Bryce Canyon, Utah

Well, I had heard so many great things about Bryce Canyon…and it did not disappoint! My breath was literally taken away when I saw the first set of Hoodoos. Bryce has a single road about 20 miles long where you drive along and pull off to view the scenery. It can be done in half a day. It is really a spectacular sight!


Nearing arrival at Bryce




This is the first viewpoint...the pic doesn't do it justice!



More beautiful views



A "city" of hoodoos



One of the locals...



How's this for a sunset?

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

After leaving Goblin State Park, Hwy 24 ran through a beautiful gem of a park called Capitol Reef National Park (http://www.nps.gov/care/). Before I tell you about the park, I have to mention that the drive from Goblin over to this place was one of the most spectacular on the trip! Really beautiful desert scenery. Really a must if you're traveling this park of the country.

Anyway, I had no expectations of Capitol Reef and thought I'd pass right on through. Turns out there is a very nice campground mid-way through the park, and I stayed the night because the scenery was so great!

The park is actually very long, running north-south, while Hwy 24 cuts through it from east-west. So I only got to see a small part of it. But it was really, really great! The scenery is so diverse...from towering rock-canyon walls, to interesting buttes and spires, to petroglyphs, waterfalls, etc. Really, really beautiful! The weather was perfect too. There was even a 12 mile long off-road trail for taking 4x4's to see some very cool natural rock formations and canyons.

This place was excellent and I'd highly recommend it to anyone!

A view near the park entrance

Some local residents

A view from the campground

Some Petryglyphs on a canyon wall

A nice meadow nearby...

The name says it all...

A wind and water-carved rock

The RV looks a little insignificant against this backdrop

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Goblin State Park, Utah

After leaving the Arches/Canyonlands/Dead Horse area of Utah, the next stop was this place, called Goblin State Park. The park is small and can be seen in an hour or two. It consists of many mushroom-shaped pinnacles that someone must have thought resembled goblins. It was a quick little venture off of Highway 24.

Dead Horse State Park, Utah

Dead Horse State Park is very near Canyonlands Nat'l Park. In fact, it's a turnoff on the way. Dead Horse got its name, apparently, from long ago, when this place was used as a natural corral for horse thieves. The plateau drops off with sheer cliffs several hundred meters tall on 3 sides, with only a narrow neck of land (30 yards or so) connecting the plateau to the main plateau. Thus it was easy for rustlers to simply fence off this narrow neck, and keep their horses from running away. Unfortunately the dry desert conditions, lack of food and water, and limited space often killed the horses. The area was used as the set for the Grand Canyon scenes in the 1991 film Thelma & Louise.

This is a really small park: there's really one one spot to look out at, but what a sight! At sunset, this place is so beautiful. I can't tell you how nice this place was; the pictures do not do it justice. So, if you come out this way, make sure you leave about an hour near sunset to check this place out!