Utah, the 15th state on our incredible journey, is nicknamed “The Beehive State”. Our plans included visiting both Zion and Bryce National Parks as well as squeezing in some needed library time. We have spent many hours in numerous libraries across North America throughout our travels, allowing Steve and I time to work on projects needing reliable WiFi. Most of the blogs have been created and posted from libraries and Steve continues to study data science for future job opportunities. In the past many years I had gotten away from the library scene (with information so readily available on the internet) and have truly enjoyed checking out various “archives of information” across the country.
Views from our site at Quail Creek Campground.
Zion National Park was the home of the Anasazi civilization around 1,500 B.C. The Zion Canyon was carved over millions of years by the Virgin River and is approximately 2,000 feet deep. Although we did not have time for Zion’s most famous hike “The Narrows”, we did manage quite a challenging trail named “The Watchman”. The early day was already warm and the trail was narrow and steep, however well worth the climb. The views were breathtaking and Steve found a sadly deceased tarantula!
We made it to the summit!
Allowing ourselves only one day to explore Zion we jumped on the park tour bus after our morning hike to see a bit more. We rode the bus to the end of the line and hiked along the “Riverside Walk” which ended where “The Narrows” hike began. It was a beautiful trek, although next time we will be prepared for the more challenging hike into the canyon!
It’s a new day = a new adventure = Bryce Canyon National Park! Our drive to Bryce was on a perfectly gorgeous fall day complete with brilliant sunshine, clear blue skies, autumn foiliage, and crisp cool air.
Once again we allowed for only one day to explore a humongous national park so we hopped on the park bus at the visitor center and rode out to the furthest stop on the route, Bryce Point - elevation 8,300ft. We then spent the rest of the day hiking back to the visitor center and were stunned by all the beauty and fantastic geology this gemstone of a park provided. It was an intense day, the hiking was long, steep and exhausting, but the views were just fantastic!
Overlook at “Inspiration Point” - The Bryce Amphitheater is home to the greatest concentration of irregular rock spires (called "hoodoos") found anywhere on Earth. We took some time to allow this grandiose landscape soak in and then headed along the “Rim Trail” to continue viewing these mystical formations.
We decided to detour off the rim and work our way down into the canyon, via the Navajo Loop Trail, to get up close and personal with the “hoodoos”. We overheard discussions about the difficulty of the trail, mainly being you can go down on the way in or reverse and go down on the way out. Clearly there was no avoidance on the “up” portion and there were various opinions regarding which strategy was harder. We of course took the more challenging direction and had an exerting uphill climb out. This has been the only hike on our entire journey that we ran out of water before reaching the end of the trail. What we experienced on the trail was phenomenal.
We had an incredible time in Utah and as with every state we have visited longer stays would have been beneficial. However, leaving places to still explore will hopefully bring us back! We will be moving on (actually back to) Arizona - love to our family and friends.
Coddiwompling “To Travel in a Purposeful Manner Towards a Vague Destination”
“Stepping out onto any lookout, you are invited to connect with an amazing example of some of the most unusual terrain on this planet, making you feel as though you are stepping foot on the edge of another world.” -Stefanie Payne
“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” -Anita Desai
Link to Steve’s music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4fW5lsWiZG5TcOlhukK4pu?si=2NngXMjoR7mUJLreexbIAw&utm_source=native-share-menu (Let me know if you are interested in purchasing a CD/$10.)