Desert Beauty: 10 Day Roadtrip through Utah and Arizona Parks

I should preface this section of the itinerary by saying Zion National Park is my favorite national park out of the dozens I have been to in Canada and the United States, and it's not particularly close. I have visited it multiple times, and find it awe-inspiring every time.

Day 1: North Rim

The north rim of the Grand Canyon is a significant detour to take on the way from Page to Saint George, but how could we not? Not only is the north rim taller, it sees much less tourism that the south rim (which is usally done as a day trip from Las Vegas). Consequently, I'd like to think we got a more personalized experience, as we only ran into a handful of people in the short hike we did.

Entering Zion National Park from the east side is also a cool experience as it has two great perks:

1. You get to see some of the eastern park, which sees much less tourism and has a very interesting landscape.
2. You enter the Mount Carmel Tunnel totally blind to what's to come. And it's jaw dropping when you come out the other side.

Day 2: Bryce Canyon

Going to Bryce Canyon National Park is technically a little backwards, as it is east of Zion back toward Page. That being said,  it is worth doing because Bryce has one of the most uniquely alien landscapes on the planet. The canyon is filled with scores of thin rock towers known as hoodoos, which are carved out by the wind. There are several trails that weave through the hoodoos, but they are also all visible from the canyon rim - particularly the aptly named Bryce Point. If you are looking for some dawn photography, the fact the canyon opens toward the east makes this a tough spot to beat.

Day 3: The Narrows

We got up nice and early to check the weather forecast, as this particular hike is subject to heavy flash flooding. Once we knew we were good to go, we kitted ourselves out with water-appropriate shoes at one of the outfitters outside Zion and went on our way. Both of these steps are abolutely critical, and can be the differenve between a good time, a brutal time, or even death.

Once you take the park shuttle up the canyon, you get dropped off at the start of the trail and have about an hour before you truly get started. And what I mean by that is that after this first section, the hike takes place entirely within the Virgin River. There is something strangely satisfying about chasing a canyon upriver to its very source, but make no mistakes, hiking through water isn't easy. Regardless, it is still very much worth the effort.

Day 4: Angel's Landing

Angel's Landing is not the tallest vantage point in the park (that award goes to Observation Point), but given it's a five-or-so hours and 8 km with 450m elevation gain hike, it's hard to argue with its jaw dropping views (Observation Point is notably longer and taller). The only real downisde to Angel's Landing is that it's popularity can get the best of it - there is very narrow section near the top where only person can pass at a time, and it can create some big bottlenecks. Hikers be forewarned, this is not for anyone with a fear of heights as some of the trail drop offs are hundreds of meters.

Because Angel's Landing is shorter than the Narrows, it's a nice note to finish off on; after the hike we made our way to Las Vegas for a night's rest and flew out early the next morning.