Utah trip

Back in June we went on a family vacation to Utah!

Yes, I know, it was a long time ago, but I wanted to make sure to share some photos from that trip. So here goes.

I had an amazing view of the Grand Canyon from the plane on my approach to Las Vegas airport.

Grand Canyon plane view

Heather had just finished a conference in Las Vegas, and the rest of the family flew in that day to meet up: myself, Mom & Dad, Tim & Sara, and Claire & Saul.

Vegas skyline

Right away, we hit the road for the 3-hour drive to Zion National Park.

Coming into view of Zion

Zion campsite

The first day in Zion, we hiked Angel's Landing.

Flowers on Angel's Landing hike

Destination: top of that monolith!

Hiking up

For the entire trip, we enjoyed fabulous (all gluten-free and pescetarian) meals and snacks planned and executed by chefs Tim and Sara.

Amazing homemade fruit leather

Walter's Wiggles

Soon we reached the vertigo-inducing part of the hike. Scary, exciting, and everyone made it!

Chains

Don't look down!

Looking back at the narrow ridge we just traversed

Lots of happy campers at the top!

Before heading back, we had a little lunch.

Homemade spring rolls

Amazing granola bars

Looking down at the "Organ"

In Refrigerator Canyon

Trail down

Dinner back at the campsite

The second day, we set out to do the East Rim trail as an overnight backpacking trip.

Zion monoliths along the drive to the trailhead

Driving through the beautiful Checkerboard Mesa

"Before"

The East Rim trail would take us from the eastern entrance of the park to a slightly higher mesa, where we would camp for the night. On the second day we would continue down into the heart of the main valley, and catch a shuttle back to the campsite.

East Rim trail

East Rim trail

The most exciting natural feature of the first day was a huge waterfall, emptying into a spectacular gorge of layered rock. Unfortunately it's hard to get a good view of the waterfall itself what with all the steep drop-offs!

Gorge

Relaxing above the waterfall

After the waterfall, the dramatic rock features emblematic of Zion gave way to peaceful forests, wildflowers, and views of distant mountains as we traversed the relatively flat mesa.

Rock layers and flowers

It took us some effort to find a good area to camp for the night (there are no established campsites on this trail), but we eventually did thanks to Dad.
After setting down our packs, we took the spur trail towards Cable Mountain. Soon we could see that we were approaching the giant scar in the earth that is Zion Canyon.

Nearing the edge

And then we found ourselves at the precipice!

View of Zion Canyon and Angel's Landing from Cable Mountain

This spot is called Cable Mountain as it once had a functioning cable system used for lowering timber to the valley floor. The operation ended long ago, but remnants of the cable works structure can still be seen.

Cable works on Cable Mountain

Dad at the edge

Back at the camp, it was time for a backcountry meal.

Cooking dinner on the backpacking stove

Dad and I trekked a mile down the trail to fill up all of our water receptacles at Stave Spring (using my water filter pump and Dad's new UV purifier!)

H2O bounty

Sunset produced some beautiful clouds, that were also somewhat ominous. (False alarm—no rain that night!)

Sunset

The group at our backcountry camp

I got up in the night to try to photograph the clear, starry sky. It kinda worked!

Starry sky—something like 5-10 minute exposure

In the morning, we hit the trail again.

Morning

Wildflowers

Horny toad (lizard)

Soon we began our descent down into Echo Canyon, where the spectacular colored rocks of Zion put on quite a show.

Echo Canyon

In Echo Canyon

Echo Canyon

Slot canyon in the bottom of Echo Canyon

Trail juncture

Slot canyon beauty

Lunch spot!

Looking up the sheer cliff to yesterday's conquest, Cable Mountain

Crazy patterns

Main valley and Angel's Landing

Before reaching the main valley, we took a side trip to Hidden Canyon.

Headed back up to Hidden Canyon

Hidden Canyon is cool and green and features a nice little arch, where we turned around.

Hidden Canyon

Arch

Sculpted rock

Headed back on the Hidden Canyon trail

Finally, we reached the end of the trek!

"After"

Sadly, it was time for Saul and Heather to leave (Saul directly to Greece and Heather back to South Carolina), so Claire and I drove with them back to Las Vegas that night while the others remained in Zion.

The next morning, after seeing our partners to the airport, Claire and I drove back to Utah and met up with Mom, Dad, Tim, and Sara in the town of Kanarraville.

Kanarraville, a sleepy town just off the interstate, doesn't seem like much of a destination until you learn it's the trailhead for a wonderful hike, up Kanarra Creek. The hike starts out mildly, winding out of town and crossing the chilly creek a few times.

Kanarra creek crossing #1…of many…

The creek leads hikers toward some red cliffs.

Soon the canyon grows narrower. Many creek crossings and some bushwhacking is required, and at times the trail is the stream itself.

Mormon tea grass

Hiking up the streambed

Then, the canyon abruptly "slots up," with only the stream rushing through narrow canyon walls.

Slot canyon!

Entering the slot

Slot canyons are extremely photogenic!

Trekking further requires climbing over three waterfalls. We went up the first two and turned around at the third.
Waterfall #1 is surmountable via a crude ladder and rope handhold.

Dad taking on waterfall #1

Claire on the ladder

Waterfall #2 is easy to ascend by scrambling up the big boulder on the right.

Sara at waterfall #2

Above these two waterfalls are more spectacular stretches of canyon.

The section of deepest water—waist to chest level—comes right before waterfall #3.

Scoping out the deep part

In front of waterfall #3

Climbing above waterfall #3 looked way beyond our abilities, so we turned back.

Emerging from the slot

Back in Kanarraville, we said hi to the neighborhood llama before departing.

¿Como te llamas?

We had planned to spend some time in the Cedar Breaks area, but the park turned out to be closed (thanks to a record winter snowpack that was still around). The campgrounds we had scoped out previously were either closed, full, or very chilly, so we drove on towards Bryce Canyon hoping to get lucky.

Snowy Cedar Breaks

Roadside view of distant Zion

Flooded river

The campground in Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest was also full, so we were seemingly destined to stay the night in a cheap grungy roadside motel. However, Dad remembered that it's permissible to camp anywhere (within certain guidelines) in a National Forest. So after some dinner, we ventured a short distance down a trail in Red Canyon and found a very nice backcountry area to camp!

Hiking the short distance to an impromptu camp spot

Campsite in Red Canyon

On a morning run in Red Canyon

Hiking back out

The next morning, we drove the short distance to Bryce Canyon National Park.

Breakfast in a "real" campground

Bryce Canyon is truly a superlative phenomenon to behold!

The hoodoos of Bryce Canyon

Hoodoos and windows

We spent that day wandering around, over, and amongst the massive rock formations on the Peekaboo Loop and Queen's Garden trails.

Headed down

Wall Street

We thought the back formation looked like the Virgin Mary

Guys

Queen Victoria (on left)

We thought this one looked like a Roman emperor maybe

Back on the rim

Dinner over the fire

Dessert!

Our final day we decided to spend in Red Canyon itself—decidedly Bryce's little brother in terms of spectacle and popularity, it made for a very nice hike.

Named after Butch, who grew up near here

Cassidy Trail

Overlooking Losee Canyon

Losee Canyon

Hiking down through Losee Canyon

Nature's back massage!

From the Arches Trail

Arches Trail

Notice the arch (and Mom/Claire/me under it) at center!

Driving back west through snowy lava fields

That was about it for our short-but-sweet camping trip to Utah. It was wonderful to be in such beautiful places with my fun/loving/fun-loving family, and we'll all cherish the memories!