Sunday:
Park number 4 today: Canyonlands, which centres on the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. We’re spending the day in the section known as the Needles. It’s one of the more remote and less-visited parks and it’s a walkers’ paradise. We stop on the approach road to admire Newspaper Rock (and a very cute puppy).
We’ve come mentally prepared to tackle 7 or 8 miles, but somehow talk ourselves into an 11 mile walk. There’s no denying that it’s hard work and the temperature is around 30 degrees, but it’s also one of the most beautiful walks I’ve ever done. We start by climbing a short staircase walled by rock on both sides. Next we find ourselves scrambling in and out of a number of canyons, some surrounded by sheer red walls, others filled with odd columns and mushrooms of rock.
It’s wonderfully quiet too. We’re only sharing the trail with a few other walkers, the odd lizard and some super-fast rodents (possibly kangaroo rats?). The views are opening up both in front and behind us. After a couple of hours we find a flat stretch of rock for lunch. A few miles on we reach the best bit of the trail: the next mile or so winds us through narrow, high-walled canyons with just a tiny strip of sky up above.
When we finally emerge into the open we’re faced with the rock formations that gave the Needles its name.
It’s gorgeous, but the legs are getting tired and there are still 5 miles to go. 5 hours after we set off we’re finally reunited with our car. There’s no rest for the wicked and we’ve got another hour or so to drive up to Moab where we’ve booked a motel. It’s after 7 by the time we finally get to put our aching feet up.
Monday:
We’re both tired, but our legs seem to be functioning normally for now. It’s cooler today and overcast with strong winds. We’ve not got long to drive to get in to Arches National Park. It’s a beautiful park, but it’s also very accessible and easy to see mostly from the car. While this is good for our complaining muscles it does mean that there’s a constant stream of traffic and parking spaces are in short supply.
Our first stop is for a quick look at the improbable Balanced Rock.
Next we walk up to Delicate Arch: possibly the most impressive of the arches with a picture-perfect backdrop.
Another short walk takes us to Landscape Arch – the largest and thinnest of the arches. In 1991 it dropped 180 tons of rock, so we don’t get too near to this one. The canyons and rock formations of Arches are as fascinating as any we’ve seen, but the crowds are starting to get us down.
We perk up a little after lunch and take a stroll around two arches known as the windows. After one more stop to admire yet more crazy rock we decide to call it a day. An hour or so gets us to Green River and after the long day yesterday we’re glad to check in early (and get our clothes washed!).
Janet adds: we purposefully avoided any serious walking today, but still managed to clock up about 6 miles.
Tuesday:
It’s about 6 degrees and overcast as we drive out of Green River this morning. We’re driving towards Bryce Canyon and for the first while we’re travelling through the ‘badlands’ of Utah. It looks like we’re driving through multi-hued mine dumps but they are in fact natural. After about and hour and a half we reach Capital Reef National Park, named for the ‘reef’ of rock that runs through it. We don’t have much time to spend here, but as we’ve got to pass through we turn off for the scenic drive. Walls and domes of rock rise up all around us, drawing closer together the further into the park we get. The paved road runs out and we drive another 2 miles or so on gravel. Then that runs out too and we can only continue on foot.
We walk another mile or so into the narrowing canyon. We’re now following an old wagon trail. The pioneers who passed this way carved their names into the canyon walls. These days that kind of behaviour will land you a $200 fine. A short side trail hauls us out of the canyon to some natural ‘water tanks’.
That’s about as much of a detour as we’ve got time for. Back in the car we’re soon driving through Dixie National Forest. Endless vistas open up on one side as the trees get thicker on the other. We’re climbing steeply and the temperature is dropping steadily. Now there is snow on the ground.
We peak at just under 3000 metres with the temperature hovering just above zero. And then it’s back down again. This is a fun road: at one point we’re driving on top of a high, narrow ridge with just enough space for the road, steep drop-offs on either side.
Our next stop is Calf Creek Canyon. This sheer, red-rock walled canyon has the gently bubbling Calf Creek running through the middle of it. It’s a calm, green oasis and it’s warmed up enough to be pleasant. We follow the creek and after 3 miles reach what we’ve come for: the beautiful Lower Calf Creek Falls.
We retrace our steps and then drive the last hour or so to Tropic where we’ve got a motel booked. Utah is firmly Mormon territory: around 60% of the population is Mormon. So far we’ve not noticed this too much, apart from some slightly confusing alcohol laws. As we check into our motel we notice piles of the ‘Book of Mormon’ in various different languages. They’re in the convenience store too, and the pizza place where we call in for a takeaway pizza. Ironically they’ve neglected to leave any English copies lying about, so I think we’ll escape unconverted. To further the irony, there are none to be seen in our room – just the standard issue Gideon’s Bible.
Wednesday:
It’s cold today. We barely get above freezing all day, but at an altitude over 2500m I guess it’s not that surprising. It does make for some beautiful scenery with dustings of snow on the high ground. We’ve got a short drive into Bryce Canyon today and we don’t waste any time in setting off on a hike. The path plunges us over the rim of the canyon and winds its way to the bottom. We’re on the Queen’s Garden trail, named for a particular fin of rock, which supposedly resembles Queen Victoria. We’re expecting it to be a bit obscure, but have no problem picking out the rock in question.
Next we loop on to the Peekaboo trail that climbs up and down the canyon, giving us great views of the multi-coloured hoodoos Bryce is famous for.
At lunchtime we find a scenic spot in the sun to eat our sandwiches. As soon as we stop moving we feel the cold, but when the sun goes in and we find ourselves getting snowed on we decide to cut our lunch short and get moving again. The last stretch of the hike takes us back up to the rim, through the narrow canyon known as Wall Street. Safely reunited with our car we stop for one final look over the glorious canyon before setting off.
As we leave the park the weather worsens and we find ourselves driving through a heavy hailstorm.
It brightens (and warms) up a bit as we drop in altitude. After 2 hours or so we cross into Zion National Park. For now we’re just driving through – we’ll leave the exploring for tomorrow. It’s a great road that winds and blasts (in the form of 2 tunnels, one of which is a mile long) its way through the mountains. We stretch our legs and get our bearings by hiking the quick mile roundtrip (along a fairly narrow, high ledge) to a canyon overlook.
Once through the park we make our way to Hurricane where we’re spending the night.
Thursday:
It’s chilly today and threatening rain as we make our way back to Zion. Zion is heavily visited (it’s easy to see why – it’s a gorgeous lush deep canyon) and in order to cut down on congestion the scenic drive can only be accessed by shuttle bus. We park up, grab our rucksacks and transfer to the bus. We’ve done our research and picked out a hike. Disembarking at the trailhead we start to wonder if we’ve chosen well: half the bus seems to be coming along with us. This is a steep, strenuous hike up the canyon walls. Only thing is the path is paved all the way up and is as busy as a London pavement, so it’s hard to appreciate the beauty of the walk. At the top are a lookout point and a handful of chipmunks hoping to get the scraps of picnics.
The trail continues on to Angel’s Landing. This is a hair-raising stretch, with 1000+ foot drops on either side of the path and only a metal chain to help you keep your footing. We’re both up to the challenge, but again, so is everyone else. This is where the problem comes in. With the constant stream of people we’re forced to wait in precarious spots and keep getting jostled from behind. After 10 minutes or so we’ve had enough and turn back. It’s put a bit of a dampener on our spirits. It doesn’t take long to get back down and we find a spot to eat our picnic while we decide what to do next.
Lunch revives us slightly, but it’s now starting to rain. Not wanting to give up yet we walk to Emerald Pools, with the path cutting onto a rock ledge taking us behind a waterfall.
Once we get back to the road we ride the bus all the way to the end and then let it bring us back to our car.
Friday:
We’re driving to Salt Lake City today but have been struggling to find somewhere reasonable to stay. At the last minute lastminute.com comes through: we get a (relatively) plush room in a hotel in downtown for less than it would cost us to stay in a motel miles out of town. Our drive takes us through patchy snow and torrential rain – we’re taking this as our winter for the year.
Our windscreen has developed a crack in it and we decide to get it sorted before it gives us any problems. We call in at the car rental office on the way to the hotel. Thankfully we’ve learnt our lesson from South Africa and have taken out extra insurance, so it’s not going to cost us anything. They’re more than happy to exchange the car for us and Nick is in muscle car heaven when he realises that they’ve swapped our Chevrolet Impala for a Dodge Charger.
We check into our hotel, get settled and then head out for some food.
Janet adds: by my reckoning we clocked up over 40 walking miles in the last 8 days. Today was meant to be a rest day, but our plush hotel has a plush gym and it’d be a shame not to take advantage of it…
Saturday:
We have a rather relaxed day today, taking in the sights of Salt Lake City. It’s a pretty city: almost completely ringed by snow-capped mountains.
Mormons sure know how to look after a city and we’re pleasantly surprised at the broad, clean streets, landscaped gardens and grand buildings. There’s a very friendly, relaxed feel to the city. The 32 acre Temple Square is the heart of the city and of the Church of Latter Day Saints in the USA. At its centre is the Salt Lake Temple. We’re not allowed inside, but amuse ourselves ‘bride-spotting’ in the grounds: there must be at least 10 wedding parties jostling for the best photos.
Our walking tour takes us to the Capitol Building and historic visitors’ centre, then to the open-air shopping mall. Once we’ve seen all we want to see we head back to the hotel for a bit of a relax.
In the evening we walk down to the Red Iguana for some (more accurately a LOT of) food – officially it ties with Tuscon for the best Mexican ever – resulting in the need to lie down and clutch our stuffed bellies.
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