Utah pt 1

STATE 40: UTAH!

I know I just took a trip a couple weeks ago, but it was time for another-  the 3 M's were at it again! (Michelle, Meghan, and Melissa)  We flew into Salt Lake City which was a little under 4 hours from Cincinnati. We immediately rented a car and drove to just outside of Zion. It was a long travel day, but that meant that the next day we could go straight to the park. 

We made it to our hotel around 10pm which was really midnight our time. 

Day 1  We started the day at Zion National Park (which is actually Utah's first national park!)

We visited: Kolob Canyon and Timber Creek Overlook Trail. Then, we took the Zion shuttle (after having to wait in line for it) to the furthest stop - the riverside walk. This was actually nice and shaded and really pretty: 

We grabbed lunch and then drove through the Zion Mt Carmel Tunnel:

Last stop was the Canyon overlook trail : 

We checked into our next Hotel which put us close to our excursion for the next day. 

Day 2 Upper & lower red cave Slot Canyon and Bryce 

One of the highlights of this trip was the UTV tour which was done through Roam east Zion. 

It was about a 2 hour tour and our guide, Anna, was so great!  It was a private tour and she drove us straight to the entrance of the two canyons! We walked around inside the canyons and took some fun pictures! The ride was bumpy, but it was so enjoyable! 

After our tour we grabbed lunch and headed to Bryce! Bryce Canyon National Park is known for its geological formations, “hoodoos” , which are tall thin spires of rock. 

We stopped at: 

Natural bridge 

Rainbow point, Black birch canyon, Bryce point:

Sunset point: 
(We even saw Thor's Hammer!)

While we were at Bryce there was a fire in Dixie National Forest, approximately 15 miles southwest of the park. We could see the smoke from Bryce so that was a little scary.

We checked into our Hotel after successfully visiting 2/5 national parks in Utah. 

Day 3:  

We woke up and could smell smoke in our room from the fire.  This was our view when we stepped outside: 

There was ash flying everywhere so we were grateful we were heading to a new park: Capitol Reef !

We saw Panorama point and Goosenecks point: 

We also stopped to view some Petroglyphs: (it took me a while to find them!)

Our Hotel for the night was its own adventure-  17 miles to the nearest anything...   We drove the nearest "town" and got some snacks for the night.  Probably wouldn't recommend staying there unless you have stuff (like dinner) packed in advanced. 

....TO BE CONTINUED...