Two More Stops on the European Tour: Bryce and Zion National Parks

Posted on August 23, 2013 by bottlingmoonlight | 1 Comment

No, we didn’t hop a jet across to Europe. No passport was needed to find ourselves surrounded by Europeans on holiday during our tour of the national parks in southern Utah. While it’s common to see non-US visitors when visiting national parks, this was a whole different ballgame, especially in Arches and Bryce. Many visitors seemed to be on an extended holiday, touring a circuit of parks in their rental RV or with their tents and kids in tow. I completely understand why someone may be possessed to fly so far to see some of the US’s more remote parks. Each of the parks we visited in southern Utah – Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce, and Zion, as well as our drive through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – was wacky and different and is the closest I’ll ever come to stepping foot on an alien planet.

Bryce Amphitheater

Making our home base to visit Bryce and Zion in one of Bryce’s forested campgrounds, we felt like we’d escaped our alien abductors and returned to a more normal landscape, that is until we got our first glimpse of what makes Bryce so famous. It was like a fairyland, Dr. Seuss’s version of Disneyworld, and a hot, dry Mars, all rolled into one. In short, it was crazy beautiful!

Because we had several days in the park, we were able to check out all the different parts of the park and go on our longest hike yet with the little guy. Just over eight miles down into the amphitheater and up and down and around the hoodoos, and up and down some more. Huge props to Alan who carried the little guy on his back during the entire sunshiny hike. Even more credit is due given the significant number of climbs and descents we had to do during those eight miles. For those looking to replicate our fantastic hike, we hiked from the North Campground to the Rim Trail, along the Rim Trail to the Queens Garden Trail and down into the canyons, then around the Peekaboo Loop Trail (our favorite part) before heading up and out of the canyons along the Navajo Trail, back to the Rim Trail, and onwards to our campsite.

The first few miles of the hike were on a popular trail. The views were beautiful, but we were never alone. Once we headed further down into the canyon, we were able to escape the crowds and see the most incredible views. Around each corner we’d keep exclaiming that these were the best views yet, until we turned the next corner and repeated ourselves, and on and on. Walking down amongst the hoodoos was something I’ll never forget. There was something magical about being down there. It was almost unbelievable that a landscape like this even exists – I kept reminding myself that I wasn’t dreaming and that the earth is full of wondrous surprises. After seeing this, there is probably nothing I wouldn’t believe that the earth could dream up. It’s true, unicorns live in Crested Butte and fairies live in Bryce.

Given the heat in neighboring Zion National Park (despite their proximity, Bryce is at a much higher altitude than Zion, making the weather much more tolerable for camping), we decided to head to Zion for a day trip and continue camping at Bryce. For many reasons, this was definitely the right decision. Zion is absolutely beautiful and it seems as if everyone has already caught on to this fact. The place was a zoo! Even with most of the park outlawing cars and requiring that you take a shuttle, each hike we did was not all that dissimilar to being at the mall on a Saturday afternoon. And it was hot. It was beautiful, but it was hardly a wilderness experience. I’m sure that if you embarked on some of the longer or more challenging hikes, you’d find some semblance of solitude (or at least it’d feel like a mall on a Tuesday evening instead of Saturday afternoon), but given that the temperatures were above 100 degrees much of the day and we’d been hiking every single day for the past week, we did not attempt any of the more strenuous hikes. This would be a great place to come in the off-season, but one day was plenty for us during the heat and crowds of the summer. All that being said, I’d love to return when Van is a bit older and take on the Narrows trail, a sixteen-mile long trail through a slot canyon, at least 60% of which involves walking, wading, or swimming through water.

The strangest part for me was that I had been to Zion once before during the summer of 1991. This was absolutely nothing like I remembered. It’s almost as if I’d been somewhere else and convinced myself that it was Zion. It was very strange returning somewhere I know that I’ve been and where I hold, what I thought were, pretty clear memories of what I had seen. It felt as if I were peering through a looking-glass much of the day, and it re-emphasized the importance of journaling and photographing the many places that we see during this journey.

Views on our Drive into Zion

Quintessential Zion

Making Lemons out of Lemonade: Capitol Reef National Park

Posted on August 20, 2013 by bottlingmoonlight | 2 Comments

Flash floods in Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah closed down the main scenic road in the park and changed our plans to hike through slot canyons. Instead, we cooled off in the campground sprinkler and again in afternoon thunderstorms. Though we did check out some areas of the park, we were never able to visit the more well-known portions of the park since the road remained closed to allow crews to remove debris that was funneled through the canyons and deposited onto the road. No matter; we enjoyed the opportunity to relax after a week full of hiking in the hot sun in Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, and Arches.

Mud!

Our Site in Capitol Reef

Think I Need to Wash My Hands?

Taking a Quick Walk Between Rainshowers

This Way! (We hear this seventeen thousand times a day.)

Heat, Sun, and Beautiful Rocks: Arches National Park

Posted on August 17, 2013 by bottlingmoonlight | 2 Comments

Arches was hot, beautiful and hot. We debated even heading to this area during July, but decided to give it a go, strategically choosing to camp at a higher elevation and therefore a lower (thank goodness) temperature. I would have loved to have spent more time in Arches, but one long day hiking under the blazing sun was enough for me. I was actually shocked we were able to fit so much exploration in to our long day in Arches, and my desperate cravings for damp shade during the several days after our visit just served to highlight that point.

Since we knew that the longest hike we’d be doing was to the famous Delicate Arch (seen a Utah license plate lately?), we zipped right to the trailhead to try to beat the mid-day heat. It was a beautiful, albeit crowded, hike, but the payoff at the end was well worth the crowds. The arch is stunning, and seeing a zillion and one photos of it before ever setting foot in the park did not diminish its beauty one bit. Standing (and then laying) under it was even cooler!

Delicate Arch

Just writing about Arches is making me feel hot, so I leave you with some photos from our day in the sun while I try to locate some ice water.

Images from our hike to Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch is one of many. Here are a few other images of our exploration in the park.

Beautiful Vistas in Arches National Park

Obnoxious Neighbors but Great Views: Canyonlands

Posted on August 14, 2013 by bottlingmoonlight | Leave a comment

Traveling can transport you, physically and mentally, but it can’t help you outrun unpleasant neighbors or bad weather. They’ll wind up following you almost anywhere. Late-night loud music, fresh dog poo just outside our tent, yelling children (and their parents), a screaming fight, and an ancient loud generator complete with spotlights and a surround sound movie experience at midnight. These are a few of the experiences we’ve been treated to over the past four and a half months while we’ve been camping. The vast majority of our neighbors have been fantastic, but we’ve had six that have left us thankful that we’re not their permanent neighbors. Unfortunately, we encountered two of these six neighbors during our visit to Canyonlands National Park. Putting aside the two nights in a row of camping next to or near families that do not communicate except by shouting, and doing so constantly, be it 10pm or 5am, we seriously enjoyed Canyonlands.

Our camping options in Canyonlands were limited, so we crossed our fingers and drove the forty miles from the nearest town to the twelve-spot campground hoping for a miracle. Two sites left! Hallelujah! This was easily one of the most beautiful places we’ve camped thus far. Sure there was absolutely no water (you have to pack it all in), but the views were incredible. It seemed like you could see forever in just about every direction from atop the mesa, and just a short walk down the road took us to one of the best views in the park, Green River Overlook. The only downside to our stay (aside from the less than neighborly neighbors) was the nightly ritual of counting seconds between lightning and thunder. The storms were beautiful to watch, but they were intense, and were frighteningly close at times. Although we should have been following the 30/30 rule (seek safe shelter – in our case, the car – when there are 30 seconds or less between lightning and the resulting thunder and stay in the shelter until 30 minutes elapse with no thunder ), we wound up following the 15/30 rule (don’t try this at home, kids). This kept us out of the car for 2 of the 3 nights, but we did spend several hours in the car during our second night of camping when the strikes were much too close to our campground.

Our Campsite in Willow Flat Campground

Rainstorms on the Horizon

Despite all my whining, Canyonlands wound up being one of our favorite places that we visited on this trip. Because it doesn’t have the name recognition that many of the other Utah parks have (Arches, Bryce, Zion, to name the big three), it doesn’t have the crowds. There are four sections to the park, two of which require a 4-wheel drive vehicle; however, we only visited one section of the park, the Island in the Sky District. We’re already talking about going back when Van is older and bringing a 4-wheel drive with us, not only so we can visit the other sections, but so that we can drive right down into the canyons and backpack and camp along the river. Talk about a great wilderness experience!

But, I digress. Even without the 4-wheel drive, we were able to get out and hike to some great spots in the park. We also dutifully pulled into each of the scenic lookout spots that we could, joining the other visitors (almost all European, many in their rented RVs with California or Nevada plates) to gasp at the incredible vistas full of far-off mesas, rock monuments, and cracks in the earth that were full of lush greenery and running water. It was in Canyonlands (and not nearby Arches) where we hiked to our first arch, Mesa Arch, and even climbed atop the somewhat narrow arch for the fun of it! Most amazingly, Van sat through an entire ranger program on the geology of the park. We often have to skip these because there’s no way he’ll sit through a whole program without howling at some point. But this one was outside, so we figured we could make a quick escape if necessary. No escape needed!

Mesa Arch

Me and Van at Mesa Arch

My favorite of our hikes was the Upheaval Dome hike. It was a short two-mile hike (roundtrip), mostly on slickrock, to the edge of the dome. While scientists don’t agree on how it was formed, they speculate it was either because of a meteorite or because of a salt dome, essentially a salt bubble caused by pressure over millions of years.

Upheaval Dome

On the Trail to Upheaval Dome

The Fam at Upheaval Dome

With more time and a four-wheel drive vehicle, we might still be in Canyonlands! If you’re ever in Southeastern Utah or planning a trip to Moab or Arches, you should definitely make time to visit this park.

ISO: Home Sweet Home

Posted on August 11, 2013 by bottlingmoonlight | 13 Comments

If We Wanted to Live in a Ghost Town, We'd Just Shack Up Here.

A potential home? Albeit, located in a ghost town. Details, details…

Yes, we’re traveling to explore, and camp, and hike, and check out the variety of grocery stores and laundromats that populate our country. But we’re also traveling to see if we spy a spot that we may one day call home. As this trip progresses, what we’re looking for becomes more clear to me. I expected this to happen as we saw more spots and had a better sense of what options are out there. But I think it’s really happening because I have more time to listen to myself and understand my reactions to a place. For example, I’ve always known that I’m a cold-weather gal. I like winter, I dislike really hot and humid summers, and I love snow. But spending time in the high desert, which is undeniably beautiful, made clear to me just how much I would go crazy living in such a hot and sunny locale. My mood changed noticeably (for the better) when we traveled away from places in which the blazing sun was rarely filtered by leaves or green or anything really. Clearly my sensitivities to weather are more pronounced on a trip where our home is nothing more than nylon sheet, but given that my preferred location does not have four walls, this is important information.

This is where you come in. As we spend more time on the road, we’d love any suggestions from our readers of places that we may want to consider. If we had to choose a place before traveling, it’s likely we would have wound up somewhere in Vermont or Western Massachusetts. To clue you in to what we’re looking for, I’ve put together a list of ideal characteristics for our new home (the original list was much longer, but Alan suggested I not bore you all to zzzzzzzz). I’m not naive (at least not all of the time); I know that we won’t find a place that meets all these ideals, but hopefully we’ll find a place that meets some of these and feels like home.

Access to the outdoors is out our back door, or at least within biking distance. Ideally, I’d love to be able to get in a couple of mid-week after work hikes.
In close proximity to mountains and water (lakes, rivers, whatever), and with places nearby to hike, bike, cross-country ski, kayak, etc.
I do not want to live in the suburbs – I’ve spent much of my life there. I know that it works for some people, but I always feel like an imposter there and it never feels quite like home. Cities can be great, vibrant, diverse, beautiful places, but I’m just not a city person. I’m glad I know this about myself or I might still be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. What I do like are small towns, small cities (Burlington, VT and Bozeman, MT seem like the largest I’d like), or rural areas. In fact, I love rural areas near small cities or towns.
An area that is welcoming to outsiders, or at least a place where it wouldn’t take us ten years to make friends because we didn’t grow up with everyone else.
Cultural or intellectual outlets, be they art museums, lecture series, book readings, great classes, or something similar.
A DIY ethic where folks put creation above consumption.
Snow in the winter. And by snow, I mean real snow and lots of it.
Access to quality locally grown produce and pastured meats and dairy.
Quirky.
A place where people prioritize time over money and quality over quantity.
A place where diversity of thought and opinions are common and embraced.
A place that has good educational and recreational opportunities for our son, but not a place that is overrun with uber-competitive families on the quest to raise an Ivy-league grad.
Somewhere with a strong sense of place. I’d prefer to live in a place, even if it is nearby to something bigger or more well-known, that has its own identity and culture and isn’t merely a footnote in the other place’s story.

So, with that modest list of qualities, any suggestions, folks?!?! Please comment below and let us know if you can think of any places that may fit the bill. Perhaps it will be the place we wind up calling home.

Bottling Moonlight

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