Utah 2002 Vacation

A few years ago we started to tour the Utah National Parks but ran out of time. Now that I have finally retired my husband, Bill, and I decided to do the Utah National Parks a little more completely and decided that the first part of June would be a good time to do it. We would like to share our trip with you.

Our trip started from our home in Forks, Washington on the morning of June 5th heading east with Utah in mind and prepared to take our time and enjoy some of the sights along the way. We spent the first night in Umatilla, Oregon at a RV Park next to the Columbia River. By about 2 P.M. the next day we had reached Twin Falls, Idaho. We stopped at a view point next to the bridge that crosses the Snake River just as a bungee jumper was preparing to jump off the bridge. What a thrill that must be for the people who are braver than I am. We then went south to Jackpot, Nevada where we stayed the night.

June 7th, We left Jackpot early the next morning and stopped in Wendover, Nevada/Utah before heading across the salt flats to Salt Lake City, Utah. From there we went south where we found a RV Park in Wellington, Utah.. Early the next morning we continued south to Green River, Utah and then on to find a RV Park that would be our headquarters while we toured Arches and Canyonland National Parks. We stayed at Arches View RV Park for the two days we were there and it is located right at the junction that leads to Canyonlands National Park. Now that we had a RV spot secured we headed for Arches National Park. The literature tells us that there are about 2000 sandstone arches. Only a few are plainly visible from the road. That meant we had to do some hiking. Being out of shape and not so young anymore, we took turns on the hikes because of our Dachshund Duke who couldn't be left alone because of the heat. We only did a couple of the easy or moderate trails. The views along the road were spectacularly colored Navajo sandstone with lots of pinnacles and rocks. The park was originally a National Monument from 1929 until Nixon proclaimed it a National Park in 1971.

June 9th, on to Canyonlands. Canyonlands National Park is the largest of the parks covering 527 square miles. The canyons are carved out of the sandstone with great beauty. There are truly many canyons, mesas, and buttes. Too numerous to count. Lots of hiking trails for the young and healthy. There were, of course, trails to the river which we were not able to take. We did get brief looks at the Colorado River from what felt like you were looking down from the sky!! The negative part of this day was the high winds. Continuous winds of 50 mph made it a bit uncomfortable at time because the wind created dust clouds and you would get pelted with sand and small pebbles when you got out to take pictures or view something. Also, the high winds made visibility in the canyons and distant mountains very limited because of the dust clouds.

After Canyonlands, there was enough day left to visit Dead Horse Point State Park which is on the way out and is a short side trip off the main road. It was as impressive as the National Parks. The name comes from a time when early cowboys herded horses roaming the plateaus to this mesa which was a natural corral. This became known as Dead Horse Point when at one point they were left without water and they all died. In this park as well as in Canyonlands the winds were excessive. The terrain in Dead Horse Point State Park as well as Canyonland N.P. is not unlike what you would see in the Grand Canyon and was also formed by the Colorado and Green Rivers.

June 10 After leaving the RV Park we back tracked to Green River, Utah where we then went south towards Capitol Reef National Park. On the way we took a 15 mile side trip to Goblin Valley State Park and Molly's Castle. This was a neat little park. It is a small valley of strange little rock formations the resembled goblins surrounded by colorful eroded cliffs. It was originally called Mushroom Valley. Molly's castle was a hike and neither of us felt up to it but I'm assuming it was a rock castle where the cute little creatures apparently lived.

Now we were off to Capital Reef National Park. This park has a main highway running through it and requires no admittance fee. Once again this park is quite different than the other parks we had visited. Along the road in the park there was a cabin, called The Behunin Cabin at the base of a cliff. It was a small cabin, probably 12 X 14 that a family by that name with 10 children lived, sometime in the 1800's. The parents and the two youngest children slept inside while the others slept in the hollowed out caves in the cliff behind the cabin. Then the Fruita schoolhouse a short way down the road, no bigger than the house, supported the children of 10 Mormon families living in the area at the time. It was a fertile little valley. There was also an orchard that really gave contrast to the rest of the scenery. Placed at different places along the orchard were old pieces of horse drawn farm machinery. The Fremont River is where they got their water. It is also what formed the Hickman Natural Bridge. Natural bridges unlike arches are actually formed by rivers and streams.

June 11, after leaving Capitol Reef we spent the night in a town called Torrey, Utah at a real nice RV Park that was almost empty. It was here where we watched the eclipse of the sun. We could see it real good through the tinted glass and the screen of the screen door. The screen seemed to create another image that you could look at instead of looking directly at the sun. The next morning we continued south and this would take us through the edge of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument. We had to climb an estimated 12% grade to 9400 feet and a similar degree of down grade on the other side. Except for the colorful canyons leading up to it this is very rugged country and makes the badlands of North Dakota seem tame. From the post cards we bought it was apparent that we missed most of the real beauty of this area by simply driving through it. The motor home does restrict us to the main highways because we don't tow another vehicle for side trips.

After driving through the town of Esclante we found a view point that a Ranger had told me about where the Fremont Indians grew and stored their crops in the time period of 1050. This was very interesting to see through the binoculars as the area is high up in the cliffs. We could clearly see two structures as well as some pictographs or petroglyogs carved in the wall of the canyon. The very visibly drawing was what appeared to be a long snake with a head and the body zigzagged like a lightning bolt. The crops were grown where we were standing and carried up into the cliff dwellings for storage. It is unclear if they lived there also or if they just stored their food there.

We made Bryce Canyon early enough to do the park and did so as soon as we registered at Ruby's RV Park. The rock formations here are called hoodoos. They are similar, I think, to the strange little goblins in Goblin Valley but on a much larger scale here. The early Paiutes believed these to be people turned to stone by angry Gods. There are red rock spires lining the walls of, and growing up from the floor of incredible chasms. We could see the smoke from a forest fire in the area that seemed to be growing very fast. The smoke was blowing away from the park but during the night had switched enough to make the RV Park smoky.

June 12, the next morning we continued on south, not too sure where we would go next. Zion National Park was in the plans but maybe not right away. We would make our decision during the days drive. Our first stop of the day was at Red Canyon where we made breakfast and took a few pictures. On the way to the Zion National Park turnoff we decided to continue south and take in the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Because there was also a fire burning north of Zion we figured we would do Zion later just in case there were problems because of the fire.

After deciding to go to the Grand Canyon our first stop was the town of Kanab, known for the western movies that have been filmed in and around that area. One notable movie was The Outlaw Josie Wales, with Clint Eastwood. Apparently when the movie was completed the producer was going to destroy the movies sets and someone from Kanab convinced them to give them the sets. They are now a neat little tourist attraction at the north end of Kanab. We went through it and really enjoyed taking pictures of each other in front of different buildings. Many of the sets were simply a false front.

The drive to Jacobs Lake, Az. was pleasant, but hot. We got there about 3 in the afternoon where we checked in to the Kaibab Campervillage RV Park. Early on June 13 we started the 40 plus mile trip to the North Rim. Over millions of years, the Colorado River was carved into this vast canyon, an awesome sight indeed. In some places it appeared to be over a mile deep. There are many hiking trails where you could get better views of the river but most were too much for the out of shape seniors that we are. We settle for a glimpse or two from the easy trails and viewpoints. The landscape here was quite impressive and colorful and certainly leaves one breathless. We went to the North Rim only. The last time we came we visited both rims. As the crow flies, they are only 10 miles apart but when driving. It takes a big part of the day to travel the 215 miles of highway to the South Rim.

We left the North Rim in the early afternoon and headed back toward Zion National Park. The plan was to get a RV hookup, stay the night and go through the park the next morning. As we drove off the plateau into the valley or desert that we had to cross to get back to Kanab we could see that the fire that was north of Bryce Canyon was still burning hard and the wind was still blowing the smoke east. After going through Kanab we stopped at a tourist spot that we passed up on the way down called Moqui Cave. The cave was at one time an Indian dwelling and apparently was natural, not man made but the Indians had added a rock entrance. It is currently a museum featuring Indian artifacts, dinosaur prints and things of that nature. I went in by myself because Bill didn't want to leave the dog alone as it was very hot. I enjoyed the museum very much and bought a couple of souveniers. June 14, we left fairly early for Zion. Even though this park was also a main highway a fee was charged. Not only that but we had to pay a 10 dollar fee to drive through a 1.1 mile tunnel. The reason is the tunnel, completed in 1930, and considered to be an engineering marvel of the time, simply became out dated because of the bigger vehicles. Traffic is stopped for all trucks and motor homes. The traffic is directed by a ranger at each end by radio. The ranger told us that this would probably be the way it is done for a long time because of the cost of making it bigger, not to mention the down time for the tunnel traffic. A motor home must go through alone but traffic going the same way can follow. After leaving the tunnel the road was very steep and with hair pin curves. We reached the visitor center with no problem. At the visitor center I caught a shuttle bus and took the tour of the valley that is now restricted to all tourist traffic except bicycles and personnel. The tour was as long as you wanted it to be as you could get off at any stop and stay as long as you wished, the shuttlr ran every 8 to 10 minutes. I only stopped at two places. Even though it was very pretty, I only took a few pictures. I guess I was thinking about Bill and Duke at the visitors center waiting for me.

After leaving Zion we headed for Reno where we met my sister for a three day visit and some gambling. Both fun but not making the bank account any fatter. On the way home we stopped to visit Bill's daughter for a day and then back home. We were gone 17 days and had a great time. We took over 390 pictures and feel that a lot of them turned out very good. We don't feel that we shorted ourselves in any capacity because we were unable to do much hiking.