Last Oct we went on our Utah “Mighty 5” (Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef. Canyonland and Arches) National Park trip, along the way we also visited North Rim of Grand Canyon and famously known as Niagara of the West, Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls Idaho. And it was there we met a well-traveled Persian tourist (that was how he referred to himself) and he put it all in perspective, he said “You go to Europe to learn the history and it is here in the United States you come to experience the beauty!” I couldn’t agree more, with one of the kind natural and geological wonders we have around us, it is truly a beautiful gift that keeps on giving! I’ve taken so many pictures on our trip, here are just small fraction of them thought I’d share with you.
After 8 plus hours’ drive, we spent 2 nights in Twin Falls Idaho. Visited Shoshone Falls, Malad Falls, and attempted to see the “Thousand springs” state park, but was not impressed, maybe not the right time of the year… Shoshone Falls was gorgeous even without the water flowing like in spring! We followed this paved trail hiked up aways which gave us a fabulous aerial view of the Falls! We are not sure if we were on the rim trail which extends to 12 plus miles!
Oct 6, we drove 6 plus hours to Kanab UT, a North Rim getaway town to meet our friends and start our exciting adventures together! Zion was our 1st stop, although it was just as beautiful as I have remembered, the crowd definitely has grown exponentially! What that means is whichever trails you are on you will find plenty of company! We hiked Emerald Pools trail and The Narrows for just a short distance among enough others. It would have been more fun if it was not that crowded!
We spotted this Japanese skink on our way back from The Narrows. Never seen a creature with such vivid blue tail and here is some facts about it…
*”Skinks have shorter legs than is usual for lizards and sometimes no legs at all (legless species move by wriggling like a snake). The five-lined skink does have legs and a long tail. A dark-brown stripe runs lengthways down both sides of the body, which is smooth and shiny-scaled. Adults grow 16-25 cm long. Juvenile skinks have a bright-blue tail and metallic-gold stripes. Adult males lose the blue-and-gold coloring, but females retain it” which is unusual in the animal world we know of.
Emerald Pool Trail
The Shear volume of the Grand Canyon is beyond my words! We have never been to South Rim, but North Rim surely deserves its claim. The Toadstools is part of the The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument located near the border town of Kanab, UT. Like all other parks in UT, you can explore as far and/or long as your heart desires!Coral Pink Sand State Park is mostly for ATVers, and it is famous for its uniformed size of the sand grains and the brilliant coral pink color! It felt really good when I sunk my feet in the sand, very therapeutic!Bryce Canyon National Park is a favorite for lots of people and even in Oct. Most people stay around “Sunrise” ,”Sunset” and “Bryce Point” area, when we ventured on Rim Trail, part of the Queen’s Garden Trail and especially Fairyland Trail they were less crowded.Upper left Bridge Towers via Fairyland trail, lower left Agua Canyon, right Natural Bridge on the side of the road to Rainbow canyon!On our way to Capitol Reef from Bryce Canyon, we saw grove after grove of Aspen, such a delightful surprise with all those mesmerizing Fall colors, we made so many stops to just soak them all in!Wished that we had more time to explore Capitol Reef, (if only we had not made so many stops for Aspen on our way…). The working orchards in the park didn’t have a big crop like they used to and the season was over when we got there anyways which was a bit disappointing! We drove through the park, and then went on the “Hickman Bridge” hike (picture on right of the middle row) , which was a very popular trail! Would’ve liked to hike Cassidy Arch which is said to be one of Butch Cassidy’s hide outs, but ran out of time…Arches National Park is definitely one of my very favorites! The park is little more than double the size of Bryce Canyon, and it has more than 2000 arches! And over a dozen of them are easily accessible. The most popular one I’d say is “Delicate Arch”, the parking lot was pretty full way before 8 am while we were there. CanyonlandNational Park is quite a bit bigger park, the Rivers divide the park into four districts: Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze, and the rivers themselves. We just went to Island in the Sky which is the most accessible district. The Needles looks very interesting, but it’s on the opposite site of Moab, and it needs a high clearance vehicle to navigate through so we didn’t go. Mesa Arch is one of the main attractions in Island in the Sky! A short hike from the road. very crowded. At the right time of the day, the view through the Arch is quite magnificent! There are Monster Tower (back), Airport Tower (front right) and Washer Woman Arch (front left)!On our 3rd day of staying at Moab, we decided to check out the famous little town called “Castle Valley”, andthe excursion turned out to be quite rewarding. We started off our day by taking on this hike called “Morning glory natural bridge trail”. The trail ends at a stunning 243-foot long natural bridge, the sixth largest natural rock span in America. Maybe because of our early start, we didn’t encounter a lot of people on our way there, but definitely a whole lot more on our way back. The trail was washed out by the rain, so we needed some zigzag crossing a creek to reach the Bridge. There is an interesting story about the area and here is the link in case you are interested. https://www.hikespeak.com/trails/negro-bill-canyon-morning-glory-bridge-hike-moab/ The wildflowers we saw on our way were quite a welcoming sight!The famous CastletonTower which is on the right, The Priest and the Rectory are on the left in the town of Castle Valley!Beautiful and tranquil Colorado River on our drive to Castle Valley!
Continuing on past Castle Valley along the gorgeous Colorado River there is a Red Cliff’s Lodge and inside the lodge it has Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage which has lots of memorabilia of over two dozen Hollywood Movies filmed in the area.
We thoroughly enjoyed our UT plus adventure with our friends! And there are still lot more of UT, Southwest and other parts of States to explore! Well next time and meanwhile “Happy Trails To You Dear Friends Until We Meet Again”!
Totally amazing and beautiful….This is a real travel guide for others. Your comments & pictures are awe inspiring to make the sane journey!
Thanks for sharing!!
Simply amazing and so beautiful! Thank you for all the details. I feel I have my own personal travel guide. I sure hope to make this trip some day. Thanks for sharing!
Gorgeous! Gorgeous! Gorgeous! Love the pics and the info. Makes me excited to go see all that beauty!!
Totally amazing and beautiful….This is a real travel guide for others. Your comments & pictures are awe inspiring to make the sane journey!
Thanks for sharing!!
Simply amazing and so beautiful! Thank you for all the details. I feel I have my own personal travel guide. I sure hope to make this trip some day. Thanks for sharing!
You saw some beautiful parks, Jiao, and got some great photos. Give my love to the family!
Wow, so cool! I’d love to go 🙂
Shoshone Falls and the Japanese skink are my favorites