A Remarkably Short Stop at the Grand Canyon

It only seemed fitting that I visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, as last summer I visited and hiked a few hikes along the more popular South Rim. At nearly 9000 feet in parts, the North Rim is substantially higher than the South Rim which averages 6800 feet. Due to its location and elevation, the North Rim closes seasonally during the winter months and last into mid Spring. They had opened the gates only a few days before my arrival. Many temporary mountain lakes form and come right up to the roadside from the melt water of the snows. Only a 1/10 of the visitors to the Grand Canyon every year visit the North Rim. This may be because of its extreme isolation. The more logical way to get there is to come through Southern Utah to access the road. The nearest services are at Jacob Lake, forty miles North of the entrance station. Although it is only about ten miles as the bird flies to reach the South Rim, getting there involves a 215 miles drive around the Canyon.

When I reached there there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground and it was a brisk and winy 54 degrees outside. I checked the weather and it was forecast at 25 degrees overnight. I didn't think that this sounded like a very good time to spend in the truck. It was the first time I had was considering went one of the small overnight cabins pretty much big enough for two campers to hole up in overnight, but luck would have it that they were all booked up. The services were so limited there in fact, that I had nowhere to stay except at Jacob Lake, as I said, 40 miles north. So I hiked a short hike, took a few pictures, and finally decided it was time to descend to the warm dry climate of Las Vegas.

Zion : Over Crowded

The last morning I woke up in Bryce Canyon, I knew that I wanted to do more hiking in Bryce, but essentially the entire state of Utah was supposed encompassed in rain. The best course of action seemed to be to set off for my next destination to get as much done before the rains came as I could. I headed towards Zion National Park. Zion had been a place that I wanted to go to for a while, and it was quickly starting to turn ill as the south entrance was under extreme construction, slowing traffic to a standstill at times. As we are all well versed in the idea that people drive like assholes when there is road construction, worse was made by the simple fact that we were in Zion. People would poke along like old folks on Sunday, hanging their cameras out the car windows as they slowed to near stops, or were unsure of how fast they should take a curve around the park. I remember the colorful explosion of expletives that expelled from my mouth at the driver from Colorado that I stated “Should F***ing know better!”

By the time I reached the visitors center, I was near my wits end with people who insist on poking along the road. The visitors center nearly pushed me to the brink of insanity. I had been to my fair share of parks on this trip already, and I had not experienced a visitors center that would best be described as a mall parking lot on Christmas Eve. After circling three times in search of a spot, I was able to pull into a spot vacated by a minivan that about six children had to load into. Walking to the building I laughed, overhearing a group of tourists on motorcycles bitching about the lack of open parking spots, and declare “What, there free blowies in there or what!?”

I left the part of that park that civilians could drive and found the only camp ground in town, a Comfort Inn, that also accommodated campers. And by accommodate, I mean that they charged ten dollars more than any other campground I had been through thus far, their shower facilities were using experimental 'green technology', which is code talk for 'if your shower is cold thats just too bad', there was no bench in the showers, nor curtains to separate the changing room from the shower itself. No benches to sit on and change clothes. And to top it off, when you check in, they give you a chit to activate the shower, and is only good for six minutes of running water. After my cold shower, I wandered into the lobby to charge my cell phone and get on the internet. This isn't permitted for the 'campers', only hotel guests. I swallowed my pride and packed up my stuff and left, knowing I would be leaving first thing in the morning. I don't need to be treated like a second class citizen just because I'm one of those 'camping folk'.

Zion has something that few other parks offer. Shuttle services. I was able to take a shuttle to the park entrance and walk through a pedestrian entrance. Once in the park, there are additional shuttles that will take you wherever you need to go in the park. I found this to be convenient and relaxing. I had the ability to relax and gaze at the window while en route to the various places I wanted to hike. The rest of the tourists around me found the shuttles to only be a nuisance and cramp to their style. Seats were left open by people that didn't want the discomfort of sitting next to a stranger on a full bus, they would prefer to stand. Bellyaching about the slow pace of the bus and having to stop for pickups and drop offs was being murmured throughout the trip. Finally at my destination I was able to get off the bus and begin a hike.

My first hike was pretty easy, walking along a high ridge along the Virgin river, which is the very river that cut Zion Canyon. Stopping along the way I was able to photograph the squirrels that are completely unfazed by human activity, as well as beautiful cactus flowers hanging desperately to the edge of the drop. The hike led up into a deep canyon between monoliths, in which there was a pool and a tall waterfall dropping snow melt stream from over 1000 feet overhead. There was a somewhat stagnant little pool at the base of the waterfall, but most of the water continued to runoff into several subsequent pools and smaller waterfalls that eventually lead back to the Virgin River itself.

The next hike was a little more arduous. The Hidden Canyon is located near the top of a basin that is accessed only by a steep climb up nearly 900 feet of switchbacks. At the top is a very cool (temperature wise) narrow canyon that leads on for miles. The designated trail ends at that point and there are several bouldering technique spots to continue on. I continued for about a half mile in before turning back. If you keep going it continues about five miles before finally intersecting with a back country trail route.

The trail that eluded me due to weather conditions was the Angels Landing Summit. The trail to the top is a narrow switchback trail cut into the rock and rises over 1200 feet to the top of Angels Landing. Angels Rock holds intrigue for me now as shortly before my arrival a woman unfortunately fell to her death. Since 1987 eight have perished en route to the summit, but thousands of others make it without too many problems. The only problem that I had was the unending rain. After checking the radar it appeared as though the cloudy weather and rain were going to hold up in the Zion Canyon area for at least two more days. I thought it the best time to simply cut my losses with the park that had angered me so greatly already. I hope to return and take Angels Summit and hopefully have an all around better experience at the park, but that is another endeavor for another day. It was time to move on.

The Bryce Canyon Experience

Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon is a great drive for people who love to drive. Following down U.S. Scenic Byway 12 leads a winding path through the Dixie National Forest, climbing to an elevation of 9000 feet along the way. The true gem of this road is going through a section of the Grand staircase, in which the road gives way on both sides to sheer drops and surrounding canyons. The road is actually a little bit difficult to navigate one you reach this part as so many people have simply stopped their cars in the middle of the two lane road to take pictures, despite the signs every half mile warning otherwise. Once past the Grand Staircase the road begins to climb drastically and finally you reach Bryce Canyon. My first goal was to find a place to camp, it being so late in the afternoon I knew that the parks campgrounds were already full, so I drove into Bryce Canyon City. Although extremely condensed, this city is completely overdone. Ruby's is the say all be all. I stayed in Ruby's campground for two nights at Bryce Canyon, as I literally had no other options. Ruby's owns the entire city. If I wanted to eat at one of the three diners, buy groceries from the general store, get my car fixed, rent a car, bike, jeep, or ATV, stay at a hotel, take a scenic flight, take a rafting trip. Ruby's was it.

It was actually a little surreal that one entity could run a town like this. Bryce Canyon is one of the primary attractions in the Grand Circle, so it would stand to reason that the town would be completely overrun and commercialized by any number of hotel chains and rental companies all desperately competing for their piece of pie. But alas, Ruby's was able to maintain a monopoly.

Early the next morning I set off to hike into Bryce. The name of Bryce Canyon is slightly misleading as it isn't so much a tree canyon, as an enormous amphitheater filled with hoodoo's; geologic structures that are formed by the erosion of sandstone by wind and water. I started to hike into Bryce with the intention of taking the Navajo loop trail, which is about 3 miles round tip top to bottom, but after walking down a mile worth of switchbacks, I came to find that the trail I had set off for had recently been closed due to falling rock. Having entered the the Sunset Point trail head, I decided to take a hike down the Queen's Garden trail which would lead me to the Sunrise Point trail head, only a mile and a half down the way. Once there I decided to turn around and head back to the beginning and find another trail to try, when four young Australian women came down the path with the intention of hiking the Peekaboo loop, which is a three mile circle through some of the most scenic parts of the amphitheater.

With my Camelback mostly full and a few Clif bars in my pack, I set off slightly ahead of the group, stopping every once in a while for a rest and chit chat with the heavily accented ladies. The trail was pretty strenuous mostly with steep climbs up then down and back up again through forested sections as well as open areas in which Hoodoos and monoliths towered over me. The sun felt very warm on the back of my neck despite the temperature only being in the low 70s. Snow pack was still at the edge of every turn in the trail, sometimes having to hike through hallways four feet deep on either side of melting snow. I was able to stop a few times and converse with hikers coming from the other direction and find out how far they had hiked and for how long to get an idea of how much further I had to hike. After I alerted the Australians that we were only a little bit past the halfway mark I was made to be the bad guy for being the bearer of bad news. The last bits of the hike may have been the best as the trail led along a ridge that overlooked the heart of Bryce Canyon. The sun was so high in the sky that the orange of the sandstone gave way to blinding white. The hike was finally over as I began to descent back into the wooded area and caught up with the spur trail which had led us here. Tired and hungry, the most difficult part of the hike was still ahead of me. The mile hike out of the canyon up the very same steep switchbacks I had easily jotted down hours before. Once at the top, dripping with sweat, I bid the Australians farewell and drove to the next vistas and finally back to my camp for rest and relaxation with a six pack of Budweiser purchased from the Ruby's General Store.

Incredible Capitol Reef

A short time later I-70 was speeding by beneath as I searched for my next exit, Utah Highway 24. Headed south winding around various Mesas and high plains I was heading towards Capitol Reef National Park. One of the lesser visited parks as a whole, Capitol Gorge has brilliant colors the defy the eyes ability to believe are natural. The reef was created what is called a water pocket fold, in which newer rock curled over the older rock in a S-curve from the same tectonic activity that ultimately created the Rocky Mountains during the rise of the Colorado Plateau. I started my time there with the usual drive to the end of the park, which takes you about twenty miles of the Reef, which stretches much farther, all the way to Lake Powell.

After driving for a ways down a single lane scenic road that leads up the spine of the park, there was a turn off onto a dirt road. Slowly creeping down the trail, I had to pay attention to the signs reading 'This is a flash flood wash, do not enter if storms appear imminent' – the sky was clear, so in I ventured. At the end of a mile of off road driving through the narrow and steep canyon you reach the area known as the Grand Wash. During a rain storm the run off of as little as a quarter of an inch of water will can create a wall of rushing flood fourteen feet deep in the Grand Wash. Hence the warnings! I headed out of this area and took another long drive through Capitol Gorge, which used to be the only way in and out of the park before the main highways were built. I left quickly as the sky became dark and overcast, in search of a nearby town.

Torrey is located eight miles west of Capitol Reef and is an incredibly understated town. Unlike Moab, there were no businesses set up to offer river tours or the rental of off road monstrosities. A few restaurants and campgrounds were all that Torrey had to offer. An amazing small town gem opposed to the commercialized mega stations that sit at the heads of places like the Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain, it was a breathe of fresh air and was sure to offer a quiet, yet cold night of rest before the start of hiking in the morning.

It was brisk but sunny and sure to grow into a hot day when I set off on the first trail which was to take me to Hickman Bridge, a large natural sandstone arch like those found in Arches. A steep trail to begin with was tiring, but after climbing the first 800 feet of the trail it leveled out and led into a canyon invisible to the road below. Mostly dirt and rock trail led to the bridge and ultimately the end of the trail. Backtracking to the trail head I came across another path the led to 'scenic vistas and Fruita campground. Another steep climb was ahead of me, and once again, at the top a valley opened up. Part of a wash zone, the way was mostly a wide sand path, leading to to views of the Fruita portion of the Park.

The presence of the Fremont river cutting and winding through the heart of the canyon, and the temperate climate in the shaded valley section made this land quite fertile. Mormon settlers came into the area and started to build orchards and missions. Lush and shaded, it is an oasis in the middle of desert. There are trees that have been growing in the Fruita for hundreds of years and have grown to epic size. From the 1870's until the start of World War II the farmers of the area were able to earn a living selling apples and other fruits and vegetables grown in the lush orchards of the area. Today this area is still intact and remains in repair as part of the National Park.

At the overlook of Fruita the trail winds all the way down to a neighboring camp. I hiked down and photographed some of the large trees and the stable located at the bottom. The hike back up the way I came down was arduous to say the least. Once I reached the top I met up with an architect from Miami and his daughter. A twenty year veteran of National Parks, he had been to many more than I. As we moseyed along at the top returning into the canyon I noticed his daughter had gone missing, so I mention this to him. Only now do I realize that this isn't his daughter, but his wife. She was maybe about 30 years old and he revealed to me that he was 57 years old. After knowing this I heard her start to talk and gathered that she was Cuban. All the pieces finally came together in my mind. Together the three of us strolled to the fork that would take them to the scenic vistas I had visited earlier in the after noon, and for me the fork back to Big Red. I wished them well and suggested that maybe we would happen across each other again in one of the parks ahead as we were following the same route through Utah. After several miles of hiking in the Utah sun, I was done in and ready to get back on the road.

Canyonlands at a Glance

Only two parts of Canyonlands National Park are readily available to the public, and they are separated by two hours of highway and mountain driving. The Park is made of up three distinct districts, being The Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. The Maze is accessible only several days of hiking or a rough and tumble drive down an extreme four-wheel drive trail. Closest to Arches is The Island in the Sky district. This is the highest point in the park with an average elevation of over 6000 feet above see level, and is also the most visited portion. A good forty-five minute drive west of Route 191 takes you to the visitors center, a modest structure that primarily serves as a depot to register for back country permits. For people just looking for a drive through park the Canyonlands is a poor choice. It receives most of its business from its Jeep and mountain bike trails and from the back country camping that it offers. Island in the Sky offers incredible scenic vistas of the Needles and Maze districts below it. Unlike the Grand Canyon, overlooking the edge of the walls you look down into an odd and amazing valley that is home to hundreds of different individual canyons.

The White Rim road is a hundred mile round trip around a portion of Canyonlands which takes two to four days to drive in a four wheel drive vehicle and is also traveled by ATV enthusiasts. This is what drew the most interest for me. I one day hope to make it back to this portion of Utah better equipped and prepared to make the drive and experience parts of the park that many people have the chance to. The park remained mostly unexplored for me as I passed through The Needles and The Island in the Sky. It demands to be its own dedicated trip with overnight camping in the back country as a must.

Arches to the West, and I don't mean St Louis

Moab, Utah is a town like I had never been in before. It had the certain feel of a tourist spot, yet at the same time, it seemed to have such a small desert town feel about it. Off road recreation is at the center of it all though as people come from all over the country and as I later found out, the world, to take part of the beautiful and functional terrain that the area has to offer. As I drove down U.S. Route 191, the highway gave way and temporarily became the main drag, offering River rafting trips, Jeep, Humvee, and ATV rentals, skydiving, hang-gliding. The works. I couldn't count the number of shops offering Cams, Caribeaners, and other rock climbing gear and apparel. There is a gross amount of bike shops to accommodate the booming market of mountain biking and trail riding. Various unique diners and southwest food restaurants sprinkled in here and there made Moab one of the most entertaining towns Ive traveled to. There was even a store in which the sign in front read 'River Rafting photos and Ice Cream'. I had my choice of camp grounds to stay in that night and everything I could possibly need was at my fingertips, including swanky custom T-shirt shops and an antique bookstore. The beauty was that as much as Ive said was going on there, it still carried a feel that it wasn't overdone and made to feel tacky.

The morning after my arrival in Moab, Utah, I ventured into the first of the National Parks situated in the immediate area. About a two mile drive back north on the 191 takes you to the entrance station into Arches National Park. A visitor center is immediately to the right once through the gate, but I continued up the road through a series of switchbacks that took me to the top of an enormous sandstone ridge. Once at the top you begin to descend into the proper park. An endless plain stretches out ahead with jagged sandstone towers and mesas scattered here and there. A few more minutes and you reach the three gossips area. I immediately recognized the giant three tiered monument from its appearance in the opening scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when young Indiana has many escapades in the desert in an attempt to rescue a gold cross that once belonged to Coronado. The more into the park you venture, more becomes familiar. The long span of the Landscape Arch, the Double Arch. All there in reality as I had seen so many times on television and in the movies.

My first goal was to simply drive to the end of the park to get a feel for the area, then to work my way back to the beginning, hoping not to miss a thing. In the early morning of what was sure to become a picturesque day, I began the hike to Landscape Arch. A short hike of a mile and a half down a moderate trail, it becomes clear to you only a few hundred yards away. It is considered to be the longest natural arch in the world reaching 290 feet across. In 1991 tourists were filming beneath it when they were a sudden snap like a crack of lightning, seconds later a slab of rock 70 feet long fell from the narrowest section of the arch, forcing the Park to forever close the trail which had once passed beneath. After the short time it took reaching Landscape Arch, I decided to hike down the primitive part of the trail to find the Double-O arch, which lies another mile down a path marked only by cairns. After hiking further up a trail I came to a narrow between two slabs of sandstone fin. Up I climbed and reached the top, which was primarily a large sheet of slick rock with very little sand or vegetation. I was able to follow the cairns for about a half mile before the abruptly stopped and I was standing at the edge of a cliff. Backtracking was the next option, had I missed one it could have been easy to get off trail. Still no more cairns. The hour was almost noon and the sun was getting very high and very warm in the sky, so I decided it best to give up my hunt for the Double-O arch and head back for the more frequently traveled trail to the Landscape Arch.

The symbol of Arches National Park, and in many ways, Utah as a whole is the Delicate Arch. It is located off on its own a little bit off the main road of the park, about a mile drive to the trail head. A slightly more strenuous trail leads you a mile and a half, mostly up a relatively steep slick rock slab to the top of a ridge, which gives way to sand for a few hundred yards before you end up on even more slick rock climbing further higher. At no point in the hike do you ever see the arch coming, so one begins to wonder if it is even real. I wound up making some of the hike with an older man, probably in his early sixties. He was good company for a bit, but told me to go off on my own as he was slowing me down. It was his goal to do as many hikes as he could as he told me that he had an open wound on his leg and that doctors may decide to cut it off any day. His philosophy was that he only had to get to the destination, if he couldn't go back the good people of the parks service would have to haul him back down.

At the top of the ridge the view finally opens up into a natural amphitheater in which the Delicate Arch is located. To the left from where you enter, it is as if nature set this area up perfectly for the viewing of this geologic wonder. It had begun to cloud over as I had made my hike, so the sandstone wasn't glowing like I had seen in pictures and postcards, but I felt a need to photograph it none the less. I set up the tripod and at various points in the bowl I would sit on the slope patiently waiting while other people went underneath the arch for various pictures of themselves proclaiming to the world that they had indeed been to this majestic place, and to prove it, they stood right beneath a fragile structure that could snap at any moment, just as Landscape did nineteen years ago. In fact, early in the development of Arches, the NPS investigated the possibility of applying a clear plastic coating to protect the arch from further erosion and prevent its eventual collapse, but this idea was abandoned as it was contrary to the principles of the NPS.

As you view the Delicate arch, and it frames the La Sal mountains to the southeast of the park, you realize what the park has to offer. The natural beauty of the red sandstone cliffs and desert in the distance, and the sudden rise to the snow capped peaks towering more than 12,000 feet above. The land becomes a symbol for itself. Abruptly one thing ends and an entirely new environment rises above the rest. The whole of that southwest can be personified in this one spot viewing this scene, the very scene that Utah decided to depict on the license plate of their state.

On my way out of Arches I stopped and hiked to several of the other things to be seen, the Skyline Arch is quite impressive, as is the Double Arch. There are a few short hiking trails to be had around the park, but not too many. At the sand dunes arch I waited for a good ten minutes to get a good picture of it as a elderly couple had set up their chairs in the shadow of the arch itself and set there laughing as their toddler grandson made the thirty foot climb to the top of the arch and said “Look at me look at me!” A few fellow hikers and I had a
good laugh at the irresponsibility of what we were witnessing. All in all, there park is small and its points of
interest are pretty spectacular. It lacks any long hikes or back country camping opportunities. Aside from that,
Arches is a must see of southern Utah.