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From Nile Guide, for travelers by locals website (Bryce Canyon Travel Blog):

1. Interesting fact: Water, ice, and gravity are the natural forces that formed the geological “hoodoos” that make Bryce Canyon unique.

2. Fun fact: This park is named after Ebenezer Bryce, who started ranching the area in 1875. Upon showing the canyons to visitors, he is said to have remarked, “It’s a hell of a place to lose a cow.”

3. Cool fact: Prairie dogs were wiped out from the area in the 1950s. In the 1970s, they were reintroduced.

4. Bryce Canyon’s rocks are among the youngest of those on the Colorado Plateau, dating back a mere 65 million years ago to the Cretaceous period.

5. Interesting fact: Paiute Indian history says the colorful, wildly-shaped hoodoos were “Legend People” who were turned into stone by the trickster god Coyote.

6. Fun fact: On a clear day, visibility from Bryce Canyon can exceed 100 miles.

7. Cool fact: Most rural parts of the U.S. have 2500 stars visible on any given clear night. At Bryce Canyon, that number jumps to a whopping 7500. Currently, these essential remaining dark night skies are being threatened by mining in the nearby community of Alton. The mining will potentially adversely affect the clear skies. It is a hugely contentious situation.

8. There are 400 hardy plant species in this high desert environment.

9. Cool fact: Lions and foxes and bears, oh my! Foxes, mountain lions, and black bears inhabit Bryce Canyon, although they are rarely seen.

10. Bryce Canyon is situated along the southeastern rim of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The word paunsaugunt comes from the Paiute Indian language. It means place or home of the beavers.

11. Geological fact: Bryce Canyon isn’t actually a canyon. It’s actually a natural amphitheater.

12. Weird fact: Marmots, a high-elevation mammal found here, are often called “rockchucks” by the local population.