Jamie Carter, Contributor

I have been a science and travel journalist for 20+ years. I have made it my business to get to know nature and the night sky.

Photo’s by Jamie Carter and Jill Carter

With so many stories circulating about how the recent U.S. government shutdown has negatively affected U.S. national parks, particularly Joshua Tree National Park, here’s a good news story about one of the best little parks in the American southwest.

I’m just back from my second trip to southern Utah to see Bryce Canyon National Park, famous for its concentration of dramatic ‘hoodoos’. I first visited a few years back but returned just to see it in the snow, and I’m glad I made the effort.

Bryce Canyon is one of the most beautiful national parks in the U.S. It tends to get overshadowed by Zion National Park just to the southwest, but for my money, even the incredible towering peaks of its near neighbor can’t match Bryce Canyon’s delicate geological gems. Its amphitheater contains thousands of spires of red rock, each sculpted by weathering and erosion. They’re called hoodoos, and some of them have names, including ‘Thor’s Hammer’ and ‘Queen Victoria’. However, they fall down so often that the national park has by now stopped naming them.

There’s a near-permanent population of landscape photographers that hang around the rim of the amphitheater waiting for a shaft of sunshine and, if they’re really lucky, snow. On my visit, everyone got lucky.

It was the last few days of the U.S. government shutdown and though the park was open to visitors, but there was only one ranger on duty. All the staff were volunteers, and they weren’t collecting the US$35 entry fee. However, they were manning the toll booths and giving out maps and advice to all visitors.

Some of their advice was life-changing. Since reasonably heavy snow had fallen the night before, I wasn’t planning to hike much, if at all, but I did have all-important ice grips worn over my hiking boots. One of the volunteers suggested that my wife and I try the Peekaboo Trail, a circular three-mile hike through creeks and valleys, and through the hoodoos. It’s a spur off the far more popular Navajo Loop Trail. Hiking in the depths of winter after the season’s biggest snowstorm is not something I would have been comfortable doing if it wasn’t for the staff at Bryce Canyon Visitor Center who gave us the confidence. In fact, they pretty much insisted we go.

The volunteer made a bold claim, telling me that Peekaboo Trail is the best short hike in any U.S. National Park. Up and out early, we forged our own path slowly down the Queens Garden Trail from Sunrise Point, clearing a passage through sometimes 2ft. of snow. We hiked down ridges, across an icy canyon floor, and up steep creeks. We passed between, in front of, and even through some of the most incredible rock formations on the planet.

Starting clockwise (if you hike anti-clockwise then all the good stuff is behind you), the first 30 minutes was hard work. Not only was there heavy snow on the trail, which made every step at least twice as difficult, but the first section steadily gains in elevation. Our legs and lungs ached, our boots filled with snow, and as the day warmed-up to just above freezing, the loaded pine tree branches took it in turns to shake and drop wet snow down our necks. We crossed from one creek to the other, going from fast-moving mist to crisp sun-lit slopes, occasionally picking our way around small avalanches and tiny rock-falls.

It’s not until you reach the halfway point on Peekaboo Trail, where it joins the remoter Alligator Trail to Bryce Point, that all becomes clear. Literally. The mist parted, the sun came out, and during the rest of the trail there was exquisite reveal after exquisite reveal as we hiked between the canyons and creeks. The highlight was a sudden view through a gap in the rock of the unfathomable sandstone arches called the Wall of Windows.

In the snow, it all looks so incredible. Not that you don’t need to take a lot of care, and to some extent, get lucky with the weather. That’s a given for any national park at that time of year, and at the time of writing the Rim Trail between Inspiration and Bryce Point, and the Peekaboo Loop itself, were both temporarily closed (check the latest conditions here). However, it all changes daily, so it’s best to hang around the area for a few days and take your chances.

Just make sure you’re ready with a camera because a snowstorm can quickly give way to sunshine. That’s the time to get out your camera and photograph it all either up close on the Peekaboo Trail, or up on the Rim Trail near Inspiration Point (which is also the best place for sunrise).

Either way, one of planet Earth’s most gorgeous geological gems is now open to visitors, it’s covered in snow, and it’s looking at its very best. What more could you ask?

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes