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Published: August 8th 2012
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We left Zion early in the morning with only a loose plan in mind for our next stops in Utah. About an hour after hitting the road and shortly after a stellar breakfast in the most hodunk little 50's themed diner in the middle of nowhere, we arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce was always an intended stop of ours, but it was another place we had refrained from looking at pictures of. We gazed into the Bryce Canyon. Absorbing this view for the first time with zero expectation, elevated this experience for us. So beautifully unique. So awe for mother nature invoking.
The hoodoos of Bryce are geologic formations, appearing like columns rising from the earth. Hoodoos are found in other places on earth, but nowhere to the concentration as in Bryce. They are formed as erosion does its work in areas where bits of harder rock sit atop soft sedimentary rock. As the harder rock protects the soft layers beneath it, rain and wind carve out the areas of unprotected soft rock, leaving the hoodoos standing tall. With the angle of the mid morning light, every glowing hoodoo was partnered and accented with a shadow.
We
Bryce was so amazing
We were blown away by Bryce hadn't planned on a hike in Bryce, but once we had witnessed what Bryce was, we couldn't resist. We took the Navajo Loop Trail down into the valley on a path of powdered sandstone switchbacks. Seemingly lost pine trees sprouted from narrow gaps between the hoodoos. The trail meandered through the valley, eventually climbing back up towards the top of the plateau, exposing similar but always unique hoodoo views the whole way through.
Bryce was so spectacular and far more breathtaking than we had dreamed it would be. Nevertheless, it is a small park and we decided to continue our day with a long drive to Moab still lying ahead of us. We set off again on the road, and heeded the advice of one of the Bryce rangers to drive the slower State Highway 12 to 24 rather than the interstate. The slow route was the most scenic stretch of road we experienced on our entire cross country trip. Combinations of beautiful colors, constantly varying rock formations, vibrant forests, distant views of the countryside... It was tremendously fun to slowly cruise this road, most of the time the only ones on the road. Game of Thrones on audiobook
was our soundtrack of choice.
Along our drive, the small highway drove through Capitol Reef National Park, an inspiring stretch of buttes, monoliths and more colorful ridges. We only made a brief stop here to see Native American petroglyphs, rock art of human and animal figures from 800 to 1500 years ago. It reminded me of seeing the Cavo de los Manos in the Patagonia a few years ago. It's amazing to think of the moment this art was carved in the stone... the individual crouched there creating something to be pondered forever into the future.
A few hours later, we were passing the entrance to Arches National Park on our way into Moab. With a good chunk of the day still left, we decided to visit Arches on this day as well. Arches, of course, is brilliant as to be expected, but after all the amazing geologic formations we had seen over the past many days, the red rocks were starting to feel somewhat redundant. While its not to say we didn't appreciate what we were seeing in Arches, the baking heat and no shade in sight made us unenthused to get out of airconditioned haven of
our rental. Of course we had to force ourselves when we were in a place like this, so we briefly scurried from our car at Balanced Rock, Turret Arch, Double Arch and Delicate Arch, giving us a sample of the various shaped formations in the park. Nothing against Arches and we know its supposed to have superb hiking, but we were burnt out and over the heat (this was in the middle of the summer heat wave by the way). More than content with the day, we left Arches (perhaps to return one day during a cooler season) after a few hours of exploring to find a place to spend the night in Moab.
Moab is a mecca for outdoor activities - hiking, mountain biking, and rafting to name a few. While we had hoped to dabble in some of these activities, thoughts of our next destination and the cooler temperatures awaiting us in the Rocky Mountains, coupled with an aversion to spending any more time in the southwest heat wave, lead to a decision to skip spending a second night in Moab and continue on the road sooner rather than later. We woke up in our cozy motel
room and decided we would head to Canyonlands National Park, spend as much time as we needed there, and then make our way east.
Canyonlands is a large park naturally divided into three sections by the union of the Green and Colorado Rivers. We visited the northern part of the park called Island in the Sky. Refreshed by a night in air conditioning and the cooler morning temperatures, our enthusiasm was restored for our arrival to Island in the Sky, a giant mesa that stands 1,000 feet above the surrounding regions of the park. This elevation difference is why the area has the name it does and also results in spectacular views from many turnouts and short trails in this district.
With the guidance of a park ranger, we made two stops in addition to the numerous turnouts along the main road of the park. We first drove directly to the Grand View Overlook, a short trail at the point of the the Island in the Sky that most juts out into the surrounding area. We hopped out of the car and followed an amazing trail that hugged the edge of the cliff. Far far beneath us we
could see another plateau from which it seemed huge chunks of earth had just fallen out from underneath, creating expansive canyons. In truth, this was the work of the nearby rivers, but for me, I was picturing a sci-fi movie scene where the earth suddenly cracks and disappears into an abyss below leaving behind ledges, cliffs and canyons. It was so different from any of the other canyons we had seen for two reasons. First, the perspective was from far above. At Canyonlands, the tops of the canyons we looked out were still 1,000 feet beneath us (again, the district is so appropriately named). Second, unlike the massiveness of Grand Canyon or even the scale of Zion or Bryce, Canyonlands was a vast network of much smaller canyons. We loved this walk with its incredible views and a setting quite unique from all our other walks and hikes of the trip. From Grand View we drove to Mesa Arch, an incredibly cool formation that trumped any of those at Arches in my opinion. It is a gentle and small archway right on the edge of a cliff. Through the arch you see the canyons far below. A few brave souls
even walked out along the top of the gradual archway, a vantage we had little desire to experience ourselves.
Canyonlands was a good way to complete our whirlwind tour of Utah's quintet of national parks. After all the other stops we had made in Utah, we found Canyonlands to have more of its own flavor than expected. While Island in the Sky had a heavenly appeal, the day was heating up fast. With zero intention to experience the more hellish-like heat of the midday hours again, we contentedly hit the road, heading east to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.
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