Five Days, Five National Parks...

Capital Reef, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Petrified Forest National Parks

Yes- we are just a little bit insane.  We were originally going to spend 2 days on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon dry camping (no hook ups, which means no AC) after we left Arches but with the heat in the 100's, we decided to alter our plans.  I booked a camp ground for 2 nights in Cedar City, UT, drove through Capital Reef National Park and visited Zion National Park instead.  We left Cedar City, spent a 2.5 hours at Bryce Canyon National Park, and then drove the rest of the way to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We planned to spend 3 nights there but decided that 2 was enough to see all we wanted to see, and left a day early and drove to Holbrook, AZ and visited Petrified Forest National Park.  Whew...did you get all that?  The moral of the story...you have to be flexible and not afraid to alter your plans.

Capital Reef National Park: National Monument 1937 by FDR., became a National Park in 1971 by and act of Congress and President Nixon.  

This park is approximately 60 miles N to S but in some places only 6 miles wide.  We drove through the park on Route 24 for the approximately 15 miles.  I can say we didn't get to see a whole lot of the park.  The temperatures were in the high 90's, and the only real way to see this park is to hike or back road drive it.  We went to the visitor's center, stopped at a couple of previously Mormon settlements, had lunch and was on our way.

This house hosted 2 parents and 13 children! And I am beginning to think our camper is a bit small? 

One room school house and the center of the once community. 

View from the visitor's center. 

Once a home to 3 different Mormon families, it is now a museum and bakery. 

Zion National Park: Became a National Park in 1919, the Kolob region became a National Monument in 1937, and was added to Zion National Park on July 11, 1956. 

Because we changed our plans for July 4 and 5 from the N. Rim of the Grand Canyon to Zion, I had a bit of a hard time finding someplace to stay.  I did find the nicest campground in Cedar City, UT.  It was very close to the Kolob Region of Zion National Park, the northern most entrance.  We were not disappointed! Even though we only got to explore this tiny part of Zion National Park it exceeded our expectations.  Some day we would all like to go back and explore more of the park.  

Taylor Creek Trail, 5.5 miles Round Trip 

This was a beautiful trail through high desert with some trees and shade.  We past 2 cabins, Larson Cabin and Fife Cabin, both built in the 1930's before Kolob became part of Zion National Park.  We could see why someone would want to live in this beautiful canyon nestled between these high rock formations.  The creek was lovely, the hike moderate and shaded, and the finale was an amazing Double Arch Alcove.  The coloring was phenomenal because the water seeps through the sandstone making these black, green and white markings in the cave like structure. 

 

There were these little lizards everywhere, you would take a step an they would scurry away. At first I kept wondering what I was hearing but by then end of the hike I didn't even look anymore.  

Yes, we came upon a rattle snake.  We were not close as it may appear.  He stared at us, we stared at him, then he just slithered away. Never rattled his tail once. 

Larson Cabin, 1.7 miles to go...

Fife Cabin

Just looking up...

Double Arch Alcove:

 

Creek stomping and Brodey climbing on our way back...

Where's Brodey??  He wanted everyone to know that although this seemed like a small feet, he actually climbed through the sand at the bottom left part of the picture, then scaled the rock face to get up there. 

 

Bryce Canyon National Park: Is named after Mormon pioneer Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area around Bryce Canyon became a National Monument in 1923 and was designated as a National Park in 1928.

We stopped at Bryce Canyon after leaving Cedar City and on our way to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  From what we saw of this park, we fell in love with it.  It has these amazing rock formations called "Hoodoos."  The best part of the park was that it had a Hoodoo called "Thor's Hammer," which just made Dunovan and Brodey ecstatic!  This was a very busy park and we actually had to take the camper off the truck and leave it at the visitor's center in order to drive through the park.  Another extremely hot day as well, so no hiking here.

Sunset Point:  

We asked the park ranger where the best of the best of Bryce Canyon is and she said the first pull out, Sunset Point.  Here are some of Bryce Canyon's best Hoodoos and it's most famous, Thor's Hammer.  Called the Claron Formation, this unique rock is primarily composed of limestone deposited approximately 50 million years ago in a large freshwater lake. 

Thor's Hammer

Even Loki got his picture with Thor's Hammer.  

Marvel Geek's dream.

Marvel geek #2's dream

 Inspiration Point:

Still part of the Claron Formation, this vista is from the other side of Sunset Point.  More Hoodoos in three different layers of the main amphitheater of the park. 

Bryce Point: 

This canyon is named for Ebenezer Bryce, who settled and lived here for only 5 years.  He built irrigation ditches to help further settlements.  Not much more is known about his life here other than his famous quote about what it is like living in this harsh environment, "Hell of a place to lose a cow!" 

Grand Canyon National Park: President Harrison proclaimed it a National Forest in 1893, Theodore Roosevelt made it a National Monument in 1908, and it was given National Park status in 1919, 3 years after the National Park Service was established. 

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, ranges from 4,000 to 6,000 feet deep, and is 18 miles across at its widest point.  It receives close to 5 million visitors a year.   

We stayed on a portion of the S. Rim of the Grand Canyon, inside the park, at Trailer Village. Great decision, because it put us on the bus line for the main mode of transportation through the park. This was a nice National Park maintained campground, compared to Yellowstone.  The whole thing was paved, there were trees and grass, and you didn't feel like you were on top of your neighbors.  Although, we did talk to the ones on the left of us and they were from Philly, always fun meeting other PA people! 

When we arrived at the camp site, we were welcomed by a local.  She didn't seemed phased by our arrival and continued to eat her dinner.  Elk are huge!

Ms. Elk was carefully making sure set up was done correctly. 

This park handles crowds very well.  They have a HUGE visitors center with ample parking and is the hub for the best way to see the S. Rim of the Grand Canyon.  You can pick up the blue line here to take you into the main Village, which began establishment in 1901, with the arrival of the Grand Canyon Railway, and where there are hotels, cabins, campgrounds, places to eat and shop.

The Rim Trail lines the whole south rim area and is a 13 mile trail from S. Kaibab Trailhead to Hermit's Rest.  You can walk or bike this whole trail or you can see portions of it using the Red bus line and the Orange bus line.  You can not drive your own car on these lines unless you have a handicap permit.   

We took the blue line from our campground to the Village then picked up the red line to 9 points along the S. Rim and ended at Hermit's Rest.  The buses are at every stop every 10-15 min.  We honestly never waited more than 5 min to get back on the bus.  We were very impressed with the efficiency of this park to handle crowds compared to Yellowstone. 

Desert View Entrance to Trailer Village:  

We did this portion by truck.  There is no bus route to this part of the rim.  It is about a 23 mile stretch along the rim of the canyon.  

Mary Colter's Desert View Watch Tower, 1932:  Mary Jane Colter is known as the architect of the South Rim.  She has several buildings including parts of the Village and Hermit's Rest.  The Watch Tower she designed after studying ancestral Puebloan people of the Colorado Plateau.  From here, you can see turns in the Colorado River, the North Rim (10 miles away), and on a clear day a panoramic view of over 100 miles. 

Continuing towards The Village, there are many pull outs along the way. 

Grandview Point, 1893-1901: At this point was once the Grand View Hotel and was the place to visit from Flagstaff or surrounding communities.  It took 12 hours by stage coach to make it to the Grandview Hotel.  The owner, Pete Berry, would then arrange mule rides for his guests to the bottom of the canyon.  Sadly, when the Grand Canyon Railway and the Village was established in the early 1900's, Berry's Hotel wasn't as popular by stage coach as the Village was by Train.  Today little remains of the hotel on the rim, except the views! 

Tusayan Ruins: These are the ruins of Peublo people who lived here for about 20-30 years in the 1100's.  The name Tusayan, was the Spanish name for the geographic area, and was given to the ruin by archaeologists who excavated the site in 1930.

See that outline of a mountain, just above the dark blue horizon, that is Humphrey's Peak, 12,633 feet, 48 miles south of this picture.  We drove past it on our way to Flagstaff. 

Duck on a Rock??

We would not let Brodey climb on this stop but he did like going to different points and have me take his picture. 

Red Line: Village to Hermit's Rest

I lost track of all the different stops we made along this 7 mile stretch.  Just sit back and take in the views...they are amazing!!

Hermits Rest:  We loved the end of the Red Line.  Here is another house built by Mary Jane Colter.  The house was named after Louis Boucher who carved a trail into the canyon and lived alone for years.  Although it is said he wasn't a true "hermit," locals called this area Hermit's Rest.

Now a place to buy souvenirs and get a snack, the house  virtually remains the same since 1914. 

This funny little squirrel liked to pose for us. 

Ravens were everywhere around the Grand Canyon. 

Petrified Forest National Park: 1962 by President Kennedy and an act of Congress. 

This was probably one of our least favorite parks but part of it was circumstance as well.  

First, Arizona does not observe daylight savings time, so they are an hour behind the rest of the Mountain Time Zone region this time of the year.  That means it is dark by 7:30P.  In comparison to the 10:30 sunset in Glacier National Park, this was early!   

Second, we hit what the Park Rangers called a monsoon just as we were arriving at the park, around 4:30P.  It was raining so hard we missed the sign for the park on our way in and had to catch it on the way out.  We literally couldn't see it.  

Third, this area of Arizona is pretty much flat, low lying dessert, and there is not as much petrified wood in the park as you would think.  Part of the park is also called The Painted Dessert, which was pretty but nothing compared to some of the other parks we have seen.  Of the 26 miles the road goes through the park we had to drive 17 miles before we saw any petrified trees. 

Forth, you can see, buy, and get free Petrified wood everywhere near Holbrook, AZ.  Just drive along Route 180, people have their property lined with it.  There is a company called The Petrified Wood Company that has huge logs of it sitting in their parking lot.  I guess the park loses some of its luster when you can readily get it outside the park.  

Tiponi Point: 

Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark:  This was a trading post, turned inn, now a museum but was closed by the time we arrived.

Route 66 Alignment: A 1932 Studebaker sits where famed Route 66 once cut through the park.  

I put the best photo of us on here, by this point everyone (and I mean Doug was the ring leader) was slap silly and it was hard to get a good picture. lol

Loki has had enough photo sight seeing.  He just wanted out of the truck but I don't think he meant this. 

Newspaper Rock: 2000 year old Petroglyphs

At this stop, the previous storm was still putting on quite a show.  Doug caught these photos.  This one is just amazing with the double lighting strikes hitting those hills in the background. 

This is a keeper for Brodey.

Blue Mesa:

 Agate Bridge:  110 ft petrified log spanning a gully

Jasper and Crystal Forests: 

He didn't pee on any petrified trees

Just to see how big they are

This one has quartz in the center

That is it for all the National Parks we are going to see on this trip.  12 National Parks and 3 National Monuments.  We did drive through lots of different National Forests but didn't stop and take pictures of the signs.   

We are now in Santa Fe, NM for 3 nights, 2 days.  Going to spend some time exploring the city before we start making our way home....