View from Observation Point, looking toward Angel's Landing and the Zion Canyon
Coming off our amazing adventure in Patagonia, we wanted to explore more of the US national parks. We'd already explored the Tetons, Yellowstone, and Yosemite - it seemed time to explore some parks in the southwest.
Zion seemed to fit right in - easy access from Phoenix - and lots of big sky! Our original plan was Zion and Sedona (because we always like to add a bit of front-country/civilization to our hiking adventures). Interestingly, Bryce wasn't part of the plan, until we heard about it on a hike in Zion. Adjusting our plans, we'd absolutely recommend Bryce to anyone - it's just that unusual.
Read more about Zion, the Hoodoos, Slot Canyons, and Sedona below!
Browse the blogs below to read about our adventures in Zion and Bryce.
Winter has typically been the time we dream about far away places, planning our late-summer/early fall adventures to new places with trails, refugios, berghaus‘, and outdoor time. This past winter, however, was one filled with family affairs – my Dad’s passing, closing his estate, selling the family house – it didn’t really leave much time to think about those far away places. So it wasn’t until April, as those affairs settled, that we cracked open a map (or more correctly,
As mentioned, visiting Zion and the southwest was something of a spontaneous thing – with not much preliminary research – driven more by a desire to get away and a continuation of our efforts to visit some of the National Parks. The November timing meant somewhere in the south. Zion fit the bill – sort of most of the Grand Canyon, without all the Canyon stuff… We had 3 days of hiking planned for Zion. Reading most internet sites, the
A visit to Bryce was not part of our original itinerary, but we didn’t have firm hike plans for our third day at Zion. Spurred by a conversation with some fellow hikers, and a (very little) bit of research we opted for a little spontaneity – it was only about 90 miles from Zion. We’d settled on the Fairyland trail – listed as strenuous, about 8 miles, and a loop – sounded like just the thing. As usual, we were off early –
This day was something of a ‘transitional’ day in our Zion/Sedona itinerary. We were traveling southward from Zion, but a single drive through to Sedona would have been nearly a full day driving – nearly 300 miles. Sitting in a car all day didn’t sound appealing – plus, there were trails along the way – so we’d decided on a day-hike and a stop-over in Page, AZ – roughly the halfway point. Between Zion and Page are a series of
When planning our journeys/vacations, we tend towards a combination of highly active/outdoorsy and back-to-civilization with some relaxation time – the Jungfrau and Paris, Torres del Paine and Buenos Aires, Cinque Terre and Florence. Sedona was our ‘civilization’ icing on the Zion/Bryce cake. On a recommendation from a friend, we’d booked into the Sky Ranch Lodge – and OMG, what a beautiful spot. Perched on the western edge of the Airport Mesa, it’s a beautiful grouping of attached cottages, ours with
