Attractions and other places we visit.
Canyonlands National Park includes four sections. We visited the “Island in the Sky” district first:
Island in the Sky visitor center:
Relief park map:
Rocks:
We also went on the Upheaval Dome hike:
Looking down on the Shafer Trail, a dirt switchback road:
We again went to Capitol Reef National Park, this time to the Goosenecks Point overlook and a hike on the Hickman Bridge trail.
Some pics of Torrey, Utah on the way through:
An old house:
We really like the look of this stone building:
There’s a police car parked by the side of the road, with a mannequin inside:
The road to Goosenecks Point:
A bunch of pics from Goosenecks Point:
Then we proceeded to the Hickman Bridge trail, for a two-mile hike to a natural bridge arch:
We went to Slacker’s Burger Joint in Torrey for dinner after the hike:
And shared an indulgence for dessert:
Finally, a screenshot from the AllTrails app of the trail map:
As a fun day trip, we did the “Loop the Fold” scenic drive, using a guide booklet we purchased at the Capitol Reef visitor center.
This 125 mile driving loop goes around the Waterpocket Fold, through the Capitol Reef park, along Burr Trail Road in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and through Dixie and Fishlake National Forests.
Here’s the “Loop the Fold” road guide:
The included map, with stop markers:
We started from the RV park in Torrey, and continued clockwise, through Capitol Reef:
Chimney Rock, stop number 37 in the guide (see the map above):
Panorama Point (stop 38):
The guide is numbered from the Visitor Center, with total miles given from that point, so the Fruta schoolhouse is stop number 1 at mile 0.8:
At the petroglyphs (stop 2, mile 1.1), Jenn took a survey:
Hickman Bridge Trailhead (stop 3, mile 1.9):
Navajo Dome view (stop 4, mile 2.3):
Historic cabin (stop 6, mile 6.0):
Rocks:
We left the Capitol Reef park at the east entrance (stop 7, mile 9.1):
A historical marker for the settlement of Notom (stop 8, mile 14.0):
View:
Hoodoos (stop 10, mile 17.6):
We had a picnic lunch in our truck at that stop:
Views:
The pavement ends at mile 19.3:
Driving across a wash:
Washboarded road:
Rough road:
The Summerville Formation (stop 15, mile 28.1):
Re-entering the park (mile 28.4):
Ridge:
Our truck parked on the side of the road:
Oyster Shell Reef (stop 17, mile 32.3):
Oyster fossils:
View:
Selfie:
Dirt road:
The road changes color:
Spike:
Morrison Formation (stop 18, mile 39); 150-million-year-old Brushy Basin layer of soft claystone on the left, and Salt Wash layer of coarse sandstone on the right:
Rocks:
Junction (stop 20, mile 42.1):
We took a detour off the route:
Driving across a wash:
The post horse corral:
Back across the wash:
The Burr Trail Switchbacks (stop 22, mile 42.9):
Don’t look down:
At the top:
We stopped for a pie snack:
Pavement resumes when leaving the park (stop 24, mile 45.3):
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument:
Views:
Singing Canyon (stop 26, mile 66.9):
Long Canyon viewpoint (stop 28, mile 68.7):
Navajo sandstone (stop 29, mile 76.5):
Sub-alpine trees:
Homestead Overlook (stop 32, mile 90.4):
Larb Hollow Overlook (stop 34, mile 101.4):
A fun day trip.
We visited Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. It is a long skinny park, encompassing the Waterpocket Fold, “a geologic wrinkle on earth” (quoting from the NPS site; really should be “in earth”).
Here’s a map; click it to explore the NPS map:
Capitol Reef signs:
Lots of interesting rocks:
Visitor center:
Jenn talking with someone else at the cancellation stamping station:
A large wall-mounted map:
We stopped by Gifford House, a historic Mormon homestead, which now contains a gift and pie shop:
We bought a couple of fruit pies as a snack:
We also got a jam sampler:
Outside:
Back on the scenic drive in the park:
Our drive led to the trailhead for a hike though a canyon, and on impulse we decided to do it (which was a bit silly, as we weren’t properly dressed for it, but oh well):
Petroglyphs:
Some names from 1911, halfway up a wall:
A painter:
The “pioneer register” rock etchings from the 1880’s:
A security camera to make sure nobody adds more markings (probably battery powered, recording for later review; or maybe a dummy):
Back in the truck:
Blowing dust:
A nice park. Stay tuned for more posts from here from subsequent days.
Back in October last year we took a day trip to Olympic National Park in Washington state. Here are some recently processed bonus pictures taken by Jenn:
While we concentrate on National Parks, we also like to visit other interesting parks as we explore. One such was Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah:
Like much of Utah, it features lots of interesting rock formations:
We had a picnic lunch in a nice sheltered picnic area:
Then strolled along a nature trail:
I liked how this cloud lined up with the rock tower, to make it look like smoke from a chimney:
Finally, we went for a drive on a dirt road to see some more rocks:
Stay tuned for a timelapse video.
Within the Bryce Canyon National Park boundary, but separated from the main part of the park, is a short hike called Mossy Cave Trail. This hike is 0.8 miles (1.3 km) out-and-back, with an elevation change of 300 feet (91m).
Here’s the trailhead:
Jenn with hiking poles; the first time we used them, very useful on the steep and rough path:
Some nice views from the trail:
A waterfall:
Another path leads to the Mossy Cave:
Really more of an overhang than a cave:
Still some ice lingering in the shade:
We visited Bryce Canyon National Park again around sunset, on two consecutive nights.
On the first night, we had a fancy dinner at Stone Hearth Grille in Tropic, Utah, in the “canyon” of Bryce (it’s not really a canyon):
Then into Bryce Canyon:
As you may have noticed, those pictures didn’t have much alpenglow, as the sun was already too low to reach the canyon. So we decided to go again the next night, a bit earlier.
This time, we had dinner at Bryce Canyon Pines, a more casual traditional American restaurant (with very tasty food):
And into Bryce Canyon once again:
Much better alpenglow this time:
We enjoyed having a viewpoint to ourselves:
A more popular viewpoint:
Another quiet viewpoint:
We visited Zion National Park again, in the late afternoon and evening, and took several hundred more photos. Here are a bunch of the nice ones.
Heading through the mile-long tunnel:
A couple of the tunnel windows:
A fun game we play when visiting parks is to look for and pick up garbage. Because people suck, and we want to leave our parks better than we found them. This is my haul from one viewpoint:
We had dinner at a Thai restaurant just outside the park:
We’ve seen a couple of restaurants that have checkboxes for tips. I wish every restaurant would do this; it’s so much more convenient:
(Bringing an ApplePay terminal to the table is even nicer. Better yet, how about paying a living wage and getting rid of tipping, but this is an improvement over having to do the math.)
Back into the park:
Back through the tunnel:
The smaller tunnel:
We took a day trip along Scenic Byway 12 and Burr Trail Road to Singing Canyon, a small slot canyon in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
The monument is a massive area, almost two million acres, administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
The drive we went on was just a tiny fraction of it; inspired by this article.
The Grand Staircase is a massive series of cliffs, going from Cedar Breaks National Park to the Grand Canyon; here’s an image from the Wikipedia article:
Heading along Scenic Byway 12:
Lots of interesting rocks along the road:
Monument sign:
One of the visitor centers for the monument, in Cannonville, Utah:
Back on the road:
Another visitor center in Escalante, Utah:
Trying a prickly pear cactus candy snack from the first visitor center (pretty tasty):
Singing canyon, so named due to its amazing acoustics, which we can confirm; we had it all to ourselves, too:
Interesting rocks outside the canyon — actually it’s still in a canyon, Long Canyon:
Looking down into Long Canyon:
We encountered a couple of free-range cows on the road:
An enjoyable drive, and impressive slot canyon.