Utah- Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion!

 

We completed the Mighty 5!!* We headed west from Moab to the remaining Utah National Parks. We continued to be dazzled by the natural beauty and the sheer diversity of the three parks. To celebrate, here are many many pictures with shockingly little commentary.**

We drove through Capitol Reef National Park from east to west. There were mountains of many colors and a lovely canyon walk that Dad and I did after a little bit of off-roading to get there!

We made it to Bryce Canyon by the afternoon and were DAZZLED by the hoodoos.***

I took a short detour to get a few hoodoo pictures that turned into a 2.9 mile walk**** down to the bottom of the canyon and then back up. I would have been very upset about it but it was BEAUTIFUL.

The next day we did the scenic drive to the end of the canyon and back, complete with a few walks and some super high altitudes.

From Bryce Canyon we headed just a bit more west to Zion National Park. There were epic mountains surrounding a canyon with streams and waterfalls and peaceful nature times for days.

After the day in the main part of Zion, we went to the Kolob Canyons on the northwestern edge of the park. As always, there were VISTAS.

We wrapped up our time in Utah at Zion National Park and began the trek back east. When we got to Colorado we realized it had been too long since we'd been to a park so we threw in Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction for good measure.

In all, we spent most of the trip doing this:

If you're thinking, gosh, this trip would have looked even better in panorama. I've got you covered:

And now from Colorado, we begin the very long drive east. Or, rather, I'm at the airport and flying home from Denver while Dad and AT rough it out on the highways and byways. Am I sad to miss 2.5 more solid days of driving? No, but also, someone in this family has to work on Monday.*****

Utah, you are beautiful! Thank you for the visit and the vistas!
-KT

*Because if ever there was a family committed to traveling to a list of things, it was this one. 
**AKA, I'm at the airport and let's just get these glorious pictures up AQAP.
***If you're looking for an in-depth geology talk about hoodoos, keep up the good search! If you're in for a quickie, they're the twisty looking spires formed by science/magic
****This one really was the h-word but I still refuse to use it.
*****It's me. It's only me. Everyone else in this family is retired. 14 years to go!!!