Southern Utah with Hwy 12 – Bryce Canyon NP – Capital Reef NP – Zion NP
By Andrew. Filed in The Americas |
St George Airport
My trip into southern Utah started in this really small commercial aircraft. Being a pilot, I’ve flown in a 2 seater Cessna but this is the smallest I’ve ever flown commercial. We didn’t get above 22000 feet and it was actually nice. St George Airport is a really cute municipal airport that’s really easy to fly into and out of. And there’s even rental car companies open at the airport. I think United and Delta are the only 2 airlines flying in and they share the same counter. VERY cute place.
Utah HWY 12
Hwy 12 is classified as a “National Scenic Byway” and an “All-American Road.” I drove thru the entire length of Hwy 12 and it IS an amazing road. Almost every turn brought in new sites and places to explore. A person could spend a week on or near this road and still not see everything. A VERY cool place to spend a weekend on a motorcycle.
Red Canyon
At the beginning of Hwy 12 on the west end is Red Canyon. Beautiful sandstone formations that signals the start of an amazing drive.
Red Canyon Drive-Thru
This is 1 of 2 natural bridges that spans hwy 12. Not as cool as driving thru a redwood but still pretty cool.
Bryce Canyon National Park
The first of 3 National Parks, Bryce Canyon. The drive to Bryce Canyon reminded me a LOT about the drive to the Grand Canyon. Same kind of trees, pastures, and road. And ya just gotta love the little tourist town that’s at the entrance to almost every national park.
Bryce Canyon Hoodoos
One of the main areas of Bryce Canyon are what they call hoodoos. This picture doesn’t really show the pillars but the hoodoos are a striking formation that towers from the floor of the canyon. There are some wonderful trails going down into the canyon but, alas, not enough time to take them.
Bryce Canyon Natural Bridge
Halfway down the road the runs the length of the park is this Natural Bridge. I think this is one of the most photographed point in Bryce Canyon.
Capital Reef Twin Rocks
At the east end of hwy 12 is Capital Reef National Park. Most sandstone mountains the runs miles and miles east to west. Twin Rocks is one of the first cool formation you get to when you enter the canyon. I took more pictures but it was near sunset so they didn’t come out ver well and there was a 4 hr drive back to the cabin.
Zion National Park
Zion National Park was the 3rd NP to visit and it’s on the way to the St George Airport. Even at the entrance to the park, you can tell you’re in for a very special treat. The canyon that runs north to south in Zion is off limits to private vehicles unless you’re staying in the lodge. But there’s a very frequent and comfortable shuttle that takes you to all the view points and places of interest.
Court of the Patriarchs
The Court of the Patriarchs is a BEAUTIFUL set of 3 peaks: (from left to right) Abraham Peak, Isaac Peak, and Jacob Peak (barely seen behind Mount Moroni).
Great White Throne
One of the more beautiful view spots shows the Great White Throne in the background and you can you can see part of Angel’s Landing which offers the parks more challenging and popular hikes to the top.
Zion Canyon Panorama
One of the really cool features of my new Olympus Tough 8000 is the automated panorama mode. You click the first frame then move the dot to a square 2 more times to have a 3 frame panorama picture created automatically. With the high canyons, instead of going side to side, this went down to up. Turned out GREAT!
This is the end of the road up Zion Canyon called River walk. The canyon gets too narrow for the buses to continue but there is a trail that goes up the canyon that offers great views and areas.
Out of the 3 national parks that was visited, Zion is definitely my favorite because of the diversity of geographical formations, trees, wildlife, and things to do. There’s a really cool lodge right in the middle of the canyon that would be a great base to spend a weekend or more to hike the trails that runs all over the park. And this is exactly what I have planned. Seems like Spring would be the perfect time to do this.
AIRMILES – TRIP: 694 TOTAL: 75,883