5-Day Solo Roadtrip Around the National Parks in Utah
Day 1
I woke up to the most beautiful view of the Utah desert and thus, my Utah loop trip begins!
When I go to national parks, I try to start early in the morning to beat the crowds. It is a Tuesday so I wasn’t expecting the same kind of crowds you would on a weekend, but might as well make the most of my time here anyway. I rolled in to Arches at 7:30am and stopped at each of the turnouts, took a couple pictures, and moved on. Arches is a small and highly accessible park so the hikes are short and everything can be seen from the main road.
Delicate Arch is probably the most significant hike in the park, both in popularity and distance. There really is no way to avoid the crowds at this one, but I think it was well worth it.
Like I mentioned earlier, Arches is a pretty small park so I went through it pretty fast. By 1, I was already on my way to the next destination.
Every solo trip I’ve been on, there’s a point (and it’s usually at the end of day 1) where I feel incredibly lonely. Well this happened while I was in at Mesa Arch Viewpoint in Canyonlands National Park. So I spent the next hour marveling at the grandness of God’s creation while simultaneously crying like an idiot blasting “Reckless Love”. It was a good time.
Continuing through the park, I realized how much backcountry hiking there was to do here. I didn’t plan on spending too much time in Canyonlands and definitely didn’t have the gear to wander into the canyons so I did a couple short hikes and called it good. For now. That evening I got to watch the sun go down on the Utah desert while enjoying a bowl of Miso Soup.
Day 2
I started off the morning at the less popular section of Canyonlands - The Needles District. In order to get to this part of the national park, you have to drive through the Indian Creek region (A famous big wall climbing area) of Bears Ears National Monument. More on this later.
Canyonlands is slowly climbing up my list of favorite national parks. The desert was quiet this morning, and I only saw 4 other groups during my time in the needles. I did a hike that was marked by cairns alone, and almost got lost a couple of times. With a long list of hikes I wanted to do for next time, I continued my journey out to Bears Ears National Monument.
Shoutout to Katie Boue for bringing attention to Bears Ears National Monument and fighting to protect it. Since I was out here, I wanted to go and see for myself what she was fighting so passionately for. While driving up between the Bears Ears Bluffs, I started to tear up.
For those who don’t know, National Monuments are established by Presidents as an effort to preserve historic or prehistoric sites by protecting the surrounding lands. Bears Ears National Monument was established in December 2016 during the Obama administration. In December 2017 though, President Trump decided to cut the boundaries of Bears Ears because he believed that establishing this monument was basically a “federal land grab”. The 1.35 million acres of protected land was dramatically decreased to 2 much smaller segments totaling 201,876 acres.
From in between the Bears Ears, I looked out on miles and miles and Utah desert with spires piercing through the ground as if reaching up to the sky. I took some time to sit and think about why we need protected lands like this.
Moki Dugway and Valley of the Gods are two areas that are no longer in the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, and driving through these sections of land, I couldn’t believe that such unique landscapes were no longer valued in the political scope and were vulnerable to development and destruction.
Continuing my drive toward my ultimate destination - Monument Valley, I saw a sign for Goosenecks State Park, and without any inkling of the kind of panorama I would lay my eyes on, I decided I would go and find out. I was beyond amazed at the view that a $7 entrance fee would grant me. It was at this point I realized why this park was called “Goosenecks”. The carving out of rock by rivers in the shape of a horseshoe is called a gooseneck, because it resembles exactly that.
Years ago, I went to Page, Arizona with my parents and got to visit the infamous Horseshoe Bend - a blazing red rock so powerfully carved out by the Colorado River. This one was 1.5x bigger and 1.5x better.
It was a little early in the evening, but after so much driving, I decided to call it a day. I found a dirt road a short distance from the iconic Monument Valley and the border of Utah and Arizona. From the back of my SUV, I enjoyed a delicious cup of noodles and watched the sun go down behind the epic structures of stone.
Day 3
My time at Monument Valley was my favorite moment on the entire trip. Waking up early in anticipation for something beautiful, liberated of the worries and stresses of life is one of the purest feelings in this world.
Enjoying the moment in Monument Valley was really important to me, so after some time to pray and think about all that I appreciate in my life, I continued on through the Valley of the Gods. My next destination was Capitol Reef National Park, but in order to get there, I had to drive through a good chunk of Glen Canyon National Park. Utah continues to surprise me at the variety of landscapes it provides.
Of course, right as I arrive at Capitol Reef, it begins to rain. That kept me from being able to explore the park very much, but honestly there was something so much better that happened in its place.
As I was leaving, last minute I decided to pull up at the Capitol Reef NP sign to snap a quick picture. There was a couple there already so I figured I could just ask them to take a picture for me and I could return the favor. Enter Josh & Makenzie.
I got to chat with this adorable couple for about 30 minutes about their adventure across country, their recent engagement (literally a couple days ago) and their future plans. We compared itineraries and came to the realization that we would both be in Boulder in about a week! We exchanged phone numbers, instagram handles and went on our way, promising to meet up again.
Next destination was Bryce Canyon National Park. I have been really excited about going to Bryce Canyon since Mom, Dad & I weren’t able to go last time we were out in Utah. Also, lucky for me, I had to drive through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to get there.
What’s the importance of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument you ask? Well, this is the other park that was reduced by the Trump Administration by 46% in December. So I guess now is a good time to visit.
Not surprisingly, I was blown away by the simple beauty in this place. At times, it felt like the narrow road was carefully placed on the knifes edge of a light-colored canyon.
I arrived at Bryce Canyon at around 5pm. I didn’t have much light left and had to make a quick decision of whether to explore the park now or wait until morning. Realizing that the park wasn’t all that big, and that there were still 5 hours until bed time with nothing else to do, I decided to speed through the park.
This turned out to be a pretty good decision. Unfortunately, I had held my expectations a little bit too high for this park. Don’t get me wrong, the bright orange needle like spires were truly impressive, but I guess I’ve hyped it up in my head a little too much. The sunset rays were like spotlights, lighting up different parts of the amphitheater, drawing my attention back and forth around the sharp death trap.
Tomorrow I was going back to Zion National Park. Leggo.
Day 4
Zion National Park.
This one has to be in the my top 3 national parks. There’s something enticing about this one.
Last time I was here was with my mom & dad, in December 2016 and we were only here for a day, and the weather was unpredictable so we didn’t have the opportunity to explore as much as we wanted. This time though, I was determined to get in some hiking!
I arrived a little later than I wanted, around 9am and as expected, there was a long line to even get into the park. There were people everywhere and I was very quickly becoming irritated. My entire plan for the day was ruined because of these crowds! Don’t worry, I realized my selfishness a bit later and repented of my actions.
Instead of battling the crowds to hike up to Angel’s Landing or Observation Point, I just decided to drive through the park and enjoy the view. I was just about to leave the park on the east entrance when a sign caught my eye “East Rim Trailhead”
Driving onto that gravel road, skirting all of the crowds was the beginning of an epic adventure that I would not regret. In the Zion Hiking Guide under the “Strenuous Hikes” category contained the following line: Observation Point via East Rim Trail = 8.0 miles round trip. Easy! Let’s do it :)
I approached the trailhead and checked the trail on the trail map. Doing a quick calculation though, It was significantly longer than 4 miles to Observation point. It was more like 11. It was then I realized that East Rim Trail was a through hike, and the 8.0 miles roundtrip was the mileage if you started at the other end of the East Rim Trail. Oops.
But I had already come this far and was too psyched about this hike. So, YOLO. Let’s do it.
I began my hike at 10:30 am, and did a quick calculation of the pace I would have to walk at to make it back to my car before dark. I was going to be cutting it close.
The trail was pretty flat until mile 9. All of a sudden I was hiking straight down into the canyon. This was my first uh-oh moment, realizing that I would have to hike this back up on the way back. But the views on this trail were beyond anything I could have imagined.
Taking a second to take a couple photos and soak in the view, a bit of melancholy began to set in. Moved by the grandness of nature, my heart is torn between an overwhelming thankfulness and a broken heart of privilege. Thousands of people flock to Zion National Park to enjoy the breathtaking views it has to offer, but majority will not get to experience what I am experiencing, right now in this moment.
I wanted every soul in the world to experience this kind of happiness, and though i know so most will never get to see what I am seeing, I know that the Lord can provide unbelievable moments in the hearts of men that will manifest the same depth of joy. Only Jesus can make a heart joyfully surrender to the grandness of his nature.
As my heart and camera roll continued to be filled, my camelback was doing the exact opposite. I reached the top of Observation Point to the realization that my camelback was completely empty and my food supply was running low. It was significantly hotter than when I began and I had a crucial decision to make. Do I hike the 11 miles back to my car or complete the through hike, and somehow find a way back to my car?
I couldn’t risk getting stranded out in this park without water and certainly didn’t have the strength to hike back up the canyon to the ridge, so down into the canyon I went.
Once reaching the main road in Zion Canyon, I hopped on the shuttle bus to the fork in the road that would lead to the east entrance. I was going to have to do something I had never done before - hitchhike back to my car.
I stuck my thumb out and began walking up the road toward my destination.
A nice older couple came over to me and offered me a ride. In the car ride up, they asked me about my life - what do I do, where do I live, what am I doing in Zion. They proceeded to tell me about their equally adventurous daughter and how they raised their daughter to be outdoorsy and adventurous like them. I could have sat and talked with them for a couple hours about their life and the great experiences they’ve had in their life but unfortunately we reached the end of the park and had to cut our conversation short.
I was inspired on so many levels and had so much to think about, but the battle between physical exhaustion and mental stimulation was quickly won by my tired legs and sunburnt shoulders.
Tonight I would go to bed happy.
Day 5
I started my day off in 4 places at once.
There’s a magical spot in the US where four states - Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. All it is is a glorified plaque really, but standing there and repeating to myself “I’m standing in four states at once” was kind of a fun experience.
From here began my journey back to Colorado. On my way back, I decided to stop by Mesa Verde National Park and the city of Durango.
The hype of vacation was beginning to wind down and I was ready to relax a little. I leisurely drove through Mesa Verde National Park, learning a little about the indigenous people along the way. Seeing the pit houses where the native people lived was a cool reminder of how far the human race had come yet how our core values of home and family have stayed intact.
Durango was a sweet little mountain town. I popped into the local climbing gym, grabbed a beer, and was soon on my way back to Boulder.
