More National Parks

Following our stops at the Grand Staircase-Escalade and Capitol Reef, we arrived in Moab, Utah just after dark. For the first time on the trip, we stayed in one location for three nights. Our two bedroom townhome was equipped with a washer and dryer, which was perfect halfway through the agenda as we had all brought just carryon luggage and it was time to do laundry.

The unit was located very near Arches National Park and was also convenient to Canyonlands National Park. We spent Thursday, September 21st at Arches, going back in the evening to catch a sunset there. Arches was the only place we visited that required us to purchase a timed ticket ahead of time. While you did need to arrive within the hour time slot on the ticket, you could come back later in the day if you wanted.

There are over 2,000 natural stone arches in the park. What mostly impacts the rocks today is erosion from water. It's a spectacular landscape.

Arches National Park

Friday we left our unit early to drive to Canyonlands. This was another great park for hiking and sightseeing. The area was formed again by erosion, this time by the Colorado and Green Rivers.

Canyonlands National Park

Saturday morning we had a four hour drive to Mesa Verde to visit the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Along the way we stopped at Hovenweep National Monument. It was established as a national monument in 1923, and archeologists consider it to have the finest examples of ancestral Puebloan masonry found anywhere. The ruins were very fascinating.

Hovenweep National Monument

We arrived in Mesa Verde in time to check in and then enter the park for a short hike. We wanted to capture the sunset in the park, and though it was a little overcast we still saw some stunning skies.

Mesa Verde National Park sunset

The next morning we went back to Mesa Verde National Park to see the archeological sites in the park. We also had purchased tickets for a ranger-led talk about the Cliff Dwellings. That is the only way you can hike down to the actual site. The hike involved steep ladders and narrow stairs, but was so worth the effort it took to get down and back up. It is fascinating how these structures were built so many years ago in such a harsh landscape.

Mesa Verde National Park

When we finished with the tour and our drive through the park, we took off for the Grand Canyon, which is about a four hour drive. More on Grand Canyon National Park in the next post.

Seeing our National Parks

flying to Vegas

Last month we did some domestic traveling. We flew into Las Vegas to meet up with our daughter before heading out on a national parks adventure. Lots of discussion and planning among the three of us took place before we decided that we could visit six of the national parks, primarily in Utah, within our twelve day timetable.

We picked up a rental car and spent the night in Vegas. As none of us are particularly fans of the area, I selected a hotel on the north side of town to give us a head start on our three hour drive to Washington, Utah. Here we spent two nights so that we could visit Zion National Park. 

We hiked the park the first day. It is quite beautiful, but it was incredibly packed with tourists. We did not expect the crowds considering that it was mid-September.

Zion National Park

We drove though the park the next day. They do not warn you that once you do the drive and exit the park, you will be in no man's land with limited cell service. We considered turning around, but the line to reenter the park at this back entrance was easily a couple of miles long. And there was only one attendant at the gate. We ended up about two hours away from our hotel, which was only a 20 minute drive to the main park entrance. We made lemonade out of lemons, however, and found an interesting cave to visit as well as a cool spot to go for a hike.

Kanab, Utah

The next park on our itinerary was Bryce Canyon, which was a couple of hours away from our previous hotel. We did some wonderful hiking in this park. The landscape is very unique from other parks we have been to visit.

Bryce Canyon

The next morning we went back into Bryce to see the sunrise. It was worth getting up early to experience it. We did a small hike before going back to our lodge to pack up for the next leg of the trip. I'll cover Moab in the next post.

sunrise at Bryce