Day 28: Canyonlands UPDATED!

Having arrived in Utah late last night, we slept and prepared ourselves for a feat we have only achieved once before...not one but TWO national parks in one day! Matt has been raving about Brice and Zion Canyons since the preliminary planning stages of this trip, daring to say that they rivaled even the Grandest Canyon of them all (the little hole in the ground in AZ). I was suspicious, since we are indeed a little "deserted out" as earlier posts have suggested. In the end, however, I was glad we made the trip!

This daring mission required us to drive about a half hour from where we stayed last night to Zion, do as much of Zion as humanly possible, drive an hour and 40 minutes to Brice, do as much of Brice as humanly possible then drive four and a half hours to Salt Lake City. How did we do? Well, we are now in Salt Lake after having spent a fabulous day exploring two gorgeous parks! I would say we succeeded and are officially champions in my mind!!!

We started the day at Zion, famous for its amazing formations including the White Throne, the largest sandstone monolith in the world. In this park, you are not allowed to drive on the scenic road during the summer because of the traffic on the narrow roads, so a shuttle carts visitors to several different points of interest throughout the park. This system was indeed convenient and efficient with knowledgeable guides and beautiful stopping points where visitors could hike trails and take photos at their leisure with the assurance that another shuttle would arrive shortly. The only drawbacks have to do with the experience. These shuttles increase the concentration of people at a given site and don't allow people to blaze their own trails, in my mind breaking the illusion that the park belongs to you alone at a given moment. However, Zion is a beautiful park with amazing redrocks and the shuttle system is a clever way to cut down on traffic and pollution in a delicate environment.

Perhaps the most spectacular views came on our way out of Zion on the way to Brice. We drove windey roads carved from the red rocks and even drove through a tunnel built in 1930 that went right through one of the rocks, which was truly impressive for the time. After a good amount of driving, we arrived at Brice Canyon, arguably our favorite park thusfar. The park contains a few small and, of course, one large (Brice) Canyon. All around are hoodoos, tall, thin pieces of red rock that have eroded from the canyon walls and will eventually be eroded away, constantly changing the face of the park. Magnificent pink cliffs run through the park, and their colors are something to behold. The best part of our trip to Brice was the 1.6 mile round trip hike that took us to the floor of the canyon, giving us a variety of different angles at which we could view the amazing features. It was somewhat strenuous coming back up, especially for us ill prepared and inexperienced hikers, but it was well worth the effort to experience such unique beauty. Overall, we only scratched the surface of this expansive park, but we enjoyed the time we spent and long to go back.

After the canyons, the four and a half hour drive to Salt Lake would have been uneventful if it had not been for the amazing sight we saw along the way. We have been hearing about forest fires for weeks now and even saw smoke from a few while in California. Driving through Utah this evening we actually saw a raging forest fire. It went for miles ranging from dying embers to tall flames engulfing trees. We could not believe our eyes. The whole south side of I-15 was closed for miles because it was right along the fire line (luckily we were on I-15 North!). The smell of smoke permiated our car's walls. Luckily, it seemed to be in a wooded area that was not heavily populated, and the police and firefighters seemed to have it under control. I suppose it is fairly routine for them, but for us it was shocking, as we are not used to such experiences in the east.

Other than that, it was a fairly uneventful drive. We are ready for a good night's rest in Salt Lake, as we have a long day tomorrow once again. We are driving up to Jackson which should take about 5 hours and going through the Tetons, making our way towards Montana. We can't wait to see Nonnie and Papaw on Wednesday! See you on the other side (of the mountains!)

And now without further ado...the Stats



41% of the USA!
Overall Avg: 55.9mph
Moving Avg:63.4mph
Total Time:7h 33 min
Moving Time:6h 39 min
Stopped:53 min 6s
Distance:422.4miles
Distance to go: Moving right along