Travel

Grand Canyon & National Parks Loop

Yes, I’m repeating myself, but this is so important as we start this chapter of this adventure. As previously mentioned here you need to get a Parks Pass if you can. We used ours so much and saw so many amazing things we probably wouldn’t have been able to see without it.

This chapter finds us visiting the Grand Canyon, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Lake Powell, Grand Escalante, Zion & Capitol Reef. Yes, in 2 days. There is absolutely no way I can do the beauty, wonder and majesty of the things we saw justice. No way. It is my hope that I’ll be able to share a little of our adventure, our experience and light a spark of adventure in you so that you’ll explore these places with your own families. We live in a beautiful world created by an incredible artist and there are so many places begging to be explored. You owe it to yourself to do that. I’ve had such a difficult time narrowing down the pictures for this post – I literally have 100’s and each is beautiful in its’ own right. Go explore. Please.

Today’s chapter finds us in Arizona traveling through the Kaibab National Forest to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. When visiting the Grand Canyon do your research. Each area of the park is different, starting with accessing it. If you are using a Parks Pass, you won’t be able to use it at the West (most popular) entrance. That side of the park is owned by the Hualapai Indians, not the parks service. Basically that means you’ll be paying (at last check) $45 per person for admission and access to the viewpoints. There are a lot more “tourist” type advantages to visiting that side, but my feeling was why pay that much for something I can see for free at another entrance. The North Rim is not open year-round due to weather conditions.

As we approach the entrance to the Grand Canyon, it becomes real obvious real fast how today is going to play out. It’s Spring Break. I’m not even sure how long we waited in that line, but it was a really long time. During this wait time, we have a real deep discussion about our overly ambitious plans for the day. If there weren’t a gazillion people here (giving us an indication of what all the National Parks are going to be like) we might be able to really explore. It’s obvious that there’s no way with these crowds. We decide we’ll spend a little time in each of the parks we visit, stop at the viewpoints, take as many pictures as we can and make plans for visiting again with a list of “must do” hikes for next time.

We finally make it in. There are quite literally no words to describe the Grand Canyon. It’s so much more than you imagine it will be – it’s surreal standing on that edge looking into the depths of the earth, unable to see the other side of the canyon because of the sheer vastness. As corny as it sounds, it’s a holy experience. You can research the history, science and mythology of the Grand Canyon just as easily as I can and I would encourage you to do that. There is so much we simply don’t know & new things are being learned all the time. Go see it. Just do.

After exploring the South Rim, we head East, out of Grand Canyon National Park onto the next destination. The Grand Canyon is incredible and amazing and impressive and all of those things, but it’s not the only piece of wonder to be found in this region of the world. It’s our ambitious goal to see as much as we can in a very short period of time while fighting Spring Break crowds.

We soon find ourselves surrounded by Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. There is no visitor’s center at the monument, but there are lots of entrances, hiking trails, scenic viewing areas though. Remember those crowds I mentioned? Yeah...We don’t see nearly as much as we’d hoped, that’s for sure! Like the Grand Canyon, words don’t do it justice. Honestly, nothing we see at this point on the trip can be adequately described. The rock formations, the colors, the layers of different types of sediment, the appearance of rolling waves in rocks...it’s beautiful!

As we pass from Arizona into Utah, we cross the Westernmost point of Lake Powell as it morphs into the Colorado River. Fun bit of irony: did you know that there is an Antelope Island at the tippy top of Arizona and into Utah? What’s ironic about that? There’s another Antelope Island in Utah – in the Great Salt Lake. Who would have thought Antelope needed that many islands so close to together?

Today’s plan didn’t include a stop in at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, but there’s no missing it as you’re driving Hwy 89 through the South end of it. Of course we snap lots of pictures (especially the Toadstool Hoodoos) and make a couple of roadside stops to take it in, but the plan is to explore the North side of it after Bryce Canyon tomorrow. The geological formations are incredible!

One thing I do wish we’d taken the time to do that we didn’t? North of Kanab, right off the highway you’ll find “Moccasin Mountain Dinosaur Tracksite.” All of the research leading up to this trip said the lane back into it would likely require a high-profile 4-wheel drive vehicle so we knew it was questionable. If you have the right vehicle and you have the time to spend exploring, this would be a good stop to add to your itinerary – dinosaur tracks? How cool is that?!?!

Isn’t it funny that any road trip comes with a bit of drama too? On the mountain roads from Kanab to Zion, I was passing a slow moving vehicle (2 lane highway – one each way). I glance in my rearview mirror right as the semi that had been behind me takes off to pass us both. Yep – 3 wide on a mountain road. Good times, right? Pretty sure that one took a few years off my life and if I’d have been able to catch that truck, I might have ended up in the clink that night.

The line to get into Zion is crazy long and we know we’re pushing daylight already. Going in we are well aware that this is another one of those places we’re going to want to come back to when we have more time and it’s less shoulder-to-shoulder people. Not only is the road through Zion a constant crawling gridlock, there are people everywhere and buses like you can’t imagine! I couldn’t even begin to guess how many people are in the park, but there are way too many. Even in the 1.1 mile long tunnel that goes through Mount Carmel, there are people lining the roadside!

Zion was beautiful – like every other marvel we’ve seen today, but it’s just too busy to really enjoy. When I find myself in something that is, hands down, a natural masterpiece, I don’t want to feel like I’m in the middle of a big city. Despite the beauty, there’s no place to really slow down, soak it in and enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong – that certainly exists here, but not when it’s that crowded. The peace is stolen. I hope to get another chance to actually enjoy Zion.

We are exhausted! This day has been insane. We started on Route 66, stopped at Bedrock, visited the Grand Canyon and seen a tremendous amount of the wonders of Northern Arizona & Southern Utah. Leaving through the West side of Zion, we know we have a bit of a drive ahead of us to get to our hotel outside Capitol Reef National Park for the night.

It’s definitely not a straight shot – about 3 ½ hours to get to our hotel in Torrey but we get there. Finally. I managed to hit 2 jack rabbits and almost took out a deer, but we pulled into Torrey exhausted and ready for sleep. Travel tip: If you book a room in Torrey (it’s just outside the west entrance to Capitol Reef) you will NOT have cell service or any way to look up an address so know where you’re going. AND when you get to the east end of town and it looks like you’re driving off into the desert, just keep going. A couple of miles outside of town there are some hotels hidden. We kind of freaked out a little, but we did eventually find our room.

Next morning the plan is to go through Capitol Reef, come out the South end of it, go through Bryce and down into the North side of Escalante. What’s that saying about if something can go wrong, it will? We woke up to snow. Quite a bit of snow, actually. Completely unexpected snow. Ugh…We spent a lot of time re-figuring our plans. The storm breaks, it seems to be clearing up, we’re literally right outside the park entrance so we go for it. Of the parks we’ve seen in Utah, this one quickly becomes my favorite.

Capitol Reef isn’t nearly as well-known as its’ cousins Zion & Bryce, which is a good thing considering the crowds we’ve had to deal with. There are a lot of people here, but not over-crowded at all.

Capitol Reef took upon itself “Capitol” because of the white domed peaks that were reminiscent of the Capitol building. The “Reef” portion of the name is because the red rock landscape looks much like a coral reef. Also, it surrounds a 100 mile long “wrinkle” in the earth’s crust named the “Waterpocket Fold”.

Located inside the park is the settlement of Fruita. There are some historic buildings, a really interesting visitors center and fruit orchards. Yes, orchards that were planted by the pioneers that still produce a lot of fruit. The morning we’re there the apricot trees had been blooming and now find themselves covered in snow. The deer don’t seem to mind – they’re grazing among the trees.

The thing that blows my mind is they believe many of these geological formations to be 275 million years old. Many of the petroglyphs on the canyon walls have been dated back to around 600 ad. Oh yes, I said petroglyphs. Well-preserved petroglyphs.

Judging by the darkening sky, the wind that’s picking up and flakes starting to fall again, we’ve spent as much time here as we dare. We confirm with a park ranger that it’s been snowing pretty heavily in Bryce and they’re not recommending travel (as we suspected) so we start the drive home. Bryce will have to wait for another time – it’s more important to be safe. Plus, truth be told, as fun as this trip has been, I think we’re all ready to be home.

We make one last stop in Salt Lake for In-n-Out burgers and then straight on to home. Priorities, right?

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