What a few days it's been. On Friday, I went to Arches National Park for the day. Thursday night, after I arrived in Moab, I went to dinner at the Moab Brewery....sat next to a guy who's a pretty die-hard hiker and climber. He told me I had to hike to Delicate Arch at Arches. When I went to Arches on Friday, I went to the visitor center to talk to the rangers about how to spend my day. They suggested I hike the primitive loop to Devil's Garden in the morning, then stop for lunch, then hike to Delicate Arch in the afternoon.
So that's what I tried. Unfortunately, I learned a hiking lesson about myself that day. The Devil's Garden hike is a 7.9 mile hike, and the primitive loop is pretty difficult during certain parts. Unfortunately, I'd had a very small breakfast that morning (one piece of toast and one apple), and by the time I finished the loop, even before I got to the major arches, I had "hit the wall". Truly. I was extremely tired, and eating my PB&J, orange, and trail mix didn't help. Fortunately, there was a couple from New Mexico who came along behind me, and at least made sure I was safe until I got to Landscape Arch, and then I was able to get back to my car. I eventually started to feel better, but I decided that I shouldn't do another difficult desert hike that afternoon. So, instead of seeing the single most famous arch at the park from close up, I saw it from a viewpoint two miles away. Bummer. (Although, since I did the primitive loop, I got to hike through the Fin Canyons, which were amazingly cool...)
Anyway, I contemplated trying to hike Delicate the following day, but I later realized I had a pretty big day ahead of me -- seeing both Canyonlands and Capitol Reef, and then driving to Bryce Canyon -- and so I decided not to hike it at all. I guess Delicate Arch will just have to wait for a future hike.
I left Moab on Saturday morning, and I drove to Canyonlands, about 30 miles away. Canyonlands is really huge -- so huge that it has three different "districts", each of which require at least a full day to see. So I just went to the most accessible one, the Islands in the Sky District (the other two are known as the Needles District and the Maze District). Canyonlands is actually really hard to see from the rim. They recommend that to see the park, you take a 4-wheeler, and drive through the canyons. The middle layer of the park is called the "white rim", where the rock is harder than the surrounding areas, and more erosion-resistant. The white rim has, among many others, a 100-mile-long 4-wheeler road, which takes a minimum of two days to drive. I would have LOVED to do that. Unfortunately, even though I had the right car, I didn't have the time required. So I just drove around the upper rim for a while, and then I finally left and made my way westward to Capitol Reef.
Capitol Reef is really cool. I'd never even heard of it until I started working on this trip, but it's a huge "fold" in the landscape of southwestern utah known as the Waterpocket Fold. It's pretty desolate country out there -- the closest signal light is 78 miles away, apparently -- but it's absolutely gorgeous out there. Apparently, it used to be a hideout for Butch Cassidy and a host of other robbers and outlaws. Eventually, Mormons settled in the area and started farming the land in and around the canyon inside the reef. They still grow berries, apples, and peaches, and allow the public to come and purchase fruit during harvest season. They also sell homemade fruit pies at the visitors' center, which I thought was pretty quaint. Anyway, it was named Capitol Reef because, looking up at it, you feel like you're looking at a reef in the ocean. I didn't understand that at first, but after I got there and started driving through the park, I totally understood! I looked up at all these crannies, crevices, and outcroppings that held lush, green plants growing out of them in funny angles and at different heights, and I absolutely felt like a fish, scooting through all of these little pockets, wondering what I'd see around the corner. It was very, very beautiful there, and I would absolutely love to go back someday.
I eventually made it to Bryce Canyon Saturday evening, but I didn't go to the park until the following day. And I have to say, I was somewhat disappointed in Bryce Canyon! Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful there, and the hoodoos are weird and wonderful -- it's just that the entire park is, well, accessible. You can see it by just hopping out of your car and walking 100 yards to a lookout point. You don't have to hike it to see it. I did do a couple of hikes, just to walk down under the rim and among the hoodoos, but it's not really necessary. And there were SO many people there, and they refused to stay on the trails, and it's pretty small, actually -- so the crowds were completely annoying. But my hike through the Queen's Garden and around the Navajo Loop Trail were really nice, if steep.
On Monday morning (Memorial Day), I woke up extra early and went to Bryce Point again to see sunrise over the ampitheater. It was really beautiful, watching the sun come up over the hoodoos, standing straight and tall -- almost like soldiers at attention -- on the day in which we remember all of those soldiers who lost their lives in service for the USA. It was a great way to spend the holiday.
After I packed up at my hotel, I drove the 80 miles from Bryce Canyon to Zion National Park. And, as disappointed as I was in Bryce Canyon, I was overwhelmed by Zion. It is so beautiful, so spectacular, that I was overcome by my smallness, my transience on this Earth. I've only ever felt that way one other time, when I hiked through Grand Canyon several years ago. I can see why the Mormons who first named the cliffs called the area "Little Zion" -- I absolutely saw it as a place for prayer. And I am not someone who normally feels that way, mind you. I could have moved in right then and there.
I didn't do a huge hike there, although I thought about hiking Angel's Landing. But I guess I was gunshy after my experience at Arches, and so I did a bunch of smaller hikes, instead. I saw all three Emerald Pools, the Kayenta Trail, the Rim Trail, Weeping Rock, and the Riverside Walk -- totaled around 6 miles or so. But my favorite, by far, was Riverside Walk. It's really quite easy -- it's paved, and one of the most popular walks at the park, and around 1 mile in each direction. But it walks right past the Temple of Sinawava, along the Virgin River, and to the end of the wider part of the canyon, to the beginning of the Narrows (where you cannot walk without walking in the river itself). Unfortunately, we were unable to walk in the Narrows because the river was too high, but the Riverside Walk was gorgeous: green, cool, lush, windy, with the water rushing by, and lots of boulders to sit upon and think. They say that the Riverside Walk should take 1 hour; for me, it took 2 1/2. I kept sitting to look at the water, to listen, to think, and to imagine how long it took for the Virgin River to carve out the 3000 foot-high cliffs. It was outstanding.
Tuesday morning, I took my car up to the northwest corner of the park, to an area called the Kolob Canyons, and I took a small hike there along Timber Creek. Again, it should have been a 1-hour hike, but looking at the finger canyons was so astounding to me, that it took me 2+ hours. There were a few other hikers along the path with me, but not too many, and we all were blown away by the sheer beauty of the Kolob canyons. In fact, I was one of the speediest hikers there that morning!
Eventually, I dragged myself away, and left Zion National Park to drive to Las Vegas to visit my grandparents. More on Sin City later. But for now, I am left with absolute amazement at southern Utah, and with a real temptation to leave Atlanta and pack up for Springdale, Utah.
Oh, and the pictures are, from the top:
- Landscape Arch, Arches National Park
- The White Rim and the Green River, Islands in the Sky District, Canyonlands National Park
- The road to Capitol Gorge, Capitol Reef National Park
- Bryce Ampitheater at sunrise, Bryce Canyon National Park
- Finger Canyons, Kolob Canyons area, Zion National Park
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