Living in Atlanta, it’s always a relief to go on vacation to escape the smog, traffic congestion and general mayhem of an urban metropolis. So my wife and I decided to head for Southern Utah for eight days and hopefully explore their 5 national parks. We flew to Salt Lake City on a Saturday night and arrived at 1.30am which was 11.30pm mountain time. We booked into a hotel near the airport for the night ready for a fresh and early start in the morning. The Croatian night porter reluctantly allowed us into the hotel room claiming he had no record of our reservation and muttered something about an iron curtain.
Following a mentally stimulating exchange at reception the next morning, we gratefully made our way to the car rental office and picked up our gleaming red Ford Mustang convertible to commence our road trip, but not before they tried palming us off with a Chrysler Sebring. “Same color, same class, what’s the difference?” asked the bored car attendant. I wondered what he would say if I gave him a one dollar bill for a twenty and replied: “same shape and color; what’s up dude?” Anyway I digress.
The five national parks in Southern Utah are Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands which was in the order we planned to visit them. We cruised the 254 miles down to Springdale which is a small tourist town on the outskirts of Zion National Park. We didn’t make reservations in advance and decided to take pot luck. Unfortunately this was Memorial Day weekend and the major motels were full.
Luckily we found a room in a guesthouse a couple miles away in Rockville. The landlady, a six foot, bespectacled red head from Lithuania, was determined to persuade us to stay another night which was not in our plans. She chatted incessantly in an irritating nasal tone which would have given a woodpecker a headache and merely strengthened our resolve to move on. She did recommend a Thai restaurant for our evening meal, but while the food was reasonable, the service was eccentric and had the ambience of an air raid shelter.
The next morning with breakfast mercifully over, we entered our first national park of the trip. Zion is very popular with tourists and vehicular access is only permitted via the park shuttle. The shuttle takes you into Zion Canyon which unveils its eight layers of red and white sandstone, displaying what has taken two hundred million years to carve and mold. It is a masterpiece of towering cliffs, deep red canyons, mesas, buttes and massive monoliths. The canyon walls loom high above; in most places they are 2,000 to 3,000 feet high.
Elevations in Zion range from about 3,800 feet to almost 9,000 feet. We toured the park for about an hour taking a number of photos along the way, and we were admittedly overawed by the sheer scale of the mountain scenery. However, it was too crowded for out tastes and we quickly retreated to the sanctuary of the mustang. My wife turned on the ignition and the mustang began to purr. She then pressed a button on the dashboard and majestically the roof quickly slid back and we were on our way to Bryce Canyon via the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel which led us to fascinating shapes and patterns at the top of the sandstone layers.
If Zion’s scenery can be described as spectacular, Bryce Canyon is truly magical. The elevation of the rim varies between 8-9,000 feet creating a natural amphitheatre which comprises thousands of fantastic shapes known as hoodoos. These are pillars of red and yellow sandstone formed by erosion which naturally has taken place over millions of years. Nearby forests and meadows stand in striking contrast to the intricately eroded rocks. Hiking on some of the trails through the maize of hoodoos is an unforgettable experience. If you let your imagination run wild, faces and images of famous people can be found sculptured on the rock faces. Internationally famous sculptures Rodin and Henry Moore must be rolling in their graves; nature does it infinitely better.
One drawback with Bryce Canyon is the limited places to stay. I believe there are two. One is the Park Lodge which is booked solid way in advance and the other is Ruby’s Inn situated a couple of miles from the park entrance. Ruby’s accommodation reminded me of a Welsh mountain sheep; it was warm and breathing with no fancy frills, but what more did one need when the great outdoors claimed center stage? So we stayed at Ruby’s for two nights and witnessed some incredible views on the hikes we attempted.
Alas, it was time to leave the magical kingdom of Bryce Canyon and head for possibly the least known of the parks: Capitol Reef (elevation 7000 feet.) We drew consolation in the knowledge that we would be cruising along Highway 12 almost all the way to the next park. Highway 12 is classified as an all American Scenic Byway and an All-American road and it didn’t disappoint. It comprises 124 miles of beautiful and awe inspiring vistas, winding its way through the Dixie National Forest and the Grand Staircase-Escalante.
The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument is a huge chunk of public land engulfing much of the Southwestern Utah desert. The national monument is a 1.9 million acre oasis of mostly primitive land strewn with streams, monoliths, slot canyons and scientific treasures galore. This parcel of land dominates the rural southern section of the state of Utah. By the time we arrived at our hotel we had run out of superlatives for the magnificent scenery.
Capitol Reef National Park is one of the least crowded and certainly the most surprising of the state’s national parks. Encompassing nearly one quarter-million acres, the park features colorful cliffs, massive domes, soaring spires, stark monoliths, twisting canyons and graceful arches. The park preserves the 100 mile long Waterpocket fold, which is a giant buckling of rock in the earth’s crust. We gingerly drove the mustang for its evening constitution along an unpaved road through Capitol Gorge, a narrow rocky route with 60 foot high walls which cuts through the fold; enhanced by the sunset and shadows on the rock faces it was quite stunning and mesmerizing.
