Canyonland National Park
Moab was home base for Canyonland and Arches. We took a beautiful 6-mile hike to look at red and white spires that are artistically placed in the mountains. Cactus flowers were blooming and added to the beauty of the surroundings.
It was hot – 95 and very, very sunny during our hike. When we returned to the motel – we went into the whirlpool to loosen up. It felt great.
Arches National Park
It was Memorial Day weekend and since we expected a crowd, we started early – 7:45 AM. The park was crowded but fabulous with its amazing arches.
Each formed by erosion is different and interesting. To reach most of the arches, we had to walk about 1 mile from the parking lots. Obviously, the arches nearest to the parking lots were the most crowded. We stayed at the park for 5 hours and I believe saw all of the arches.
Drive from Moab to Boulder, Utah
We drove 200-miles to Boulder, Utah, through beautifully carved hills in red and gray. We went over a mountain with evergreens at the sides and white birches at the top. When we stopped at the lookout point – we almost got swept away by the wind. We had to look at the view from the car.
Toward the end of the trip we stopped to see some petroglyphs.
Escalante National Park
We booked a 5 day/4-night Escalante camping/hiking trip. It was amazing, fabulous, interesting, instructional, scary, difficult, and satisfying. The park is huge with lots of canyons, rivers, slick rock hills and beautiful views. Our group of 5 were led by Sue and Grant. Our campsite was 40 minutes by car and 3 hours by hiking from Boulder, Utah.
We used the camp for all 4 nights and did day hikes. The camp was near the river under an overhang so we had some nice shade (which we appreciated when it warmed up after the first day). There was a bathroom tent about a block away, which consisted of a hole in the ground and a seat. There were lots of comfortable chairs for sitting and relaxing. The food was excellent.
The weather, after the first chilly day – and very cold night, moderated each day – so that by the last day it was very warm climbing up to the trail head.
Each day we hiked about 7 hours. We would start in the morning going up from camp to hike up on to the slick rock. The hiking was often challenging with slippery ups and downs on the rocks. But the views from the top of hills were wonderful.
In the afternoon we usually went down to the rivers and waded in if the river wasn’t too deep, fast running or too rocky. Otherwise we would cross from side to side and bushwack along the banks. I was pretty scratched up from walking into the bushes, but I loved walking through the rivers.
On two of the days we went through very narrow slits. One was basically level once we were helped into it but so narrow that I had to take the pack off and walk sideways through it. The other was wider but went down down down and it was a bit scary doing it. I had to hold on to ledges to get down. At the bottom of the slit we had to wade through waist high water. The last day I took the option of doing a shorter (5 hours) hike was back in camp by 2 PM to rest and read. It was delightful.
When the weather warmed up enough (the third day on) we bathed in the river – chilly but ok. The food was fabulous. Each evening we had another type of dish (chicken, beef, fish etc). For lunch we made sandwiches and carried them with us. Breakfast was a hot cooked breakfast such as eggs or French toast.
We saw the most beautiful starlit sky when leaving the tent when nature called in the middle of the night. It made up for sleeping on a less comfortable “bed” than at home. We saw lots of fabulous Petroglyphs, including some lovely ones right at our camp. We also hiked to an old cabin that a hermit built about 100 years ago. On the last day, we hiked up out of camp and back to the trail head. We spent another night in Boulder, UT at the Boulder Mountain Lodge. It was great to sleep in a bed and take a real shower as well as to have a toilet just a few steps away.
Bryce Canyon
Bryce is a delight. The red hoodoos are magnificent. A hoodoo is a rock shaped like a pillar that has been worn down by the elements. On one of our hikes we saw one that looked like Queen Victoria. It was mostly sunny both days at Bryce with highs in the 80s. Although cars are allowed in Bryce, it also has great shuttle service that runs every 15 minutes through the main part of the park. Our hotel was one of its stops which gave us the option to drive or take the shuttle. We did both. The shuttle makes about 10 stops along the way. This makes it possible to hike from view point 1 to view point 2 and then just get on the shuttle and not worry about your car being in the wrong place.
During our first afternoon we took the shuttle to its furthest point then hiked the rim trail to the next viewpoint. We had decided to give our body a rest after the vigorous hiking of the previous days, but we couldn’t resist being on foot. In the evening we drove to the Park Lodge for dinner. We arrived early and sat on the veranda to watch the world go by for an hour.
The following day, we drove into the furthest point of the park and then stopped at various lookout points. Since it was very early, there were not many people at each stop. We parked at Sunrise Point and began a wonderful 4+ miles hike. Unfortunately, since Bryce is at the top of the hills, all walks require going down first then back up.
We had a fabulous time getting into the rock formations rather than just seeing them from the top. We saw many “window” arches, and walked through many that intersected the trail. The formations were beautiful.
The hike was tiring hike since most of it was up and down and the sun was hot, but the reward was definitely there. We were actually able to get away from people. Most people only get to the vista points and some even find the few stairs to the vista point more than they want to do and look from their tour bus or car.
We rewarded ourselves for our hard work, by going to the pool area and sitting in the whirlpool to relax the sore muscles. Then we had ice cream. In the late afternoon we went back to the park and sat at Sunset Point for about an hour watching the light change on the hoodoos until the sun went down. It was so relaxing.
Zion National Park
We drove into Zion from the East entrance through an amazing zig zag road and a-mile long tunnel that was really creepy. They had to blast the mountain (1930) to build the tunnel. I was in Zion some 30 years ago and at that time cars were allowed in the entire park. But today, because so many people come, you can only drive to the Visitor Center (if you arrive early enough or late enough to find parking). Otherwise there is a shuttle to the park from the town and another shuttle inside the park. The shuttles run very frequently and start at 5:30 am and run to about 11:30 PM.
Zion is at the bottom of the canyon (as opposed to Bryce which is on top of the canyon). It is made up of huge boulder like mountains – very impressive. There were many wonderful trails which we hiked early in the day because by mid day temperatures were near 100 degrees.
We started with the Three Emerald Pool hike. It was a fairly easy hike with lovely views of the huge boulders. As the name implies, there were three pools to view during hike and some lovely waterfalls. Then we hiked to the Weeping Rock waterfall (just a 1 mile round trip on paved walk). The water comes through the rock and it looks like it’s weeping. It was nice and cool under the waterfall.
The next morning we did two hikes – both listed as strenuous. Hidden Canyon is described in the brochure as an 850 ft climb for 1 mile and then back down, strenuous with long drop offs – not for anyone fearful of heights. I am fearful of heights but we decided to do the hike anyway. We started about 8 AM and had full shade for the whole hike and stayed cool. The 850 ft climb was pretty steady and never too steep. The trail was on the side of the cliff with a steep drop off but I didn’t feel uncomfortable because the trail was wide and I could hug the mountain. The last third was a bit dicey – the trail narrowed but there were chains to hold on to therefore, I was not scared. The views were magnificent and we were well rewarded. We finished the hike in 2 hours, and still felt like hiking.
The Angel’s Landing (described as a 1488 ft climb, 5 mile round trip hike), would have been a stretch, especially the last 1/2 mile at the top. But we decided to just start the Angel’s Landing hike till the first set of switch backs. We kept reminding ourselves that there is no way we could do this entire hike. The first set of switch backs were mostly in the shade so we kept going till we reached Refrigerator Canyon. This was a very pleasant walk that led to the second set of switch backs. They were in the shade also so we kept going. But enough is enough and we did not walk the last 1/2 mile on the ridge. We had a wonderful time doing the hike and the views were unbelievable. By the time we walked down more than 50% of the hike was in full sun. Anyone attempting it by noon or later is nuts.
Final Words:
- We had 12 hiking days in a row. Ambitious but exciting. I was so pleased to be able to do it.
- The group camping trip was lots of fun. However, it was sometimes more challenging than I wished but well worth it.
- Utah is incredibly beautiful. The parks are awesome but crowded. It is best to go early and to use the shuttles whenever possible. Also it is best to avoid holidays like Memorial Day and 4th of July.
Nili's Adventure 