trails are during the day in the bright sparkling sunshine (often it is like diamonds), Skiing the trails at night under a full moon is breathtaking! Often times any winds will stop at dusk and the forest becomes silent. The kind of silent where everything is muffled by deep snow. You will not forget this. Ever.
So rent or bring your own, just come! There is just absolutely nothing like Bryce Canyon National Park in snow.
You can reach Ruby’s Inn: toll-free: (866) 866-6616
Ask questions and check on conditions at Bryce Canyon: https://www.nps.gov/brca/index.htm
