MomTrips

Canyonland National Park

Moab was home base for Canyonland and Arches national parks.  I took a beautiful 6-mile hike to look at red and white spires that are artistically placed in the mountains.  Cactus flowers were blooming and added to the beauty of the surroundings. 

 It was hot – 95 and very, very sunny during the hike.  When I returned to the motel – I went into the whirlpool to loosen up.  It felt great.

Arches National Park

It was Memorial Day weekend and since I expected a crowd, I started early – 7:45 AM. The park was crowded but fabulous with its amazing arches.  

To reach most of the arches, I had to walk about 1 mile from the parking lots.  Obviously, the arches nearest to the parking lots were the most crowded. I stayed at the park for 5 hours and I believe saw all of the arches. 

Drive from Moab to Boulder, Utah

The 200-mile drive from Moab to Boulder, Utah was through beautifully carved hills in red and gray.  I went over a mountain with evergreens at the sides and white birches at the top.  When I stopped at the lookout point – I almost got swept away by the wind.  I had to look at the view from the car. 

Escalante National Park

Boulder, Utah was the jumping off town for my 5 day/4-night Escalante camping/hiking trip. It was amazing, fabulous, interesting, instructional, scary, difficult, and satisfying. The park is huge with lots of canyons, rivers, slick rock hills and beautiful views. The group of 5 were led by Sue and Grant, our guides, cooks, and drivers.    From town, our campsite was 40 minutes by car and a 3-hour hike to the camp site.  

The hike was not too bad, mostly on sandy soil with a light downhill until the very last when we had to go down steeply on slick rock. The gale force winds of the night before had calmed down quite a bit but it was still windy and it was cool.  

We used the camp for all 4 nights and did day hikes.  The camp was near the river under an overhang so we had some nice shade (which we appreciated when it warmed up after the first day).  There was a bathroom tent about a block away, which consisted of a hole in the ground and a seat.  There were lots of comfortable chairs for sitting and relaxing.  The food was excellent. 

The weather, after the first chilly day – and very cold night, moderated each day – so that by the last day it was very warm climbing up to the trail head. 

Each day we hiked about 7 hours.  We would start in the morning going up from camp to hike up on to the slick rock.  The hiking was often challenging with slippery ups and downs on the rocks.  But the views from the top of hills were wonderful. 

In the afternoon we usually went down to the rivers and waded in if the river wasn’t too deep, fast running or too rocky.  Otherwise, we would cross from side to side and bushwhack along the banks.  I was pretty scratched up from walking into the bushes, but I loved walking through the rivers. 

On two of the days, we went through very narrow slits.  One was basically level once we were helped into it but so narrow that I had to take the pack off and walk sideways through it.  The other was wider but went down, down, down and it was a bit scary doing it.  I had to hold on to ledges to get down.  At the bottom of the slit we had to wade through waist high water. The last day I took the option of doing a shorter (5 hours) hike with Sue (rather than continuing with Grant) and was back in camp by 2 PM to rest and read.  It was delightful.

When the weather warmed up enough (the third day on) we bathed in the river – chilly but ok.  The food was fabulous.  Each evening we had another type of dish (chicken, beef, fish etc.).  For lunch we made sandwiches and carried them with us.  Breakfast was a hot cooked breakfast such as eggs or French toast.

I saw the most beautiful starlit sky when leaving the tent when nature called in the middle of the night.  It made up for sleeping on a less comfortable “bed” than at home. We saw lots of fabulous Petroglyphs, including some lovely ones right at our camp.  We also hiked to an old cabin that a hermit built about 100 years ago.  On the last day, we hiked up out of camp and back to the trail head.  I spent another night in Boulder, UT at the Boulder Mountain Lodge.  It was great to sleep in a bed and take a real shower as well as to have a toilet just a few steps away.  

Bryce Canyon

Bryce is a delight. The red hoodoos are magnificent.  A hoodoo is a rock shaped like a pillar that has been worn down by the elements.  On one of my hikes, I saw one that looked like Queen Victoria. It was mostly sunny both days at Bryce with highs in the 80s.  Although cars are allowed in Bryce, it also has a very nice shuttle that runs every 15 minutes through the main part of the park.  My hotel was one of its stops which gave me the option to drive or take the shuttle.  I did both.  The shuttle makes about 10 stops along the way.  This makes it possible to hike from view point 1 to view point 2 and then just get on the shuttle and not worry about the car being in the wrong place. 

An easy hike: I took the shuttle to the furthest point then hiked the rim trail to the next viewpoint.  I had decided to give my body a rest after the vigorous hiking of the previous days, but I couldn’t resist taking an easy hike. 

The hike at Sunrise Point: I drove into the furthest point of the park and then stopped at various lookout points.  Then, I parked at Sunrise Point and began a wonderful 4+ miles hike. Since Bryce is at the top of the hills, all walks require going down first then back up.  I had a fabulous time getting into the rock formations rather than just seeing them from the top.  I saw many “window” arches, and walked through many that intersected the trail.  The formations were fabulous. 

The Navaho Loop:  This hike took me about 600 feet down for .6 of a mile through perfectly fabulous scenery.  Then I walked somewhat flat for .4 miles to see the rock slide that happened a week earlier and had closed the loop – I had to do an out and back.  It was an amazing hike and not too hot because I started at 8 AM and therefore, was in shade for most of it.

Sunset Point: One late afternoon I sat at Sunset Point for about an hour watching the light change on the hoodoos until the sun went down.  It was so relaxing.

I was actually able to get away from people while hiking.  Most people only get as far as the vista points and some even find the few stairs to the vista point a challenge and look at the scenery from their tour bus or car.

Zion National Park

My next destination, Zion National Park was about 80 miles away.  I entered Zion from the East entrance through an amazing zig zag road and a-mile long tunnel that was really creepy.  They had to blast the mountain (1930) to build the tunnel.  I reached Zion at 1:30PM, tried to park in the visitor lot but it was full.  Therefore, I continued on about 2 miles to the hotel, checked in and then took the free shuttle to the park.  I was in Zion over 30 years ago and at that time cars were allowed in the entire park.  But today, because so many people come, you can only drive to the Visitor Center (if you are early enough or late enough to find parking).  There is one shuttle to the park from the town just outside the park and another shuttle in the park.  The shuttles run very frequently and start at 5:30 am and run to about 11:30 PM.  

Zion is at the bottom of the canyon (as opposed to Bryce which is on top of the canyon).  It is made up of huge boulder like mountains – very impressive. There are many wonderful trails which I hiked. But the mid day temperatures were near 100 degrees, therefore I made sure to hike early in the day.

I started with Three Emerald Pool hike.  It was a fairly easy hike with lovely views of the huge boulders.  As the name implies, there were three pools to view during the hike and some lovely waterfalls.  Then I hiked to the Weeping Rock waterfall (just a 1 mile round trip on paved walk).  The water comes through the rock and it looks like it’s weeping.  It was nice and cool under the waterfall. 

The next morning I did two hikes – both listed as strenuous (more than I had bargained for).  This is how it happened.  There are 3 hikes listed as strenuous – (I had done the moderate ones the previous day).  I decided to hike the easiest of the strenuous ones, Hidden Canyon.  The  brochure description listed it as an 850 ft climb for 1 mile and then back down, strenuous with long drop offs – not for anyone fearful of heights.  I am fearful of heights but I decided to do the hike anyway.  I started about 8 AM and had full shade for the whole hike and stayed cool.  The 850 ft climb was pretty steady and never too steep.  The trail was on the side of the cliff with a steep drop off but I didn’t feel uncomfortable because the trail was wide and I could hug the mountain.  The last third was a bit dicey – the trail narrowed but there were chains to hold on to therefore, I was not scared (that is me on the right).  The views were magnificent and I were well rewarded. 

I finished the hike in 2 hours, and still felt like hiking. The Angel’s Landing (described as a 1488 ft climb, 5 mile round trip hike), would have been a stretch, especially the last 1/2 mile bit at the top. But I decided to just start the Angel’s Landing hike till the first set of switch backs. I kept reminding myself that there is no way I could do this hike as I went up first set of switch backs.  They were mostly in the shade so I kept going till I reached Refrigerator Canyon.  This was a very pleasant walk that led to the second set of switch backs.  They were in the shade also so I kept going. But enough is enough and I did not walk the last 1/2 mile on the ridge.  I had a wonderful time doing the hike and the views were unbelievable.  By the time I walked down more than 50% of the hike was in full sun.  Anyone attempting it by noon or later is nuts. 

Final Words:

1. I had 12 hiking days in a row. Ambitious but exciting.
2. The group camping trip was lots of fun. Sometimes more challenging than I wished but well worth it.
3. Utah is incredibly beautiful.