RoadTrip: National Parks Day

How was today National Parks Day?! We've already been to so many Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef.  What made this day so special?  Three National Parks in 1 day.  I know, crazy, but by the end of the day we were going to be exhausted and thrilled by some of the most amazing views this earth has to offer.

I know what you are thinking, I'm not even sure Karl Malone spent this much time in Utah and it's true we have been in Utah for a long time.  But let me tell you, the state has some amazing things going on, including a seemingly endless supply of National Parks.

We started this morning unlike many before, waking up with the sole purpose of watching the sunrise.  I've done the 'stay up all night to watch the sun come up,' usually with a cohort of mine, Brad Jones, which have included Coney Island and the St. Louis Arch, not on the same night sadly, but maybe one day those stories will be told, but I have yet to do the wake up and watch the sunrise.

It was chilly and we didn't feel like changing out of our pajamas to go watch the sun come up so I kept my Guinness pants on as we found our way over to the Sunset Point we had been to the previous evening.  We were not the only ones that had this idea to watch the sunrise from Sunset Point and there were about 8 other people, camera in tow, jockeying for the best spot to watch the sun come up.  We had the camera ready, snapping pictures as the colors turned from gray to light orange and began turning brighter.  Then of course, this is when my camera decides to burn out of batteries. We had more readily available...in the car...10 minutes back down the trail.  We didn't turn our backs on the sunrise though and figured that not every moment needed to be captured on camera.

Sunrise over Bryce Canyon - Last picture before the batteries ran out

Now that the sun was burning brightly in the sky we decided to go back to bed.  It was only a little after 6 and figured a nap wouldn't hurt so we went back to our teepee and snuggled back up in the darkness that the canvas shelter created.  We could have slept all day in the teepee and not known it.  It was like midnight inside it was so dark.  But after a little cat nap we were off to head towards the Grand Canyon.  As we were driving west through Utah we were discussing if we should go to Zion National Park today or tomorrow.  We were going drive by it this morning but then also on our way back out of the Grand Canyon we were going to double back.  Decisions. Decisions.

Big Horn Sheep in Zion

We decided to go to Zion today and I'm not even sure what our reasoning was behind the decision.  Megan had been to Zion only the year before with her family but I had never been to the park and really had no idea what to expect.  Megan wouldn't stop talking about how amazing it was with giant canyon walls and endless cliffs.  Even before we really got into the canyon part we received a treat; there was a pack of big horn sheep resting on top of a rock formation.  The horns were amazing to see as the sheep rested in the shade.  Plus the road itself is quite a sight to see.  At some points the road is essentially a tunnel through the rock face but with openings and windows looking out over the canyon.  The engineering involved is amazing and it is incredibly exciting when you catch a glimpse of the canyon through the tunnel wall.

Scenery on the Drive in to Zion

We arrived down in the bottom of the canyon at the visitors center to find out that you can't drive anywhere and have to take a bus to all the locations inside Zion.  Megan supposedly told me this fact but I knew nothing of it.  We packed a backpack with some snacks, water bottles, and camera and went inside the visitors center to figure out what we wanted to do.  After some deliberation, Megan decided that Angels Landing would be too long and difficult and that we didn't need to hike through the river because it wasn't all that much fun last summer.  We did find a short hike up to a little waterfall and then we thought we could take the tour bus around to the other places and if we wanted to jump off we could and if we weren't feeling it we could see the canyon from the bus.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Our first hike was quick and easy, the waterfall was lame and I can't remember more than that.  So we jumped back on the bus and took it towards the end of the canyon.  As we were riding, we got to see some great views of the cliffs and Megan decided that we should at least climb half way up Angels Landing to see Zion canyon from that angle.  So we jumped back off the bus and started the strenuous climb up the canyon wall. After countless switchbacks and what felt like a 7 mile hike, we turned back around a corner and had an incredible sight.  Zion Canyon, stunning and mighty, is quite an amazing place.

Zion National Park

We were hot and tired by the time we made it back down to the canyon floor and we were very glad that the lodge, restaurant, and gift shop was only a quick walk down the trail.  We found the food court to not appeal all that much to our growling stomachs but decided that splitting a salad would tide us over until we found something more.  The salad ended up being fresh, colorful, large and filling.  We devoured the whole thing and felt very healthy afterwards.  A quick stop in the gift shop to pick up some nick-knacks and then we were going to head towards our campsite just outside the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and move on past the state of Utah.

We had reserved this campsite a few weeks earlier as the North Rim doesn't have a lot of places to stay near by and the campground inside the park was already booked up.  We originally thought about staying two days at the Grand Canyon but last minute decided we should spend an extra night in Las Vegas.  Our plan was then to reach our campsite and then the next morning check out the Grand Canyon!

We reached our campsite in Kaibab, Arizona.  I'm not sure if there was a town or anything more than the campground but it was a great place.  Lots of pine trees and our site was down next to a pasture where there were a few horses roaming around.  By the time we set up camp and it was late in the afternoon.  We didn't have anything to do the rest of the day and after playing a few hands of cards and discussing the Grand Canyon we said screw it, let's go see it now.  So we jumped in the car and drove the last 45 minutes to the North Rim, our third national park of the day.

First View of the Grand Canyon

We found our way our towards the edge and bam! the view becomes endless.  At first, I was unimpressed.  This was my first time at the Grand Canyon and had heard all those amazing things, it's breathtaking, you'll never see anything like it, yada yada yada. Well when I first looked out into the canyon I thought, "eh, it doesn't seem as deep as the Black Canyon, and Canyonlands is more visually stunning."  Maybe that was the downside to all the amazing things we had already seen, we were becoming numb to things that are grand.  I stand by what I think about the Black Canyon and Canyonlands and Zion that they are all incredible and maybe because I had lower expectations of those places and wanted the Grand Canyon to be ten times cooler than those other place that I wasn't blown away by the Grand Canyon.  However, as I stood next to this canyon it grew on me, I noticed how dark it was in some valleys and that I was standing 15 miles from the south rim and just how massive this canyon really is.  I will sum it up with this, initially I was underwhelmed and now looking at the pictures I wonder how I could ever have felt like that.

Grand Canyon

I have never been to the south rim, but I have heard that it is tourism at its worst.  The North Rim was nothing like that.  I understand that the south rim is way easier to get to from Phoenix but I would definitely advise the 3 hour drive around the canyon to reach the North Rim because it is a beautiful place.  There is a gorgeous lodge, cabins, a restaurant, bar, and a gift shop.  We decided that we didn't need to drive back again in the morning since it was about an hour to get here from our campsite.  The lodge has a wonderful stone patio overlooking the canyon, so we found the bar, got a couple beers and sat out on the patio as the sun set over the Grand Canyon.  It was very windy and we were glad that we had a car full of clothes because we needed pants and long sleeves to enjoy the views.  As we were sitting on the patio, the views really got me, the sun was making the canyon look purple or blue and they were starting to take my breath away.

Grand Canyon at Dusk

We knew we had an hour drive back to camp and once the sun went down the road was pitch black so we didn't stay long after sun down.  On the drive, we took some great pictures as the wilderness beautiful bathed in moon light.  We reached our camp safely and decided to make some tuna melts for a late dinner before hitting the hay with intentions of driving to Sin City in the morning. 

Driving towards Kaibab

Dead Tree Night

RoadTrip: Who Knew There Was So Much To Do In Utah

Hopefully you aren't tired of reading this story yet, we are on day 13 of our roadtrip, just another 3 weeks to go.

We woke to a wonderful Sunday morning in Torrey, Utah.  Torrey is named for Jay Torrey of Pittsfield, IL who came up with the idea of the Rough Riders, which of course helped create the famous career of Teddy Roosevelt.  Now 172 people know that fact about Torrey, assuming the entire population of 171 know the roots of their town's name.  (To be honest I used wikipedia. I also want my editor to read that last sentence to make sure it is grammatically correct.)

After we found out that amazing fact about Torrey, we picked up our fresh muffins and snarfed them down for breakfast.  Really my muffins were more like cupcakes being that they were chocolate and chocolate chip but really what is the difference between a muffin and cupcake.  Rhetorical question, we can discuss the differences at another time.

We only had a few miles to cover before reaching the little known place of Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument.  I have no idea what any of those words mean when pieced together like that but we just called it Escalante.  We were told to visit this place way back in St Louis one night when we were telling some friends our idea to drive west for a month.  This girl said she had done something similar a few years earlier and Escalante was amazing. She said "you can swim in a waterfall!" and Megan's eyes lit up.  We were going there come hell or high water, and actually high water might make the waterfall more majestic.



We knew we had about a 3.5 mile hike to reach Lower Calf Creek Falls but that was nothing.  After a short detour off trail which included some rock climbing which should have been the first clue that we were off the trail, we started to hear some water splashing.  Then the air temperature went from about 95 to 85 degrees as the cool water was being sprayed into the air.  We came around the final bend and we were greeted with an incredible 125 ft waterfall.  Just a small ribbon tumbling through the air splashing down into a large pool.

Lower Calf Creek Falls in Escalante

We had brought some swim wear to change in to so we could play in the water which was going to feel wonderful as we had worked up a sweat with our rock climbing detour.  There were a few others playing near the water but not many people were getting in and we quickly found out why when we dipped our toes in, Brrrrrr! That water was freezing!  It wasn't going to stop us though so we inched our way in and tried our best to get all the way to the waterfall but the water was damned cold to get under the splash.  I finally built up enough courage to dive in, I almost had a heart attack as I went under and felt my heart begin to race.

Megan Swimming Through the Falls

Looking Up at the Falls

We sat on the beach and enjoyed the water on our feet and the sun on our faces.  Then to fill our bellies we ate some homemade chicken quesadillas that we had been working on the previous night before finding out about the brick oven pizzas.  We had packed the quesadillas in our backpack with a couple packets of tabasco sauce and devoured them next to the water.  The hike back to the car was quick and painless and we noticed the spot where we lost our way and laughed at how we could have ever thought the trail went in that direction.



We had about an hour drive to our next stop, Bryce Canyon, where we were hoping to find a place to stay.  We stopped half way in to the drive to get some gas and found a little ice cream shop attached, so we definitely weren't passing that by.  We also talked with the owner about Bryce Canyon and she said that we should try to stay at Ruby's Inn, it is just outside the entrance of the park and they have a huge camping area.  We called Ruby's Inn and they had availability so we were set.

As we drove on to the grounds at Ruby's Inn we noticed a few teepees along the road; when we were at the check-in desk I asked what the deal was with them.  They told me that we could rent them and sleep in a teepee, so again we weren't missing out on an opportunity like that, plus they gave us the one that wasn't right next to the road, in fact it was back on the far edge of the grounds away from everything else.

Our Home for the Night

Setting up camp this night was a breeze; all we had to do was unroll the sleeping pads and bags and we were set.  The teepee was huge inside; we could have easily slept another 6-8 people in it.  Ruby's Inn was perfect for us, there was a pool that we took advantage of.  If you hadn't noticed we were starting to really enjoy the relaxation time at the end of the day.  After our relaxing pool time, we went back to our teepee and played some cards, I remember winning at rummy or gin or gin rummy whatever it was but I bet Megan probably remembers it differently.  Who will ever know for sure. 

Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park

Then we decided we wanted to check out some of the park at sunset so we hoped in Jeep and drove in to the park to a few of the vista points, one of group being called Sunset Point, which seemed promising.  Bryce Canyon has these things called hoodoos that look like those drip sand castles but are orange.  They have a very interesting look to them and it was cool to be up close and between them.  The views were all facing east which confused me as the sun was setting in the west here.  I was underwhelmed by the Sunset Point but felt that if we came back for sunrise it could redeem itself.

Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park

We scurried back to our car as the temperature was no longer "shorts and t-shirt weather" and headed towards a restaurant where we found a buffet to fill our stomachs to capacity.  After gorging ourselves all we wanted to do was sleep and since we were getting up predawn, sleep was welcome.