Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Stretching between Bryce Canyon and my next destination lay the vast, rugged Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The route: Highway 12. The road: dipping and climbing atop 1.9 million acres of squared-off mountains, surprise canyons, and wide valleys. The land was controversially placed under federal protection at the height of the 1996 presidential campaign by Bill Clinton. Politics aside, it's a spectacular expanse and ignites the imagination to thoughts of lunar exploration.

On the way to Torrey, where I stayed Wednesday night at the Capitol Reef Inn and Cafe, I made an ice cream pitstop at Nemo's, a stand in Escalante, the biggest small town in the national monument. The final thirty miles or so to Torrey rolled above a deep valley across which the Waterpocket Fold was visible. The Fold, a colorful crease in the earth as its name suggests, is the central feature of Capitol Reef National Park, one of the places I visited on Thursday.

Bryce Canyon National Park

It would be near impossible to match the beauty of Zion, but Bryce Canyon comes breathtakingly close to where I was the day before. Whereas Zion looks as if it were carved with swinging axe strokes, Bryce is finely detailed and brightly painted. Bryce Canyon National Park's most prominent feature is a sweeping amphitheater of fiery orange, pink, and white hoodoos on the edge of a great cliff.

From Zion, Bryce is slightly over an hour away. I stopped in Ordeville on the way and purchased a piece of petrified wood and an opalized shell fossil, but still got to the next park on my list by just after ten. Once in Bryce, I parked at Sunrise Point, laced up my hiking shoes, and set off for the overlook. The Sunset Point vista is spectacular as are the four other strategically placed lookouts I visited along the rim of Bryce Canyon.

After taking in the view from Sunrise Point, I ventured down into the labyrinth of dirt, sand, and stone. Note the exposed tree roots on the canyon's edge. These bare roots are visual evidence of how fast Bryce Canyon is eroding. The roots used to be underground, but the dirt has been washed away. I began on the Queens Garden Trail, then took the three mile Navajo Loop through the hoodoos.

The Navajo Loop trail leaves the maze of hoodoos at Sunset Point, another eyeful to behold. I then continued two more miles along the Rim Trail to the three Inspiration Point vistas, then on to Bryce Point. From Bryce Point, I took the free park shuttle back to where I had parked at Sunrise Point and, after briefly stopping at the Fairyland Canyon lookout continued on my way to Capital Reef National Park by way of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is quite possibly the most beautiful place in the world. Pixels and words do faint justice to the epic, timeless scale of this heavenly canyon. What distinguishes Zion from other canyons is how green it is. While the gargantuan towering walls provide plenty of spectacle, the lushness is what makes it look like paradise.

After spending the night in Cedar City, I awoke Tuesday morning and sped off on Highway 15 towards Kolob Canyons, my first stop in the park. Had I been a day later, I would not have made it. On Wednesday, forest fires enveloped an area three miles from Zion's north entrance, resulting in the closure of the interstate and shutting off public access to the park's northern section.

Kolob Canyons

Just off Highway 15 is a five mile drive into the north part of Zion with numerous scenic overlooks and a handful of trailheads. This is the part of the park that closed on Wednesday. The chunky, red ridges of stone have been marvelously engineered by the forces of time, water, and wind. At the end of the five mile road, I did the short Timber Creek Overlook Trail, which concludes with great views of the opposing canyon walls and Arizona on the horizon.

Scenic Drive

The park's most commonly used entrance is the south one by the town of Springdale. After my Kolob excursion, it was back on the highway and forty more miles of driving. Visitors catch brief glimpses of Zion's splendor from the road, but only when they enter the park does the canyon fully surround them. Since so many people visit the park in summer, parking is limited to certain areas and free shuttles run every few minutes in a circuit of stops along the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. I opted to park my car at my campsite in the South campground. More about that in a moment.

The visitor center is a short walk from the campground. I looked around there briefly, then caught the next shuttle. I took it to Temple of Sinawava, the furthest stop out, to investigate whether I would attempt The Narrows, a soggy, difficult trail that's swam as much as it is hiked. I found it nearly impossible to stop snapping pictures of the sky islands all around me while aboard the shuttle driving through the park for the first time.

Temple of Sinawava

At Temple of Sinawava, the furthest terminal from the visitor center, a mile-long trail besides the Virgin River--the river that carved Zion Canyon--opens to a wide shallow. Here visitors swim in cool, flowing water. Ambitious adventurers can continue further up the river with the caveat that they'll likely have to swim. At some junctures in the four miles further the river extends, the vertical walls are only twenty feet apart.

While the old man at the campsite across from mine recommended doing The Narrows, a largely shaded hike, in the afternoon heat, I decided I didn't want to get wet and wasn't properly equipped to proceed without waterproof gear. The Narrows will have to wait until my next time in Zion. Nevertheless, the Riverside Walk, the first leg of The Narrows hike, gives a nice portrait of the seemingly gentle Virgin River, which has somehow wrecked so much destruction upon the sandstone terrain.

Angels Landing

I'd heard about Angels Landing before getting to Zion and hiking it was my number one priority in the park. Or attempting to hike it. Since 2004, six people have fallen to their deaths on this trail and many more chicken out of the final stretch along the high, narrow ridge of the behemoth monolith. Chain railings have been installed to give climbers something more to hold on to than crumbly sandstone ledges atop the stone pinnacle.

The five mile trail first doubles back and forth broadly but steeply before reaching the ridge, ascending 1,488 feet in all. Facing the fierce winds and dizzying heights of Angels Landing is rewarded with breathtaking views of the valley below. I can easily see how early pioneers mistook Zion Canyon for heaven. After climbing up it, the monolith looked minutely different than before I'd made the hike. It wasn't that I had conquered the rock but rather that I'd gotten to know it better.

Court of the Patriarchs

I was tuckering out but still wanted to see the wonderfully named Three Patriarchs--Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob isn't the mountain in front on the right, but rather the taller peak behind that one. The one in front is Maroni, named for a Mormon prophet.

Camp

My overnight refuge was in the South campground near the banks of the Virgin River. Campsite 78. By later afternoon when I got back to my camp, the campsite was full. It didn't get dark until well after nine. The first flush of daylight struck at perhaps 4 a.m.

Sunrise

I woke with the sun (not at four but once it got a little brighter) and packed up my camp. I was on the road before 7 a.m. I saw deer on the road as I exited the park, climbing the east valley wall on switchbacks before entering  a 1.1-mile tunnel. The morning sun brought out the yellow and coral colors in the rock faces. Once through the tunnel, I did the one-mile Canyon Overlook Trail, which offered a parting view of the stunning hidden valley half bathed in shadow. I also stopped at a pull-off to see the Checkerboard Mesa. Then it was onward to Bryce Canyon.