Our Utah Trail began with a series on PBS called “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” which made us want to visit for ourselves, to see the stunning scenery and the wilderness and hike some trails.
As we were planning, we found that in 26 days we could take in 7 National Parks, 4 states, 3 State Parks and 2 National Monuments and just hope this is not too ambitious! To top it all a stopover in Las Vegas struck us as the most amazing contrast so we can add several casinos, a bet or two, a show and plenty of glitz to the tally as a fitting end to our trip.
Our trip did not go quite according to plan. We arrived in Springdale, just outside Zion NP on September 30th at 6pm as the park closed, planning to visit in the morning and buy our America the Beautiful Park Pass … only to find in the morning that President Obama had closed all the national parks till further notice as part of the Federal Shutdown as the government had been unable to agree the budget.
Instead, we did all we could to make the most of our trip, and while we were disappointed, we saw other wonders that we would have missed! Our final tally was 5 states (Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona), 5 State Parks (Kodachrome, Dead Horse Point, Gooseneck, Goblin Valley, Riordan Mansion), 4 National Forests (Dixie, Fishlake, Tonto, Coconino), 3 National Parks – a peek only (Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef), 2 Tribal Lands (Ute, Navajo), 2 National Monuments (Grand Staircase-Escalante, Natural Bridges) … and everything has been wonderful!
Journal Entries
Las Vegas … Bright Lights in the Desert
Zion … The Promised Land Only Glimpsed
Bryce Canyon … Just a Peek … Red Canyon Better
Scenic Byway 12 … Bryce to Torrey
Capitol Reef … A Drive-by and on to Goblin
Moab … Marvellous without the National Parks
Ute Mountain Tribal Park … Best Bit Rained Off
Goosenecks … Natural Bridges … Monument Valley
Phoenix … Dolly Steamboat and Taliesin West
Sedona … Woo Woo Red Rocks
Flagstaff … Zane Grey was here!
Las Vegas … Full of Surprises
Map
Off Travelling Together 