We were disappointed last year when we had to cut out Southern Utah from our National Parks list last year. We had hoped to use Jared's 4th grade park pass to the max but no luck. But then the pass got extended to 5th graders so we decided to take the trip out. We visited Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zions and Snow Canyon.
Arches National Park (only one we took a picture by the sign at)
The next day we started at Devil’s Garden to hike to
Landscape Arch. The weather was perfect
and it was not crowded at all. As we left Landscape Arch we saw a hot air
balloon taking off and it was so picturesque. Devil’s Garden and Delicate Arch were 2 arches
Mark really wanted to see. In hindsight we should have hiked to Delicate Arch
first as when we got there later in the morning it was really hot! The hike was
pretty miserable as you are hiking uphill, across rocks, totally exposed to the
sun. So Devils Garden was perfect and Delicate Arch was just hard. We were very fortunate we could even do that
hike though. The park was crowded, and
parking was hard to come by at Delicate Arch. We just lucked out that as we
pulled into the lot three girls walked to their car and we were able to take
their spot with very little waiting. It
was awesome. None of us enjoyed the hike
but we were all impressed with Delicate Arch and enjoyed resting up near there
for a good while. Lydia was not happy about this hike at all and said many
times that she did not think she would recommend it to anyone but once she saw
the arch she loved it.
Sunrise in Arches: I love that we saw the sunset the day before and the sunrise the next day.
Balanced Rock
Landscape Arch
Delicate Arch
Hiking up to it, it was tough!
Shortly after we got to the arch the rangers we chatted with on the way up during one of our breaks showed up.
Best part of the hike, heading back down on this ledge in the shade.
Sand Dunes Arch - Mark named this one Kissing Camels arch.
Naming different rock formations was a fun activity as we drove through the park.
Sand Dunes arch was a favorite of
Jared and Lydia. We had a picnic lunch at Skyline Arch and finished the day at
Double Arch which was my favorite arch.
Jared and Mark climbed up to the arch and sat on the overlook while
Lydia and I stayed at the bottom. I
generally don’t mind hiking up things but I am always worried about how I will
get down. It was the right choice for
Lydia and I. We all really enjoyed Arches National Park. I really liked how we got to see the park with different lighting. We saw it Sunday night with softer evening light and then were back for sunrise and mid day. It was cool. We were able to do that with a few of the parks and I am really glad we did.
Skyline Arch
Court House Towers and Double Arch a second time
Mark and Jared are the 2 on the left
The next day we hiked through Little Wild Horse Canyon and loved it. It was mine, Jared and Lydia’s favorite hike. The canyon is just down the road from Goblin Valley. We originally planned to check out Goblin Valley but loved the hike though the slot canyon so much we stayed there longer. It was so fun. It had beautiful colors with layered and swirled rocks. There were places to climb up the sides, easy obstacles you had to maneuver and times when the canyon was so narrow only one foot could be on the trail at a time. It was the best. After Little Wild Horse Canyon we drove to Capitol Reef to hike the Hickman Bridge Trail. It was hot and not super exciting but we had some fun along the way.
Hickman Bridge- This hike/area reminded me a lot of Colorado. Specifically the drive around Grand Junction which we made so frequently on trips out to Utah.
We arrived at Bryce Canyon about an hour and a half before sunset. Mark’s maternal grandparents were married there at Sunset Point. That evening we took the trail from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point and then met up with Sue at our hotel. We originally booked a cute little cabin to stay in but when Sue arrived there to check in they were overbooked. They offered us a free stay with 2 rooms at a hotel they owned 4 miles down the road and we took them up on it. It was a bad idea. Overall the place was fine. It was safe and clean but it was so outdated and when you walked in the room you asked yourself will I be safe here? I wish we would have kept our cabin. We originally planned to get up early and catch the sunrise at Sunrise Point but when we checked the weather it was 18 degrees and felt like 8 degrees. That was a bit much for us so we delayed our leaving until it was 30 degrees and felt like 28. Once the sun was up it warmed up nicely and we had the perfect hiking temperature. We hiked the Navajo Trail and the Queen’s Garden Trail. This hike was really nice. I really enjoyed it. It was about 3 miles and was the perfect level of difficulty. There were some tough spots but not so hard that you felt exhausted. You finished the hike and felt like you did more than take a walk but still felt good. It is a close tie with Little Wild Horse Canyon for me. Mark tried really hard to be patient and shorten his stride but he was struggling with Lydia for this one. He and Jared ended up hiking ahead of us and Lydia and I took our time doing it. We tried to stay together for most of our hikes but sometimes you just need some space.
Jared added his own hoodoo to the collection.
Almost done. We had reached the uphill portion and were ready for a break.
Zion National Park
That afternoon we drove over to Zion National Park. Sue and Lydia went ahead to St. George where
we were staying and had a nice afternoon together. This was a very good thing. There were a lot of trails closed at Zion the
day and a half we were there but one trail led to an overlook Mark really
wanted to experience so he, Jared and I did the East Rim Observation Point Trail
and it was awful. This is likely the
ugliest hike I have ever been on.
Everything was so dead. We
started hiking around 1:00 so even though the high was like 72 it felt so much
hotter. There are 2 parking lots for
this hike. The upper lot was for small
sedans (like ours, we borrowed a Honda Civic from Mark’s brother Steve) and
added a half mile on to the hike both ways on a hot dusty road. The hike was supposed to be 6.8 miles and we
hiked just over 8. Jared was such a trooper.
It was long, hot and boring. The
view was beautiful but the effort required to get to the view was not worth the
view in my opinion. We stayed at the
viewpoint for a good while so we could mentally prepare ourselves for the long,
hot, ugly hike back. Lydia would have
completely rebelled if we tried this hike with her. Jared did not love the hike at all but we
enjoyed the time with him. We had a
family size bag of skittles that we had been snacking on throughout our trip
and we let him take the bag and just eat what he wanted, he earned them. At the top we goofed off having Jared try to
pose as “the face” of Smart Water. He
accidentally left his water bottle at Sue’s so we bought him the largest water
bottle we could find which happened to be Smart Water. He would make a pretty
good face for Smart Water. Once we made
it back to our car and recovered from the hike we headed through the park. It is a really pretty park but it did not wow
me like it seems to for so many other people.
Maybe I was just burnt out from seeing so many other amazing sites
during the week but Zions was just not that cool to me. Once we got signal we
checked in with Mark’s sister Laurie to see if she had been able to secure a
shuttle pass for us. She got us seats on
the 9:00 shuttle for the next day. We
were shocked because we didn’t think we would be able to use the shuttle but it
worked out. We met up with Sue and Lydia
for dinner in St. George and then Jared and Lydia spent some time swimming in
the pool at our hotel which made them very happy.
The next day we got into Zion’s around 9:30 and took the
shuttle to the last stop which is the entrance to The Narrows. I think The Narrows could be really cool to
try out but not in freezing April water temperatures. We did the Riverside Hike
and it was a good hike. Listening to
Jared pine for a walking stick was not a good time. Everyone we passed who was doing The Narrows had a walking stick so he coveted one the whole hike. The only other hike we attempted was the
Watchman Trail and it was much harder than we anticipated and again I did not
think the view was worth the effort. It was really hot out and once we got to
the top Jared and Lydia wandered off to find some shade without telling us
where they were going so we had a small panic moment of not knowing where they
were. Mark started forward on the trail
which was a loop and I started backwards and we found them pretty quick but
losing sight of your children atop an observation point is not fun.
Riverside Hike
Watchman Trail View
The park shuttle left a bad taste in my mouth. I know it makes it more accessible but it made going to a National Park feel like I was at Disneyland. Waiting in lines to ride a bus, having to wear and show wristbands through the park that had half the hikes closed just made Zion’s seem really overrated to me. Yes, it was beautiful but it is not my favorite national park at all. We weren’t planning on doing Angels Landing but it was closed both days we were there and the day after we left as well. I should maybe give Zions another chance because it was at the end of a long week of beautiful places and we were likely burnt out from hiking and seeing so many Parks but I was just not that impressed.
Saint George: This was our favorite hotel we stayed in, the pool was a huge hit. It was so pleasant to sit outside by the pool in the evening. Their breakfast was also really good. Friday morning Mark ran his personal St. George half marathon and then we checked out and headed to Snow Canyon, our last park for the week.
Snow Canyon State Park
Snow Canyon is great. I read somewhere that anywhere else it would be a National Park but because there are so many other great parks nearby it is just a state park. I don’t know if that is true but it’s a really cool park. We hiked to the Lava tubes and then played around on the Petrified Sand Dunes. The lava tubes reminded me of the ones near Rexburg that I visited many times while attending school there. They were called the Civil Defense Caves then. Jared loved exploring them. He found 2 cool holes to squeeze through and loved crawling and climbing around. Lydia got her second injury as we began exploring. She tripped right at the entrance and hurt her ankle and knee. She bounced back pretty quick but was not that impressed. I really liked the Petrified Sand Dunes and was glad we could explore them. We weren’t sure if we would stop at Snow Canyon and I am really glad we did.
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