Author: sue

Zion National Park

Doug en route to Observation Point

Zion (pronounced ‘ZY-in’ by locals, not ‘ZY-on’) National Park is the most superlative of the National Parks we visited so far. It has the tallest and most dramatic cliffs, soaring 2,500 feet from the Zion Canyon floor. The most innocently named Virgin River continues to flow through the canyon years (ok, millions…) after carving those cliffs. Zion has the largest number of scenic roads with four providing views into the park’s most beautiful areas. The main road through the Zion Canyon features the largest fleet of tandem buses we’ve seen. Zion has the greatest number of elated day hikers anywhere (despite a limited number of day hikes available within the canyon).

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Canyonlands National Park, Part 2 – Needles

Our friend Kat, who works for the National Park Service, told us that she believes Squaw Flats Campground in the Needles District of Canyonlands NP is the most beautiful campground. Apparently, others think so too – it’s typically booked solid 6 months in advance. As non-planners, advance reservations don’t work too well for us, but we’re becoming skilled at snagging cancellations. We scored big! While waiting for our site to open up we got to explore an unplanned, interesting loop back from Capitol Reef – I called it the ‘space between‘ – then we were able to spend a weekend at Squaw Flats. And we agree with Kat – best campground views yet!

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The space between

Bears Ears National Monument

One of our goals was to explore the space between – between the National Parks. Toward that end, we stopped by a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office and made one ranger’s day. We asked about maps, roads and campsites in the area between the NPs, mostly managed by the BLM. She was beaming! She went on to tell us all of her favorite places, potential road closures, and where campsites are plentiful or scarce.

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Capitol Reef National Park

Along the Capitol Reef scenic drive

Capitol Reef National Park is the most remote of the Southern Utah parks. Unique geological movements created a 100-mile wrinkle in the earth’s surface the eventually eroded into an angled reef surrounded by various shapes, sizes and colors of crazy rock formations. The unique movements also enabled the Fremont River to run year-round, creating the basis for settlement. The soil, climate and isolation were perfect for fruit orchards. Fruita, the remains of the historical town within Capitol Reef, is literally and figuratively an oasis in the desert.

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Canyonlands National Park, Part 1 – Island in the Sky

Kat and Sue near Murphy’s Hogback

Canyonlands National Park is a vast and quiet place compared to Arches. It’s divided into 3 distinct districts: Island in the Sky, Needles, and the Maze. The latter can only be accessed by jeeps and off-road vehicles, so we won’t be visiting the Maze. We did visit Island in the Sky during our stay in Moab.

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A note on Southern Utah

Southern Utah is beautiful! However, cell coverage and wifi are nearly as sparse here as palm trees in the high desert. It looks like we’ll be updating blog posts in batches, and perhaps adding photos/albums as we find bandwidth!

We were approached by another hiker who asked if it was our first time in Utah. Yes, yet how did he know? First timers tend to take an extraordinary number of photos. He was right! So, please excuse our (temporary?) hyperphotophilia. Our oversized albums are a small fraction of that extraordinary number…