Bryce Canyon National Park

As we planned to go to Zion National Park, we decided to tack on a side trip to Bryce Canyon since it was so close. I am so glad we did. Bryce Canyon was an amazing experience, completely different from anything we have ever done before. We loved it. In our opinion, Bryce was better than Zion. If you are ever in the area and only have time to do one park, we recommend Bryce over Zion. Those of you who have been to both may disagree, but you are wrong.

The drive from Zion to Bryce is a must-do. The drive along US Route 12 takes you out of Zion and from the road you can continue to see beautiful views of the park. Once out of the park, you wind your way through farmland until you reach Red Canyon, where you once again are among rock formations. 

While in Bryce we hiked the Navajo Trail, which takes you down into the canyon. I was a bit concerned about my ability to do this hike without dying. I kept seeing words like "strenuous" and "steep" when researching the hike. Everything I read about it said that it was pretty steep. While is it definitely steep, it wasn't difficult. Trust me when I say if I can do this hike, anybody can do it. Here are a couple pictures of the trail leading down into the canyon. As you can see it is steep, but the switchbacks help. 

We only scheduled one day in Bryce, and it wasn't enough time. We are already planning to go back and do more hikes. If you know us at all, you know that we don't hike so the fact that we want to go back and hike is a big deal and tells you how much we enjoyed our time in this park. Here are some of our favourite pictures (and by some, I mean pretty much ALL. It was so hard to decide which pictures to post so brace yourself: there are A LOT). 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

If  You Go:

We stayed at the Best Western Plus Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel. Nice, clean rooms. Hot breakfast (which during this time of COVID is rare). The park shuttle stops here, which makes it a convenient place to stay. If you don't plan to take the shuttle, plan to get to the park early as the parking at the popular trailheads fills up quickly. 

Gluten Free Find: 

Be sure to eat at Th-e Pizza Place in Tropic. Hands down THE BEST gluten free pizza I've ever had. It even tasted good cold the next morning. Highly recommend. 

Kolob Canyons

When a friend learned we were heading to southern Utah, she suggested we check out Kolob Canyons. Kolob Canyons is a 10 mile scenic drive through the northwest section of Zion National Park. It has plenty of pull-offs, making it ideal to stop and take pictures along the way. We were up high enough in elevation that we were able to see the start of the leaves turning colour. We didn't initially plan to hit this part of the park and decided to do so on a whim, and I'm so glad we did. You already know I took a million pictures in this part of the park, but I managed to limit myself to just the few beautiful examples below. If you get an opportunity to visit this part of the park, the scenic drive is worth your time.

Zion National Park

Husband recently got some unexpected time off and we had numerous discussions about where we should go during this time. A lot of the things on our California bucket list were closed, either due to COVID or wildfires. After much discussion we decided to go to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, with a stop in Vegas thrown in for fun. In an effort to avoid picture overload, I have divided the trip into multiple blog posts. I hope to have them all up within the next few days but I make no promises.  

One of my favourite childhood memories was a camping trip we took to Zion National Park. My specific memoires of this camping trip are vague. I remember a big white mountain (the Great White Throne) and a lot of red. I also remember my mom freaking out when she discovered a giant lizard crawling on my sister. Other than that I just remember how much fun we had camping as a family. I should have planned ahead and had my mom send me a few pictures from that trip, but I didn't so you don't get to see how adorable I was as a 5 year old. Regardless, I was pretty excited to go back to Zion and see if it was a good as a I remember. Spoiler alert: it was. 

We did two hikes: the Riverside Trail--which leads to the start of The Narrows--and the Emerald Pools. Both were on the short side (less than 3 hours each round trip) and not too hard. We like the short, easy hikes. We have discussed going back and hiking Angels Landing but I think I need to get in better shape before doing that one. I would rather not die while hiking. 

We are lucky that we live about a half-day's drive from this wonderful place. I can't wait to go back and explore some more. It was absolutely beautiful, with stunning views everywhere. I had a difficult time deciding which pictures to post here because they were all amazing. Here are my absolute favourites.