The second half of our Utah adventure started in Capitol Reef NP, this one hadn’t been on my radar, but it happened to be along the route so we decided to check it out for a day. The “reef” is a result of an uplifting of the crust, so on the east you have gentle sloping hills, to steep cliffs facing the west. The main attraction here are the canyons that were cut through this uplifting by the water routes. Steep and smooth cliffs made of a harder sandstone, funelling down to small canyons, these were great to hike to. The campground in Fruita is in a wider canyon valley, we unfortunately didn’t get a spot there, as the campground itself looked quite nice. However it gave us a chance to do our first boon docking, just east of the entrance was a dirt road heading south towards Bullfrog Notom, and as it crossed a stream roads jutted off in each direction. We were able to drive a couple hundred meters off the road to a flat spot just above the river and camp for free. This was a beautiful spot, great views of the ridge and only 15 minutes away from Capitol Reef, a very busy NP. You definitely need to try this yourself in BLM land.
The next day we planned to drive to Bryce Canyon and find a campground there. The drive from Capitol Reef along Hwy 12 was amazing, you pass up into a small mountain range, first with views of Capitol Reef and then the lakes and pine forests took over. It was interesting to see the change in the forest, as clearly here they received a bit more water than the surrounding areas. The road then drops down into a valley following Hell’s Backbone, one of my all time favorite drives. You basically follow the spine of a ridge down, with the cliffs on both sides dropping straight down to canyons below.
We stopped at Kiva Koffeehouse where we picked up an internet signal for the first time in awhile, it was a great little place with good pastries and amazing views. I realised that there were some slot canyons nearby that I had on my list of things to see. So as we continued on to the valley I took a left onto the road that lead to these slot canyons, after 100 meters we realised that this was not a good road for an RV. So we continued on into the sleepy town of Escalante. There we pulled aside and walked along the shops in town, and discovered a jeep rental place that also did shuttles to various hiking points. I scheduled a trip to these slot canyons the next day. That night we stayed at a campground on the edge of town, it was one of those standard places, nice amenities but packed in there like sardines. But being in town we were able to walk to dinner and we also got a good hot shower in the morning, so nothing to complain about.
The next morning we were in the jeep heading out to my hike, Charissa came along for the ride, and what a ride it was. 25 miles of mostly washboard, with some spots of soft sand and bumps. Our driver was a young guy, and had us going 50mph+ the whole way, that poor jeep felt like it was going to rattle apart at the seems, but we made it there and back and had a nice chat with him as well about our trip and his life in southwest Utah. The hike itself was my favorite so far of the trip, while not long, I was able to climb up one slot canyon called Peekaboo, cut across country to another slot canyon named Spooky and drop through that back to where I started. The canyon itself was cut by a small narrow stream through soft sandstone joining the main canyon at the bottom, though these seem to be dry most of the time except when it rains. Peakaboo canyon warmed me up for the real experience, Spooky dropped down sometimes quite quickly with boulders blocking the way
From there we headed to Bryce Canyon, we ended up getting a campground at Bryce Canyon city, which again we were packed like sardines, this one however had hot tubs and direct access to the park shuttle, so we stayed there for 2 nights. Bryce Canyon shuttle system was quite well run, going every 10-15 minutes, we were able to hop on and hop off at various points, and hike between some as well. It was nice for me not to drive as well. Bryce again was very different from the other parks, with the hoodoos which are hundreds of vertical sandstone stacks. They are vary in colour from a dark read to yellow to almost white. The view from above is quite spectacular.
I took a longer hike again, starting down through what is called Wall Street, switchbacks down 500 feet in a wider slot canyon, and then it wandered through the hoodoos and eventually back up some less steep switchbacks to the plateau again. You definitely have to hike here, as the view from down below is needed to really appreciate these features.
Our last stop in Utah is probably most people’s first, it seems to be the most popular but also it is the closest to Vegas. Zion National Park canyon is similar to Capitol Reef, but on a grander scale. Smooth red sandstone cliffs give way to a top layer of white sandstone, with the occasional red cap towering thousands of feet above the canyon floor. These cliffs shoot straight up from a narrow river valley that winds back and forth between the walls.
Like Bryce they have a shuttle system, though in the main part the shuttles are the only vehicles allowed. The shuttles were well run, but we were on the tail of peak season, and even then we waited in line at moments to catch a shuttle. Given the narrow canyon, it really is the only way they could set it up. We took the first day to hit all the major points, Charissa and I enjoyed a few different trails and walked the river walk catching a glimpse of the narrows which is a popular hike.
The second day I took the opportunity to take a longer hike. I started up the trail to the very popular Angel’s Landing, it starts with a steep climb up switchbacks called Walter’s wiggles, 21 switchbacks rising quickly up a canyon. From there is a half mile side trail that takes you to Angels Landing, here is where it gets really interesting, you are climbing up and across a spine of rock to a pinnacle that sits in the middle of a canyon oxbow. The trail itself is scrambling up rocks, always near an edge, sometimes straddling the ridge to the point where a slip on either side would lead to sure death. But to assist you there is a chain railing along most of the route. While it was a bit scary, I never felt scared for my life, though I did worry about others who I felt were a bit too nonchalant about the edge when taking selfies. While the hike was exciting, the views were breathtaking, it really brought you out to an amazing viewpoint to see another side of Zion Canyon. It was one of the best hikes I have ever done, despite the crowd.
After the side hike I decided to continue up the rim trail, this took me another 1000 feet up through the white layer of sandstone to one of those red caps I mentioned earlier. This was a strenuous hike, but I was distracted by the views of the so called “Desert Siberia” and the fall colours in the side canyon as I climbed. At the top I had lunch and hiked back the 5 miles to join Charissa back in town.
We spent the evenings in some more dispersed camping near Bryce, just outside of Virgin called Hurricane Cliffs. It was an adventure to find, but free camping on BLM land helped us to save up for our next stop in Vegas.
All told we did about 2 weeks in southern Utah to see the 5 main parks with a few other stops along the way, it was a nice leisurely pace to see the region. The region is so different from other places I have been, and a new site is always just over the next ridge, so I recommend everyone to take a tour through here.
