The Desert Canyons of Utah, Arizona & Nevada.
- Mandy Watson
- Jan 29
- 18 min read
Updated: Feb 3
Livin' on the edge, and lovin' every second of it!
So, here we are, six weeks into this amazing holiday, (last three blogs covered already)
and we are heading south.
South from Oregon towards Salt Lake City and beyond.
Utah. Arizona. Nevada.
Moab, Canyonlands National Park, Arches NP, Dead Horse Park, Monument Valley, Horseshoe Bend, The Grand Canyon, then Bryce Canyon and lastly Zion to finish up.
All in EIGHT DAYS.
Here we go!!!
Remember, its not just the destination, its the journey too, right? 🤔
Incredibly glad we decided not to fly there, where's the fun in that?...Instead we've kept our rental car since Seattle now, and enjoyed what this country offers best -
The vast open road and seemingly endless empty highways.
Well, at least most of the ones we were now driving on.
And we love it.
Trev's an ace behind the wheel, and me? I'm his trusty sidekick navigator, itinerary creator and music selector.
What did we ever do before Sat Nav and Spotify? 🤷♀️
Well, yes, we are definitely old enough to remember giant folding maps in
foreign languages and no radio service - so this is definitely the tech part of life these days
I truly appreciate!
Aaaannndd, my introduction to ChatGPT.
Thanks to my friend (another much loved travel family tree member), Bonnie,
I have now become acquainted with this handy, yet somewhat quite controversial AI App.
Personally, for what I have used it for, it was AMAZING, and it saved me buckets of time in research; all I had to do was pop in what I needed, and I was given plenty of choices.
For instance: (None of this was preplanned.
Even deciding to drive rather than fly was worked out as we travelled along this trip.)
So I asked Chat GPT, to work out an itinerary that included all these National Park stops,
and I gave the start and end dates we needed to do it in.
With a little 'to and fro'ing' we nailed it quite quickly.
I said what kind of accommodation we liked and that we wanted to see:
wildlife, waterfalls, bridges and the like, rather than theme parks, nightlife and DFO's.
I also mentioned that we prefer reasonably priced restaurants, and/or casual sports bars.
It even gave me suggested times to for us to get up and leave the hotel, noted good coffee and/or scenic stops along the way, and nailed the driving time whilst finding out if these parks were open due to this current government shutdown.
AND, as I also said I wanted to see sunsets and sunrises in these parks, it gave us exact wake up times, the sunrise/sunset times, and the precise directions to go and park/walk to see our end goals.
It honestly didn't miss a beat.
(I have just booked a holiday in Spain and used it again, and I still think its a very handy tool.)
So, all that said, after saying our goodbyes to our friends in Sisters, Oregon,
we drove through the potato and onion capitol of the world - Idaho,
making the inland city of Boise as our overnight spot.
From Boise it was a full day's trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, but only because ChatGPT and I had conjured some off road plans...
Poor Trev... I didn't quite tell him the full story about this detour.
I just said it was an enormous canyon, second only in size to the Grand Canyon herself.
Worth seeing, right?
It's kind of on the way...
I knew it had an unsealed road at the end,
but neither of us was prepared for what lay ahead!
Relax. All good.
It could've gone pear shaped, maybe it was our lucky day.
Here's the low down:
I asked Chat if there were any sights to see on our way to Salt Lake City,
and it suggested we check out the Bruneau Canyon Overlook.
Sooo, following the directions off the main highway, all was going well...
that is until the sealed road ended and the gravel started.
And we drove and drove and drove.
And drove some more.
It was like the middle of Australia.
Nothing but dust and loneliness.
I tried not to worry, not to preempt disaster.
Who wants a flat tyre out here? Do we even had phone service?
Well, Sat Nav was still on, so that's good, right?
After what seemed forever we had a right turn. Same kind of road though.
Then, in the distance we saw a shadow in the ground. Is that a crack?
The crack was getting bigger.
This is promising...
We were the only ones there.
That's cool, but what if some crazies turned up?
I've seen too many horror movies!
Welcome to the very remote; Bruneau Canyon Overlook.
And that's it.
Nice little lookouts with some safe fencing, but that's it.
No hiking, no trails down.
Quite impressed with what they had, actually.
There was even a long drop toilet. 👍
Glad we did it.
It was beautiful, raw and uncluttered by humans.
Would we do it again?
Yeah, nah. Thats a no from both of us!
Don't need to.
But definitely an 'interesting' detour.
Thank goodness we finally got back to the highway with no dramas.
Quite relieved to see a few cars to be honest!
Now the fun part was driving across the surprisingly wide salt flats to arrive at
Salt lake City by sunset.
I think it easily was an hour driving across the elevated road over the dried Salt lake.
It was actually really cool, and very unique.
The mountains were a welcome relief from the plains!
Whilst Salt Lake City look like a super spot to stay and explore, sometimes we have to cross things off our list and focus on only what we have time to see.
We have bigger dragons to slay, and seeing another city ain't one!
This was just a brief overnight stay, to recover from two hefty day drives.
Next stop is Moab, a cute western town nestled at the base of these
soaring, red monolithic rock formations.
A place we had never heard of!
A place EVERYONE should know of, if canyons are your thing!
It's our next WOW spot.
Arches National Park was our first stop.
And the sunset at the famous rock formation known as Delicate Arch is in our sights.
We never knew of this place.
What a shame! But check it out!
It ranks way up high on any National Park we have ever been too now.
Come drive with us...
The famous and aptly named 'Balancing Rock'.
Our next stop was to be the Delicate Arch.
But there is a catch.
We have to hike uphill about a mile in the heat to get there. Time to 'suck it up, Buttercup', grab the water bottles and get cracking!
If only we were wearing shorts...
Sheesh.
A FB friend of mine, Debbie McCartney Love, was here recently, and she posted that this was a gruelling hike. She was NOT wrong!
(She's the actual inspiration for us seeing all these canyons. Her recent visit, her stories and her photos were so beautiful, it was reason enough for us to have a look for ourselves. Thank you, Debbie. 🫶 )
But, the 'head was in sight', and we were almost there.
So very cool!
Or hot, I was panting like I had sprinted the mile!
The reward was most definitely worth the effort!
We now had a glorious half hour or so to relax and get our breath back,
before the sun began to set.
So we carefully inched our way to get the proverbial 'we were here shot',
before parking our butts, and just surrendering to the magnificent golden glow
of the late afternoon.
At first I was hoping for the sun setting bang in the middle of the arch,
but I guess that was asking a tad too much. 🤣
I must be about six months out of season for that!
When we left, I was really sad for the people who we were passing still on their way up,
after all that effort from the gruelling hike,
knowing they had most likely missed the sunset.
What a long walk to miss a goal like this!
But I stand corrected.
By the time we were almost back to the car park, we turned and saw the giant full moon rising exactly from where we were!
One man's sunset, is another man's full moon rise!
I bet it was spectacular!
(I just had a look for images online, but its hard to believe what's real these days...)
We were still glad, (and our knees certainly were)... that we had walked back down over the smooth rock faces and uneven surfaces at dusk, rather than under our phone lights!
What an epic day!
Tomorrow we are planning on a sunrise at the famous Messi Arch.
Dinner tonight hit the spot at a gorgeous log cabin restaurant in Moab,
and dessert is the usual 7Eleven run -
for some ice cream on our way back to the hotel.
We are more than a little partial to a tub of Butter Pecan ice cream.
Best set the alarm!
---
Sometimes the best intention, isn't the best choice.
We decided after our big efforts of the previous day, to put off the sunrise hike to the following day, and enjoy a well earned sleep in.
After all, what's the rush?
We had another day planned here.
Instead, we still headed off to where we need to be, Canyonlands National Park,
but at a much more respectable hour.
This way, we had the chance to scope out where we need to go for the sunrise tomorrow, but got to explore the rest of the park at leisure first.
And boy, another cloudless sunny day, another spectacular place to explore,
and another free park entrance,
due to the Government shutdown.
Doesn't get much better.
Not a lot needing to be said here; a picture paints a 1000 words.
We then ducked down to Dead Horse State Park, and as this was Navajo Country,
they actually did have their entrance gate manned, yet it still was only $10 for the car entry.
Wow, so cheap.
Down the end of this road was their version of 'Horse Shoe Bend', one we will see in a couple of days at Lake Powell, but this was still very much worth the look.
The giant serpentine crack in the earth made for spectacular photo opportunities.
Right next to this lookout, is the extraordinary Potash Lakes.
This is where they mine potassium chloride and let it dry out in varying vinyl lined pools.
The blue colours being such a stark contrast to the ochre colours of the surrounding landscape.
It looked surreal.
For a change, we had a free afternoon, so we enjoyed nosying around the Moab township,
and its array of quirky art and craft stores, and the myriad of restaurant and eateries.
Eventually, we parked ourselves at a sports bar, and enjoyed happy hour prices whilst catching up on our baseball team, the Seattle Mariners,
as they make a run for the World Series.
A nice relaxing time, as we have a big day tomorrow, starting with that sunrise at Messi Arch!
---
During this entire seven week (so far) holiday, we must admit that good fortune has been firmly on our side on many, many occasions.
And mostly great weather too.
Now, we find ourselves needing a rain clear morning to ensure a visible sunrise -
well, it looks like our luck has run out.
We awoke whilst it was still dark,
but sadly we could not see a single star in sight.
It was even drizzling!
It's all my fault to be honest! I was the one that was too tired the day before.
This was on me.
Never mind, I still have faith, it'll clear I told myself. 🤞
As we drove towards the Canyonlands,
we could see that the cloud bank was firmly due east.
Not ideal at all.
We were surprised by the icy temperature as we exited the car, sadly dressed only in jeans, sweater and a light spray jacket - so off we trotted anyway in the cold under the limited light from our phones, down the path, across boulders and between scraggly bushes,
seeing just the odd other enthusiast ... all praying for a miracle like us. 🙏
Finally, the silhouette of this famous arch came dimly into view in the pre dawn light.
You think I'm crazy, yes? 🤪
Trev does.
🤣
The things he endures, bless.
The photos of the sunrise underneath this arch is what covers every wall
in every shop in town. On every cup, t-shirt, shot glass and fridge magnet.
And I so very much dreamt of getting the photo myself.
Please, please, please, may those pesky clouds clear.
Dawn was breaking, and so was our will.
The rain had started, there even was thunder and lightning around us,
and we were all dangerously exposed.
The water started flash flooding around our feet, which were becoming drenched,
like the rest of our bodies.
We were wet and freezing. Was it all worth the trouble?
Some thought not and bailed.
Well, we've waited this long now, might as well wait and see if we get lucky with a minute or so of the morning rays, which they say, illuminate the underneath of this arch,
for just a few glorious moments...
Even a double rainbow appeared behind us like a magic dome,
reminding us that not all rain is bad...
When gradually, a minuscule gap in the clouds appeared along the horizon -
we all had hope!
Yup, all good things come to those who wait...
Probably the most anticipated , and appreciated sunrise of my life.
BOOM!
I. GOT. THE. SHOT.
💪
So, so thrilled!
Our little motley crew of die hards were rewarded!
Some had been there since 3.30am to get the spot for their tripods.
Sunrise was about 7.10am.
That's dedication.
With wet jeans and shivering bodies, we high tailed it back to our car to fire up the heater.
Man, the shakes were from both the cold and the adrenaline rush.
Wet. Frozen. Yet thrilled with the gift of the sunrise.
Driving back through the plains of the National Park, we experienced the 'golden hour'
but this time - in the morning.
It lasted but ten seconds, but I got the shot just throught the windscreen of the car.
It was gone in an instant.
Such beauty.
We were in awe.
To think, most of the world was still asleep.
Ponder that for a moment.
Time to get up earlier, don't you reckon? 😉 🌅
Okay, back for some breakfast, check out of our digs, and head to our next location.
But we had a few hours to spare, until the best time of the day for photos, so we checked into a fabulous hotel in Bluff, Utah, called the Desert Rose Resort and Cabins.
It was very much worth the mention, and on top of the fact the we love a massive log construction, this had a self service laundry facility (yeay), but be prepared, you are in Utah, and this restaurant didn't serve alcohol!
That said though, I ended up enjoying the best pasta dish I have ever had!
The wild mushroom ravioli, drool.
Time first for a picnic on the balcony,
... before heading off to try to experience
a place I have wanted to visit for most of my adult life:
Monument Valley.
One spot in particular, that now, since the movie 'Forrest Gump' came out,
is colloquially known as Forrest Gump Hwy.
Its where he stopped run-ning.
You'll recognise it.
Isn't it simply fantastic?
And it's just the main highway that leads you to the entrance of Monument Valley.
They were a few cars and people getting their shots,
but we were super lucky it was a quiet time of year.
So Trev HAD to do the Forrest Gump scene...bless, he's such a good sport!
I had questioned Chat GPT about the best time of day for photography, and naturally it recommended the Golden Hour - that hour before sunset,
and that's pretty much how we timed it.
The park was closing it's gates in an hour, so we just snuck in, with time to do the loop circuit, and even an opportunity for me to find a horse to ride, and to top it off -
a few mustangs to photograph as well.
Happy days!
And when you gotta go, you gotta go...
Whilst driving back towards the exit, I noticed a small puddle in the middle of the road.
Perfect for my next shot.
I had to be quick, the car behind us just ploughed straight through it!
Glad we were in front!
It ended up one of my favourite scenic photos of the trip so far!
Well, that was fun, and easy! Parts of the loop circuit were somewhat testing in our 2WD, particularly after the rainfall they had yesterday, but hey, it's a rental!
It survived! 😉
Back for a scrumptious dinner -
The bottom right is the ravioli I had - SO GOOD,
...then prep to leave again in the morning for the NEXT adventure -
the stunning Lower Antelope Canyon.
Fingers crossed the current storms around haven't affected our chances to explore it.
---
Today we drive from Bluff Utah, to Page, Arizona - itself only about a three hour drive,
but we had a specific time to keep, as I had booked a tour through
the Lower Antelope Canyon, and we needed to be punctual.
Let me add that as these are 'slot canyons' and you can't go through on your own,
you have to be guided, and usually by a native Navajo, as it is their land.
Also, we were driving in and out of two states today, I was getting worried as their time was an hour different, and I was concerned I may have stuffed up and we may miss our tour.
But that wasn't to be our problem - the weather was.
Upon our arrival, we were gutted that the entire day's tours had been cancelled as they'd had flash flooding down there yesterday, and when that happens its too dangerous to operate the walking tours.
I WAS SO VERY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS.
Look at what we missed: 😭😱
Not to be defeated, we drove across the highway to another tour company who ran tours through the other one - Upper Antelope Canyon.
They were packed with not only their own bookings, but now with the overflow of the cancelled ones.
Upon enquiring, they said they were rushing them forward from their afternoon time-slots, as more storms were expected.
That actually triggered my 'spidey sense' and I wasn't comfortable with that.
Crowds in a slot canyon, with thunderstorms and flash flooding imminent?
Yeah-nah, thats a NO from me.
So, we missed out.
Not meant to be.
Time to pull up those big girl pants and move on.
Off we trotted to find our accommodation, dump our bags and grab some lunch instead.
We did have somewhere special to go this afternoon, weather pending,
as I was aiming for Golden Hour at the world famous
'Horseshoe Bend'.
This time we got lucky.
Phew.
And deservedly earning the opening photo of this blog.
Hard not to get a good photo here!
Although I look like I'm on the edge, many people were getting much closer than I dared.
Spectacular!
We settled into a quiet night in, with a bottle of wine with no bottle opener! LOL
Silly me didn't buy a screw top, or have a bottle opener.
Neither did the hotel as they didn't even have a restaurant.
No problem says Trev, who used the end of his shaver to push the cork through.
Desperate times, desperate measures!
We had a memorable night in, watching our baseball team win an historic 15 innings edge of the seat (well, bed) blinder, that will go down in the baseball history books.
We did get a giggle out of this guys name...doesn't take much to amuse us.
---
Only three National Parks left on this road trip, and we have left the biggies till last.
Well, only because of the direction we are travelling,
as our final destination with this hire car is Vegas, baby!
Still, never wanting to miss anything, (FOMO is a very real thing for me when travelling),
I asked ChatGPT if there was anything to see along the way from this Lake Powell area,
as well as a good coffee spot!
It was recommended to stop at the Cameron Trading Post, and man,
what a good call that was!
A huge consortium right by a river with a nice bridge to photograph too,
...this Trading Post had the most wonderful array of local artwork from
some very talented artisans.
Even a local Navajo elder was doing a traditional weaving presentation.
I may or may not have battered the eyelashes to Trev with a 'pretty please?',
when I saw this cowboy hat.
Not that he needs to give me permission, haha, it's more like
"not another one" he thought, but at least this one was soft and
could flatten down easily to pack.
I loved it, so it came back with me.
What better place to wear it for the first time, than our next stop, the big Daddy of them all:
The Grand Canyon!
Certainly a place that needs no introduction, but a story does unfold that is so very cool and well worth sharing, but just a few pics first, then I'll explain.
Its pretty awesome, (the story that is...) and has been at least 15 years in the making!
As you drive around the rim of the Grand Canyon, there are plenty of vantage points to turn into and park, or even just stop on the side of the road.
We were looking for one particular spot,
but we had no idea at all where it was.
You see our son Aaron, travelled here about 15 years ago, and had this most amazing photo taken of him. I have always thought it was crazy, yet awesome at the same time.
He did make me feel better by saying that there was a ledge below him,
so essentially it wasn't as death defying as it looked.
Well, we looked everywhere, to no avail.
Got some great shots, but not THE shot.
So we planned on parking at the Visitors Centre and catching the free Shuttle
that does the sunset stops,
as there's little to no parking at the choice spots at that time of day.
Whilst waiting for the shuttle, I started chatting to a lady who turned out to be a local,
and she said that she tries to come out to witness the sunset every day.
Yes, every day!
And what better place can you think of to see it?
Always varying colours, clouds and so on.
So I thought she'd be the perfect person to suggest which was the best spot to get off the shuttle, which she did offer her advice, saying;
"Don't go to the most popular, come to this one. It's special."
When we got to the spot, I baulked because the driver said the next spot was the most sought after, and there has to be good reason, right?
Then he said that they were only a 5 minute walk apart, so you can see both.
Boom, that's it, and off we got.
And guess what?
You got it.
We found Aaron's spot!
Talk about listening to the universe and following its lead.
Wow!
So, here's Aaron, then our version.
Of course I wasn't going to do a handstand!
I'm not that stupid.
Or young.
Or capable!
Whilst I'm not sure that we were exactly on the spot, it was so close,
but when I looked at the photo I snapped of my local lady, I believe she's on it.
So funny how life works out sometimes!
Mission accomplished!
Oh, and THEN the sunset.
Oh my word.
The clouds may have blocked the sun, but boy, not the colours.
Back onto the shuttle -
Now we just had to remember where we parked the car.
I'm not kidding.
We were in a pickle.
All I'll say here, is to PAY ATTENTION where you park at the Visitors Centre,
as it was news to us, that there were multiple carparks, all unmarked.
And it was pitch black, and I mean the kind of darkness that you walk around with eyes as wide as a cartoon doll.
All we had was the lights from our phones.
We walked and backtracked and searched some more - for possibly an hour??
We even entertained the possibility we may have to find a room here!
Note to self: Pay attention.
In the dark it was impossible to get a bearing.
Sigh - we found it eventually, and have learnt a valuable lesson.
It was still a outstanding day.
Nothing could ever dampen that.
---
Next National Park on this crazy agenda, is the very beautiful, and arguably possibly one of the best, and that is the incomparable Bryce Canyon.
We first visited here back in 1989, as such youthful whippersnappers, and unsurprisingly,
it has barely changed a bit.
Well, the scenery not so much, but the township has possibly exploded.
But that's not we're here for.
We are here for yes, another sunset, and sorry Trev, another sunrise.
I promise Hun, it's the last one I'll make you get up for on this trip!
We had time to hike down to the bottom of one gorge, and back up,
before sunset, and I can't even begin to describe the colours here.
The late afternoon sun rays just oozed in a deep vermillion over the already orange rocks, and it truly was an utter feast for the eyes.
Then came the sunset. Like, 'wow' doesn't even begin to cover it.
I'd be out there being mesmerised by this every day too, if I lived nearby.
What's not to love?
And whilst Bryce Canyon never closes, the roads certainly might in heavy snow, and just know, they have shuttle buses that start way after sunrise, and end before sunset,
so if you want to experience those, you must have your own vehicle.
Thankfully, we do.
We didn't arrive back to our lodgings until after 10pm, unfortunately, as it was the most darling individual log cabin, even with Netflix and Binge, haha bonus,
bring on catching up on the Great British Bake Off!
But out pre-dawn for a bitterly cold sunrise!
Again, so worth the effort!
But this time, the clouds made more of an entrance, and didn't allow a full on explosion of colour, but we saw some all the same.
At least you can see the difference the sun makes when it hits the rocks!
Albeit fleeting, you just never know what you're going to get.
And, shock horror - we were dressed properly this time!
At last.
That's the last sunrise Trev, (until next trip) that I'll get you up for.
Best part of the day in my books!
Now it's off to our final Canyon of this part of our road trip, and it's only a couple of hours away, and yet so very different.
Zion Canyon.
Zion is a bit of a 'drive through' National Park...stop if you wish, or get to the end and grab a shuttle, which is what we ended up doing - both.
It's so different from where we've been, and it offers a lot of hiking trails, none of which we had time (or legs) for by this end of the trip, but we enjoyed it all the same.
One last meal before we hit the highway tomorrow morning to Las Vegas.
What a culture shock that will be!
---
Okay, it's now time to drive from these dark sky towns, to possibly the most lit up city on the planet. But not before a surprisingly cute stop under the glory of the morning sun.
Super cute without the tourists.
It made for some fun photos anyway!
And that's where this road trip ends.
VEGAS!
The strangest part, is that we are going to Vegas for a four day rest.
It's been one of the best road trips ever - I have adored the canyons, loved the open highways, and thrived in the wilderness.
Time now for some fun before we head home.
Vegas, then back to Vancouver to visit with friends, then Whistler for one last hoorah before we say goodbye to this nearly 9 week vacation.
See you in my next blog:
VEGAS!
I have to get that written as we leave for South America in 3 weeks!
Until then,
CIAO
Mx
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