Utah is home to a lot of National Parks. Two of the most famous ones are Zion National Park and Bryce National Park.
Both are short drive from Las Vegas (LAS) so we decided to stay overnight in Vegas and start early morning from there.
Zion
The shuttle system at both these parks is nothing short of amazing. There is a shuttle every 10 minutes or less. So we could leave our car at the hotel and not spend half a day finding parking (Hello, you listening, Yosemite?).
Angels landing
We started with what’s one of the most famous hikes, called Angels landing. The picture below is the last half mile of the hike. I turned back while going on this part and didn’t finish the hike. I’m scared of heights.
There is always news on weather the hike should be closed to hikers because of the deaths, so do not take selfies where you can’t keep your foot stable. Only upload your pictures to the cloud, not yourself.
The views before this section of the hike were equally breathtaking.
The Narrows from the bottom up
This is personally, my favorite hike in the entire US. The hike begins with knee deep but soon rises to neck high water. This is the beginning of the hike.
The hike begins at a crowded section, however as you keep going further inside, the number of other hikers drops exponentially leaving the narrows to yourself.
The hike begins at a crowded section, however as you keep going further inside, the number of other hikers drops exponentially leaving the narrows to yourself.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Red Rocks, Pink Cliffs, and Endless Vistas. The highest concentration of Hoodoos (irregular columns of rock) exist in this park.
If you’re like me who doesn’t understand Geology, make sure to attend a talk by a ranger that’ll give a great overview on how these were formed and what makes Bryce Canyon National Park so special. There are a few things, Bryce has.
- Outdoor Ranger talks: These are usually about Hoodos
- Hike with a ranger
- Indoor Ranger talk: Picture below
While it’s fun to look at beautiful scenes, take pictures and go on hikes, learning about parks gives a different level of appreciation on why nature exists how it is, and what we could do to make sure the next generation also gets to see the same amazing things we are seeing now.