"Sowing the Seeds of Love"

The most beautiful National Parks in the United States...

I had visited Park City a few years back for a ski trip, but didn't take the time to drive south and experience the Mighty 5 National Parks.  I'd read and seen pictures but really couldn't process their magnality until driving through.

We set off from a flight to Las Vegas, where we rented a car and began our journey through the southern half of Utah. Our first stop; Zion National Park, near the outskirts of Springdale.  One of the main attractions featured at Zion was Angels Landing, a 2.5 mile trail that takes you up nearly 1,500 feet of solid rock.  An incredible feat of engineering, and maybe my favorite portion of this park was the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel.  The road was literally cut through vertical sandstone, and allows people to drive through the cliffs and experience the surreal landscape from an elevated position.

Our 2nd stop along the way was Bryce Canyon National Park.  Maybe the most picturesque of the parks we saw, Bryce Canyon featured an assortment of Hoodoos.  These spired structures of rock were featured throughout the park, some with distinctive features, while others were in almost uniformed rows.  Hoodoo formations are thought to be formed by repeated freezing and thawing of water.  Being perched over these structures from such a higher perspective almost made for an optical illusion, like they were painted far away in the distance.  Also, an FYI- Bryce is technically not a canyon, but a series of natural amphitheaters, eroded into the Paunsaugunt Plateau.

From Bryce Canyon, we worked our way over to Capitol Reef National Park.  If taking this route, I STRONGLY recommend you travel via Scenic Byway 12 or Route 12.  Although it's a longer route, this 100+ mile stretch will guarantee to leave your jaw dropped.  From the arches in Red Canyon, to the stairs from the Escalante National Monument, there will be lots of slowdowns and stops to take it all in.  Upon arriving at Capitol Reef you'll be ensconced in more than 240,000 acres of beauty.  Much of it, containing of a long, upward landscape known as a Waterpocket Fold.  This wrinkle-landscape is where the park derives it's "reef" name.  One other note about Capitol Reef, it features a natural bridge (what you might think you'd see at Arches National Park) that stands about 125 off the ground; Hickman Bridge.

We unfortunately didn't have time to experience the Arches National Park or Canyonlands National Park, so a future trip will definitely be in the making to complete the Mighty 5.  Until then...I'm comin' home, babe.

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS:

Zion National Park

• Angels Landing
• Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel

Bryce Canyon National Park

• Hoodoos
• Tropic, Ut - Little town we stopped at afterwards to get Pizza, pretty delicious - Bryce Canyon Inn
• Hwy 12 - From Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef National Park

• Waterpocket Folds

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Rather than spend $30 admission at each park - you can buy a pass for $80, that gets you into EVERY park and it's good for 12 months!  We bought ours at the gate of the first park we visited (Zion)
• We flew to Las Vegas and rented a car to drive throughout Utah.  We dropped of our car and flew home from Denver.
• Load up on water if you're going to do a lot of driving
• Bring rain gear/cold gear, extra socks
• Cell services isn't the best so it wouldn't hurt to bring emergency first aid, lights, flares, etc.
• Drive Scenic Highway 12.  You will NOT be disappointed.
• Make plenty of stops to get out, stretch, observe, hike, take pictures, etc.
• Lodging could be pricey/busy so look at all of your options, Hotwire, AirBnb, or simply Google for hotels in the area.