Exploring Utah’s Mighty 5: An Epic Road Trip Adventure
Our trip to the mighty 5 National Parks of Utah started in Salt Lake City. First stop was at Moab. Right at the junction of UT191 and I70 is a rest area with a wonderful 360 view of that vast expanse that gave a glimpse of the arid atmosphere we will be invited to at Arches and Canyonland. It was dinner time when we reached Moab and found Sultan’s Mediterranean Grill right at the entrance of the Moab for a delicious vegetarian dinner.
Arches National Park - Hiking Among Nature’s Sculptures
This is a relatively small park in area and hence the entrance in peak periods is being restricted with advanced booking for entering between 7 AM and 4 PM. Since we didn’t have advanced booking, we started early and entered the park before 7 AM. It was rather a good weather in 60s for the time of the year and there weren’t any large number of cars lined up, but there was a steady stream of vehicles entering. Stopping only in a few spots before, we reached the parking lot for the Delicate Arch trail that was quite occupied indicating that some had reached there for getting the glimpse of sunrise. The entire hike to delicate arch can be considered easy to moderate, except that it is was a bit long, but the overcast day made it a pleasant day for hiking without much difficulty. Except for the Courthouse and Park Avenue trails, we completed pretty much all the hikes listed in the NPS.gov website. Most trails were easy with good views of landscape and arches easily accessible. The sight of quite a few seniors was inspiring and encouraging to hike. Around 4 PM, we were heading out of the park. As we still had quite a bit of daylight time left, we decided to head to Canyonlands National Park and hit only the viewpoints before a potential rain in the forecast.
Canyonlands National Park - Vast, Wild, and Quiet
It was about 30-40 min drive from Arches and all along the way, we saw only a few vehicles along the way. Area wise, Canyonlands is a much larger park than Arches, but the accessible area is very limited. Our main goal was to see the Mesa arch and head back. Right across the visitor center is the Shafer Trail viewpoint showing the vast trail for the unpaved roads for driving that needs a vehicle with high clearance with a permit from the park. From here, we decided to head to the Grand View point overlook, stopping only at viewpoints without any hiking. The Green River overlook literally showed the river in green color. From the Grand View point the vast expanse in front of your eyes with the grandiose canyons and what actually appeared like ‘needles’ can be very humbling to see. On the way back, the sky was getting darker with clouds. When we reached the trailhead for Mesa Arch, we were very skeptical whether to step out but as it was only a short hike, we did it and were so mesmerized by the view that can be accessed with such an ease. A sunrise view from here would have been ideal. As we headed back into car and started driving, rain had started. We thanked our luck and headed straight out of the park in the heavy rain. The lightning strikes in the distant red Arches area appeared very spooky and surreal. The rain took a reprieve as we entered Moab and had our dinner at the Miguel’s Baja Grill. The heavy downpour while we were having dinner had stopped by the time we headed out to our hotel. Overall, Canyonlands was a short and sweet visit that will be remembered!
Through the Capital Reef National Park
Next day, we checked out a bit relaxedly and had a wonderful breakfast at the Bonjour Bakery & Café. Then we set out to Tropic, UT, driving through Capital Reef NP via UT12. Before getting on UT12, we took a small detour into Goblin Valley State Park. While a trip specifically to this state park is only for locals, a short detour for us was quite worth it. It is amazing to see a relatively short section of the landscape filled with what appeared to be ‘Goblins’ heads in an otherwise barren landscape. Considering the arid and barren landscape around, it was quite interesting to see the campers around with hardly any escape from the scorching sun overhead.
Along the way to Capital Reef NP, we passed the Factory Butte area. The landscape is difficult to explain with so much of arid hills amidst farming lands in between. Apparently, these hills are attracting some recreation sports of ATVs traversing on the slopes. We saw the tracks of the vehicles but didn’t see any live sports when we took a pause there. Approaching Capitol Reef, we started noticing reddish mountains appearing again with the roads winding between them. Before arriving at the visitor center, we made a brief stop near the overpass where Pleasant Creek is merging to the Fremont River. We ventured a short hike into the dried-up creek among the tall canyons around, but with limited time we had, we cut it short and headed to the Capitol Reef Visitor center. There we learned that the scenic drive from the visitor center has been partially closed due to construction. We drove through Fruita where the Gifford Homestead is located and had run out of their famous traditional pies by the time we reached. The continuing road had closure just ahead of the E Grand Wash Rd. So, we took the E Grand Wash Road, a dirt road, till the trail head for Grand Wash Trail. Here again, we didn’t venture too far, returning back to our drive towards Tropic.
As we entered UT12 (The All-American Scenic Byway 12), soon the road started climbing up the mountains and the landscape started to change to lush green and then onto dry, arid areas before reaching Tropic. The mountains here are part of the Fish Lake National Forest. The route passed through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument area with many switchbacks and beautiful overlooks, aptly justifying the name Scenic Byway. The vegetation changed from Aspens to Pine trees depending on the sun and rain exposure. After passing the small town of Boulder, UT, some sections of the road are literally on the ledges of the mountains and this section is aptly name ‘Hogback’. Along the sections with lush green landscapes, even at altitudes of 9000ft, quite a number of cattle ranching is prevalent. We mostly noticed the black Angus cows and in the lush green expanse background, many locations were worth a desktop image!
Overall, we could call this Route 12 to be a highlight of our trip.
Bryce Canyon National Park - Hoodoos and Hailstorms
We stayed at the Bybee’s Steppingstone Inn in the small village of Tropic, about 10 miles from the Bryce Canyon Visitor Center. This quaint little village had very limited options for food with restaurants closing by 8 PM or so. The forecast indicated rain later the next day and so we started early. Along the way, we passed the trailhead for the Mossy Cave, but decided to save it for the day after if time permitted. Once we reached the Bryce Canyon, there was quite a bit of crowd that we noticed indicating the start of the holiday season. The ranger at the visitor center suggested the hike from Sunrise to Sunset point and that’s what did first – Queens Garden and Navajo Combination trail. It seemed like every entrant to the park would do this well laid out trail, considered as an easy to moderate difficulty. The final stretch had impressive switchbacks to the Sunset point trail head. During this part of the hike, we could already hear distant thunderstorms.
Then, we traced back to our car along the Rim Trail. While the other viewpoints in the Bryce Amphitheater can be hiked to, we chose to drive to these viewpoints given the time we had and the weather. We drove till the end of the road to Rainbow viewpoint from where we could see the dark clouds engulfing the entire valley. Distant rain and lightning could be seen heading towards us in more than one direction. By the time we started to drive away from the Rainbow Viewpoint, heavy rain with hails blanketed us. Bryce Canyon hoodoos provided for a beautiful picturesque view with the dusting of hail appearing like a scene out of winter times. It appeared as if the winter had arrived earlier with greenery still around. We then braved the rain to see the Bryce Point and the Inspiration Point before heading out. By the time we went to The Fairyland point located just outside the park entrance, rain had subsided a bit. That concluded our visit to Bryce for the day. We decided not to visit Mossy Cave Trail owing to the heavy rain and possible muddy trail late in the day. The next day morning we had to pass the same road section heading to Zion. Mossy Cave trail was really worth a beautiful location that is accessible very easily and is a short one too even if you had less than an hour. The waterfalls and the creek were gushing with the water from the fresh rains of the day before. It was a refreshing start for the day with sunny blue skies.
Zion National Park - Dramatic Views and Canyon Trails
Then, we continued our drive onto Zion. One of our friends had mentioned about a location called Belly of the dragon, which is on Route 89 just a couple miles past the Mt Carmel junction leading to Zion. The trail head is just off the main road on a dirt road ending in a large dirt parking lot. It took only 15-20min for us to explore this and flash light is helpful to pass through the central part of the belly where there’s hardly any light, to avoid tripping over the uneven walking path.
By the time we were ready to leave, we looked for lunch places nearby and this place, Angel Village Café, a vegan buffet place appeared on the Google Maps. It was only couple miles from where we were and decided to go there. Little did we know that it is the biggest pet sanctuary in the country run by Bestfriends Organization. We made it in time before they ended their lunch buffet that was filled with really nutritious and fresh vegan options. The outdoor seating has an impressive view of the vast landscape filled with canyons and valleys. It was a wonderful lunch that compensated for the mediocre food we had to settle with in Tropic the previous couple days.
Then, we entered Zion at the east entrance. We stopped at the Checkerboard Mesa Viewing area before heading to the Canyon Overlook Trail. As we approached the trailhead, we could see numerous cars parked on either side of the road. We parked as soon as we found a gap and luckily this was very close to the trail head. The trail head is located right before the mile-long Zion-Mt Carmel Tunnel. This trail is very sandy and rocky, requiring some care to scale the path. All along the way, the impressive views appeared along the trail. At the summit, somewhat of a 360 view on a beautiful day like that gave the best possible views. The sunny hot day was quite a contrast to the cold and rainy day at Bryce. The beautiful views demanded more time for a short trail like that one. After this, we drove through the tunnel and got to the parking lot of the visitor center located in the Springdale Entrance. We took the Zion shuttle to get the last stop at the Temple of Sinawava to see if we can make it to the Narrows and be back to catch the last shuttle of the day. But the timing allowed us to venture a little bit in the trail and moreover the start of the drizzle decided that it is time for us to get back. Dinner at the Zion Pizza and Noodle Co ended our day before settling in for the night.
The next day was supposed to get quite warm. So, we got an early start, picked up some breakfast at the Bonrue Bakery and took the shuttle to The Grotto (Stop no. 6). As Angels landing was too risky for us and needed a permit, we settled to hike till Scout Lookout via the West Rim Trail. The steep incline right from the beginning questioned our resolve whether to continue, but the amazing weather and the views along provided the needed energy. One of the highlights is the switchbacks that really tested us before getting to the lookout. After reaching the lookout, we continued further a bit along the West Rim trail that took us to what appeared like a summit from where the Angel’s landing trail was clearly visible. That seemed like a good spot for the lunch break. Originally, we were thinking about doing the Lower Emerald Pool trail, but as the day passed and temperature increased, it tired us out fully. So, we decided to avoid any further hikes in the open sun and went back to Narrows trail. With the weather better than the day before, the Narrows trail was brimming with crowd. After this, we decided to get back to our abode to call it a day. It was much needed for us, unlike the previous days, and this could be because of the hot sunny day we had now. That would be wrap for our Zion visit.
Valley of Fire and Final Stretch to Las Vegas
Next day, we checked out, spent some time in the St. George area before heading to Las Vegas for our return flight. Along the way, we took a detour to visit the Valley of Fire State Park. By the time we reached there, the temperature was reading 105F. We stopped at a few view points and limited our trail walks. By now, the barren and arid landscape had gotten to us and were looking forward to get back to home in the greener part of the country! Had our dinner in a Tacotarian restaurant in Las Vegas before reaching the airport.
Looking back, we had fruitfully covered the Mighty 5 National Parks of Utah with couple of State Parks along the way. Overall, it was a wonderful trip helped by amazing weather!
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