Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks: More of magnificent Utah

I live in California and we have traveled to quite a few places in Cali, but I have to admit, Utah is one state that is blessed with tremendous natural beauty. From stupefying natural arches at Arches National Park, to colorful canyon formations at Canyonlands National Park, to the enchanting hoodoos at Bryce National Park, to the world-famous slot canyons at Zion National Park, Utah is home to the most scenic natural formations in the world. We visited Zion and Bryce during the Labor Day weekend in 2011 and my first reaction to Zion was ‘Been there, seen that, done that!!’. And that reaction was probably because our Zion/Bryce trip was after a successful hike to the top of Half Dome, and it would have been hard to beat that feeling if you decide to skip things in Zion that are MUST DOs. But in retrospect, while I was going through the photographs, I realized that Zion is in fact extremely pretty and I would like to go back to conquer the Narrows some day!

Zion National Park: Zion is a 3 hour drive from Las Vegas, Nevada. There is only one lodging option inside the park and since we made reservations at the last moment, we did not get accommodation inside the park. However, we stayed at Cliffrose Lodge and Gardens which is literally outside the park entrance and I am glad we did not get to stay inside the park. The lodge is along the Virgin river surrounded by canyons of Zion so it feels as if you are staying inside the park. I highly suggest this lodging option. It is walking distance to the park entrance from where you can board the park shuttle and close to a lot of dinner options in Springsdale. During crowded seasons, you have to use one of the shuttles run by the park. I say, even if it is not peak season, use the shuttle if available to avoid driving and the hassle of finding parking.

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What to do in Zion: Plan on spending at least 2 nights if you want to enjoy the beauty of the park. The easiest way would be to sit in the park shuttle and visit all the vista points that the shuttle stops at. But there’s not much fun if you don’t explore the vistas, right? We started with the Riverside Walk at the Temple of Sinawava. Even though we were not planning on doing the Narrows, this trail can be hiked to view the Narrows of the Virgin River Canyon and so we decided on doing it. We also hiked the Lower, Middle and Upper Emerald Pools. Only the Upper Emerald Pool is impressive. The short walk to Weeping Rock is only worth if you go during Spring time. Court of the Patriarchs can be easily viewed from the bus stop itself! The East side of the park is missed by a lot of visitors to Zion because the shuttles don’t go there. Take the drive through the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel and the scenic byway. On the way you will also pass through the Zion Arch as well as Checkerboard Mesa and if you are lucky enough spot some wildlife too. But while you are at Zion, make sure to view either sunrise or sunset to see the white, ochre, orange and red colors of canyon walls change. Having said that, my trip to Zion was incomplete because I skipped Angel’s Landing as well as Narrows! So if you absolutely enjoy hiking, that might be high up on your things to do for Zion.

Bryce Canyon National Park: Bryce Canyon is about an hour’s drive from Zion National Park and route from Zion to Bryce is full of stunning vistas. You pass through Red Canyon and is definitely one of the top scenic routes I have traveled on. We stayed in Bryce Canyon for one night. Bryce is at a much higher altitude than Zion so it is much cooler. Bryce Canyon National Park is home to spectacular and colorful hoodoo structures. A lot of people are bound to like Bryce more than Zion because of the picturesque landscape it has to offer, not to mention: the enchanted hoodoos too 🙂

Bryce Amphitheater

What to do in Bryce Canyon: Start at the visitor center and take the shuttle to cover the major vistas which include the Inspiration Point, Sunrise and Sunset Points. All three vista points offer amazing views of the Bryce Amphitheater. You can walk from one point to the other if you follow the rim trail and that is a great way of enjoying the stunning vistas. The main loop would be best visited through the shuttle, however; it would be good idea to drive through the rest of the 18 mile scenic route in your own vehicle. Stop by at the Natural Bridge for sure. If you have not been to Arches in Utah, this vista could be a quick preview. We also stopped by at Ponderosa Point, Rainbow Point, Blackbirch Canyon. But after a while, it seems as if each point is just a different angle of the same view-point. So, if you have more time in Bryce, I highly suggest hiking down the canyon in the hoodoos. It is going to be much prettier from within the canyon then outside. I have heard that sunrise in Bryce is not to miss, but it rained when we were in Bryce, so we missed sunrise.

Zion happens to be the most visited national park in Utah so it is definitely more popular than Bryce, but I personally like Bryce a tad bit more than Zion. That might change if I ever hike the Narrows in Zion.

Canyonlands National Park: Ultimate Off-roading!

If you read my recent blog post on Arches National Park, I had mentioned about our visit to Canyonlands National Park in Utah on that trip and a blog entry, so here it is 🙂 We had decided to spend an entire day at Canyonlands. Though initially, I was not sure if it was going to be worth spending the whole day, since I was more interested in Arches rather than viewing canyons and sitting  in a car driving over unpaved path full of rocks, sand and gravel in to the valley. In case you are wondering what am I blabbering about, the plan for the day was to drive (read OFF-ROAD) our rented All-Wheel-Drive Hummer on the famous White Rim trail and stop by at different vistas.

If you are into off-roading this is THE place to visit. I did not have a clue as to what the term “off-roading” meant a few years back until a few of my friends introduced me to its concept. I am still not a fan, and might just chicken out if I were told to sit in an off-road vehicle again and drive on unpaved roads, but my first “actual” off-road experience at Canyonlands National Park was pretty amazing.

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We started the day with a visit to the visitor center. I believe there was a ranger talk about wild life found in the park, and I vaguely remember the ranger showing jaw bones of coyotes and mountain cats. But, we left the talk half way, since it was going to be a long day ahead of us. Our first stop was at a grand vista of Merrimac and Monitor Rocks. These rocks are named after ships that were involved in a war, each attacked the other and both sank! Fun fact hnnn!!! Anyways, our next stop was the Shafer trail overlook. The trails do look intimidating and if its your first time in a 4X4 driving on these kind of roads, it can be nerve-racking. The White Rim trail is over 100 miles, so it would take over 2 days if you plan to off-road the entire loop. Of course, you would have to camp in between and get a permit beforehand.

So, we start off-roading down the white rim trail and here is a brief account of that “rocky” journey. Our first stop was at the Colorado River overlook. The Colorado River overlook on the White Rim trail provides a nice view of the river that carves the canyons of the park along with the Green river. Our next stop was at the Musselman Arch which is more of a bridge than an arch. It was scary walking on this arch since it appears as a narrow bridge suspended in the valley. Next we headed to view the Mesa Arch. You can view the canyons through this arch. We had numerous other stops along our off-road trail including the Grand-View point which provides breathtaking views of the La Sal Mountains, the white rim trail itself, the Needles district and the confluence of Green and Colorado rivers, but the star attraction was the drive. I don’t quite remember how many miles we drove to cover these vistas, but I am assuming about 10 miles or may be even less. It was almost evening, so we decided to drive back up. It took us less time to drive back to the start of the trail.

After returning from the White rim trail, we headed to view petroglyphs of Indian writings. And just when I thought that I was done off-roading for the day, we heard about the “Poison Spider” trail which is the ultimate off-road for bikes and jeeps. Yess..we put on our seat belts and were off of the spidy trail. We only drove half the trail, but this one was far more adventurous than the white rim. At one point I thought we might get a flat tire since the trail had more rocks and less sand unlike the white rim trail. The off-road on the spider trail brought a perfect end to our day. I am glad we gave Canyonlands one whole day!

I highly recommend all adventure freaks to visit this place. A 4 wheel drive and a little bit of courage is all you need for an ultimate off-road adventure @ Canyonlands.

Arches National Park

I can imagine an arch being a tough structure to construct for humans even with all the tools and technology at disposal, but imagine nature sculpting and constructing few of the most magnificent arches ever! Let me take you to Arches National Park in southeast Utah, the park that is home to over 1000 natural sandstone arches formed due to erosion and other natural forces in action over some hundreds/thousands and millions of years. Although it has been a couple of years since I visited the park, Arches currently ranks as the 2^nd best national park that I have visited so far!

Delicate Arch

We flew from San Francisco to Salt Lake City and drove to Moab from there. The town of Moab  is about 5 miles from the entrance of the Arches and would be your best option of finding lodging if you are visiting Arches. The plan was to visit Canyonlands National Park one day and Arches National park on the other. However; since Arches is more close to my heart, this blog entry is completely dedicated to Arches. A blog post on Canyonlands NP will follow later and hopefully soon!

Balanced Rock

Since there is a lot of geological history behind Arches, we purchased a self-guided tour CD from the visitor center and had decided to follow it along as we drove through the 18 mile scenic route. We listened to the CD while driving and paused it when we stopped at any overlooks or trail heads. It turned out to be a pretty good idea. Arches rests on a huge salt bed that is responsible for the formation found in Arches NP. Our first stop was at the Moab fault line vista, which runs parallel to highway 191.

Double Arch

Our second stop was at Park Avenue. The Park Avenue trail is an easy trail offering spectacular views of “Three gossips”, “Sheep Rock” and the “Tower of Babel”. Since this was a pretty much flat canyon land, we could get glimpses of the “Balanced Rock” and the Colarado river canyons from this stop.  Our next stop was to view the petrified sand dunes or the “Ancient sand dunes”. The journey to the first 3 vistas was good, but not exceptional. The landscape seemed similar to that of Grand Canyon’s, so I had not seen anything which I had not previously seen.

North and South Windows

Stop number 4 was at the “Balanced Rock” and from there on, everything started to fall in my category of Exceptional! It feels as if the rock truly defies gravity from one angle, but you move to the other side, and it appears to be of a different size and looks much more BALANCED. Take a walk close to the rock to get an idea of its true size. Moving on, we headed to the “Double Arch” Trail. Our first mini hike was to the top of the double arches. I think it is sort of impossible to photograph both the arches if you go too close. The grandeur of these sandstone formations definitely leaves the viewer in awe. After getting down from the top of double arches, we proceeded to the North and South Windows. Hikes to the North and South windows are easy to do and can be covered in an hour’s time.

Sand Dune Arch

Our next stop was at the Sand Dune Arch trail head. Arches is a desert region and afternoons can get extremely hot. The Sand Dune arch area is a good picnic/rest stop. After some cooling off and lazing around in the sand, we headed to view the Skyline Arch. This arch is visible from a lot of areas in the park. If you want to stay inside the park, the Devil’s Garden Campground would be a great option.

Skyline Arch

After a brief stop at the Skyline arch, we were off to the Devil’s Garden Trail. This trail is the longest maintained trail in the park. It takes you near the Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch with an option to return to the parking lot from there. We continued on to view the Landscape Arch, which is the longest arch in the park. A thin slab cracked from this arch in 1990’s and going under the arch is no longer allowed. Since it takes more time to cover the Devil’s Garden primitive loop, we decided to return from the Landscape Arch.

Fiery Furnace Overlook

If you have more time in the park, definitely continue on to view the “Double-O-Arch” that is just a mile further from Landscape Arch. The primitive loop at Arches is home to few of the most magnificent natural sandstone arches in this park and should definitely be done if you have time. Also, my blog entry would be incomplete without the mention of the Fiery Furnace trail. It’s a labyrinth of sandstone canyons and fins. Only guided trips are offered and unfortunately, we could not get reservations for the tour since we had not made them in advance. I believe these days reservations can be done up to 7 days in advance. It is a 2-3 hour tour and the mazes within are so confusing that you have to be accompanied by a park ranger so that you don’t get lost. No tour for us, but we obviously stopped at the Fiery Furnace vista to get a quick glance.

Landscape Arch - Devil's Garden Primitive Loop trail

It was almost time for sunset and so we headed to THE DELICATE ARCH to view sunset!!! Back in those days, a 3 mile round trip hike was a big deal for me :)! The hike is on an incline terrain and steep rocks and there is absolutely no shade along the trail, so it can drain you out on a hot summer day. I don’t remember how much time we took to reach the top, but it seemed never-ending. Though, once we were there, it was surreal. Absolutely divine! Delicate Arch is an absolute treat for your eyes and well worth the hike. If you can only do one hike when you are at Arches, I suggest you do this one! It will not disappoint you! The extra ordinary formations at Arches truly exemplify geological history. Natural forces at their very best!!! We enjoyed sunset at Delicate Arch and headed back with happy memories 🙂 🙂 🙂