Utah – Bryce and Zion

Bryce Canyon was our third national park in Utah and we’d heard great things. The camping looked a little bit more easier to find so we made our way down and found a good spot within the park called Sunset campground. The local crows modelled for us when we were trying out the camera and even got lucky when I accidentally poured half of our noodles away when draining them that night. Quite amusing to see a crow flowing off with noodles hanging out of their beak.

The National Park runs a bus shuttle service again which came in handy and allowed us to combine two trails together to make it slightly more challenging. We started along the Queens Garden and finished on the Navajo trail and now with our improved camera skills, we got some awesome shots. We always laugh that I can take beautiful photos of James but he doesn’t quite manage the same with me (maybe it’s the subject of the photo?) however on this occasion, there was a Mormon woman on crutches, looking out over the canyon, and James managed to get the most stunning photo of her. I’m left scratching my head wondering if I need a change in outfits maybe?

Our final stop in Utah was Zion, a name so familiar but sounding so exotic, I was very excited to get there. I’d seen pictures from a dear friend back at home and was keen to go and see the place for myself. There was absolutely zero chance that we were going to find a campsite within the park so James had managed to find one about 20 mins outside and paid $35 to secure the spot. On arrival, we found ourselves in a cow field with one portaloo and cowbells that rang all through the night. It was so sad that you had to laugh. We were again treated to some incredible views but for $35, they were taking the p**s a bit!

On to our first entry into Zion. The most famous hike in the park is called Angels Landing, of which you have to enter a ballot for. You go into a lottery the day before and unfortunately we didn’t get a ticket to embark on the hike. So we opted to venture in for the scenic drive, suss out what other trails would be good and just get a feel of how busy it would be. The queues were bigger than I’d ever seen. It felt like going into DisneyLand. The scenic drive was pretty spectacular though and I can see how people become so easily enchanted here.

Refusing to spend another night sleeping with the cows, we found some BLM land (which is government owned and free to camp on) for us to set up that night. Red Bull were setting up for a mountain bike event (Red Bull Rampage) nearby which looked really cool but what we hadn’t considered was that the BLM land would be full of weekenders who were coming for a bit of a party at this event. We were still awake at 2am listening to drunk guys ride motocross bikes across the site. I made sure that James revved the engine pretty loudly the next morning outside their site just to rouse them into their lovely hangovers.

Tired and a little groggy, we made our way into the park at 6:30am to start The Narrows trail. This is famous across social media as you have to spend a lot of your time hiking through the gorge which can get pretty cold and deep. There are outfitters that give you waterproof boots and big walking sticks for you to be able to wade through but we saw this as a bit of a scam and opted for our hiking poles and trainers. Getting there early meant we managed to avoid the traffic and slower hikers who were doing it for the ‘gram’. The first foot went in tentatively and yes it was bloody freezing, considering the height of the canyon meant that the sun was only on the water about an hour a day. But when the sun did hit the canyon, it looked spectacular. It really glistened. We spent days after drying out our trainers and shaking sand out of them as we collected so much wading through. We wished we had more time here but we had to push on, I’m sure one day we will be back but we both agree that this was our favourite park in Utah.

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