6. Utah
I must confess, until my trip to the Southwest earlier this year, I heavily slept on Utah. But oh boy have I seen the light!
That’s not to say I hadn’t spent much time in Utah, because I got to go multiple times to where many consider to be the best part of the state. I got to camp in a truck in northeast Utah for a night, and I got to say, it was real pretty. But I don’t think that part of the state really stood out to me since I spent so much time in Montana. If I had not made the trip, Utah would probably be in the top 20, but not much higher. I think I dismissed the deserts in the south because, how cool could those be right?
View approaching Moab, UT
Bam! I get punched in the face immediately as I drive down to Arches. I don’t think it was necessarily Arches itself, despite how incredible that place is. But if coming from I-70 if you take the slightly slower way and drive through the canyon coming into Moab, you will be blown away. That was just the start of our trip.
Of course Arches is amazing! We were lucky to hit it mere days before it got real busy, but there are some incredible views you are able to get there. The red sand makes the environment stand out so much it is wild. Canyonlands was also a sight to behold. I think I was a little underwhelmed by the overlooks after spending the day at Arches, but the real sights come from when you go into the canyons at the southern entrance.
Arches National Park
Capitol Reef National Park. If you zoom in really close, you can see me towards the back of this gorge!
We kind of decided to make a whole week out of going to the national parks in southern Utah. But what I feel like what a lot of people don’t tell you is how it doesn’t matter if you’re in a national park or not, no matter where you go, the landscapes are spectacular. And what makes it the most special is how you drive 30 minutes in any direction and the scenery keeps changing. And it’s never ugly, it’s always more incredible than the last. So just from Canyonlands to Capitol Reef we went from massive bright red buttes, up to 8,000 feet green mountains, to Glen Canyon, to the gravelly mesas near Hanksville. That was all in like maybe 6 hours of driving and we saw so many extremes.
Then we got to go to the massive gorges of Capitol Reef that you can just walk through. It’s like they close in on you. And then on the way to Bryce Canyon you go up to 10,000 ft. (sorry to our 40 year old RV) and then to Grand Staircase national monument where you drive on the top of a mountain that both sides of the road go straight down. And Bryce Canyon was my real favorite! The contrast of the bright reddish needles with the intense green of the mountains around it, all while you sit atop the highest plateau in view. So stunning.
And saving Zion for last, we were so lucky that our RV was about half a foot under the width limit because going through that tunnel and coming out on the west side… I just don’t know how to describe it. I got to see tiny glimpses through the tunnel windows until it eventually opened up into maybe the most pretty sight I’ve seen in my life. I think I’ll go back soon when it’s not busy season so I can do the Narrows hike through the water
Bryce Canyon National Park
So it kinda sucks how busy all these parks are, and they can not handle it. There’s so many other places to go that are amazing, but the National Park system just makes it so easy, and It’s incredible we have that. But there’s a lot outside of the national parks to see too, sometimes just as good as the parks. So ultimately, that’s my main gripe with Utah. But that problem is still that it is so incredible that everyone wants to go too. And maybe my other problem with Utah is how it’s a little bit of a Mormon theocracy, but I think that’s a little too controversial for me to get into the weeds in this blog post.
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
Utah has made me realize that when you truly get the time to see a state, you’re going to see a beauty that you did not get to experience before. And sometimes, those new experiences can be life changing. Utah was the state that really renewed my desire to keep exploring the US outside of my 50 state journey. So thank you, Utah. I’ll be back to see even more that you have to offer.
