Utah

Oh my Goodness!! What is this!!!

We all have seen pictures of it, some of us have watched movies about it but one thing is to see it like that and a very different thing is to see it for real…. what a beautiful state.

Here’s when you confirm that Mother Nature has seemingly received instructions from almighty God to do something very special and unique for us humans to enjoy just by watching it. Being in the national and state parks ( which Utah has quite a few to choose from) is to admire the sculptures made by sandstone that, combined with wind, rain, ice and time, made it possible. Did I say time? Yes, lots of time…. millions of years of transformation to make it real.

We left Arizona from Williams which was the town we decided to visit the Grand Canyon from, and driving along the highway you can’t wait to encounter the gateway to Utah….. The Monument Valley, and suddenly, it is right in front of your eyes….

So, let’s talk movies… Remember Forrest Gump? Tom Hanks? As he travels across the country, he is being accompanied by a few followers and at some point he stops right in the middle of the highway and says…. ” Ok, I feel tired…. I think I wanna go home now”.

It comes to no surprise that you can Google it (Forrest Gump Point) or that you have to wait your turn to take the famous picture as quite a few people want to do it as well.

It was time to get to the campground, settle down, prepare food and have a good rest!!

Utah is a state to be seen and enjoyed, therefore some planning is necessary as far as what parks you want to include in your visit. We came up with a list:

• Valley of the Gods
• Goosenecks State Park
• Natural Bridges National Park
• The Arches National Park
• Zion National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park

So, let’s start with the first one!

This is a 19 mile loop of unpaved road that takes you across a vast area of erosion. These rocks were deposited by the invasion of a shallow sea about 250 million years ago. Over time, the water retreated, and the ancient sandstones and shales gradually turned red or purple as the iron in the rocks mixed with oxygen to form rust.

We were told that right after you finish the loop, there is a steep road that takes you to a view point; that road is scary at its best!! its name is Moki!!!

As we came down to surface level after that scary road, we headed to Goosenecks State Park. This is a sample of what a river can do to the ground trying to find a new river bed.

Time to grab something to eat, so a good Navajo burger was in the menu; what a delicious burger!!!

There was one more attraction in the area…. the Mexican Hat!! You’ll see why this rock was given this name

This was the result of 250 million years of interaction of sandstone formation and sea water.

And as an added bonus, can you spot a pork head in the picture below?

Time to see what’s the deal on the Natural Bridges…

This was a long walk decorated by stunning geography. It was a hot day but 100% worth it!! History says that these are the result of sand dunes deposited over an extremely dry period which lasted millions of years. It’s a fact that native indigenous groups lived under the bridges during prehistoric times.

Okay, so it was time to head to the Arches National Park. I’m sure we all have seen the most famous arch…. every time I open my outlook email I have it before my eyes…. we had to go and pay a visit to this majesty….. its name? Delicate.

So we left the campground and on the way to The Arches, you begin to see good examples of them; here’s Wilson Arch

The actual National Park is huge!! It takes a few miles to visit the site. Quite a few arches are on the list to visit ( actually hundreds of them); this park is to be visited definitely not in one day. The names are all mysterious ( Navajo Arch, Double O Arch, Landscape Arch, Turret Arch, Private Arch, etc).

And this is Delicate, the best of all. The world-famous Delicate Arch was formed by the movement of underground salt beds beneath overlying sandstone, in concert with surface events including water, ice, and erosion, which washed away or broke off the sandstone to create the arches and fins found throughout Arches National Park.

It was already late approaching sunset and what we didn’t know was that from the car park to the actual arch, it was quite far!! and the walk was mostly uphill…. it took us an hour to get there. But in the end totally worth it. Beautiful!!!

Something I have to mention which needs to be taken into account when visiting these marvels of topography in most National Parks….. they are dangerous !! You are walking or standing next to deep cliffs…. and Delicate wasn’t the exception: next to the center of the arch you can see that it is clinging on the edge of a very deep cliff … 400 ft free fall , so you better be careful!!

There were easily 100 people taking pictures and contemplating this beauty in silence….. until we all realized it was dark already!! We ended up returning back to the car park ( easier walking downhill this time) using the light provided by our mobile phones… What an adventure!!

The following day we said bye bye to The Arches and headed to a place we have been told we needed to visit no matter what…. ZION National Park!! This park is located on the western side of the state so this was a 7 hour drive. The campground in Cedar City was a nice one!!

Zion is a pretty national park and what really impresses is the facilities and organization once you cross the gate. From the car park you can visit a good sized Visitor Center and from there you move on shuttles that take you from one sector of the park to another hopping on and off. Good bicycle paths give you the chance to either ride your ( or rented) bike or walk if this is what you prefer).

Once done with Zion, it was time to admire another National Park on this state, the state of the national parks!! And this is a marvel in itself… Bryce Canyon… what an amazing site. This is once again the result of external elements manicuring sculptures everywhere you look… on top of that the color is from another world.

There are four main areas in the park : Bryce Point, Sunrise Point, Sunset Point and the best of all: Inspiration.

The picture below depicts altitude above sea level and atmospheric conditions at the highest point

Are you wondering where the name Bryce come from? Another victory for the Scottish pioneers who crossed the Atlantic to make history: Ebenezer Bryce ( November 17, 1830 – September 26, 1913) was born in an area we are familiar with… Dunblane in Perthshire, near Aberdeen, the city we lived for 12 years… he used to work on a shipyard as a carpenter; he migrated to America (Utah) when he was just 17, and fell in love with the area. He married Mary Park in Salt Lake City and after doing a remarkable work in the area, the locals named the territory after his last name… Bryce. He later moved to Arizona where he died and is buried in a local cemetery.

Time to visit the capital!! Salt Lake City or SLC in short…

This is part of Temple Square now under renovation which will be ready by 2026

Time for a cheesecake…

But also for a great stake in one of the best stake houses in Provo, a few miles from the city.

Tree number 9

The tree for Utah was planted at the Red Canyon RV Park located in Red Canyon Village…. really nice!! This conifer will one day be the Christmas decoration for the park!! Olivia and Bren were kind enough to assist us on the task!

All in all this has been one of the best states we have ever visited… those national parks are truly amazing.

As for the RV, well… Scotty loves the mountains!!!

And the map is definitely getting crowded!!