Friday, September 1st – Tuesday, September 5th, 2017 (Labor Day weekend)

When we weren’t hiking, we were glamping (sigh, we meant to camp dammit), and when we weren’t glamping, we were traveling around in our hella nice rental car. That’s basically out trip in a nutshell.

Contrary to the usual style of my camping trips, it wasn’t a very laze around the whole day, drinking, and stuffing our faces kind of trip. There is too much nature to wonder at! Hike after hike to conquer! And while relaxing is the last word I’d pick to describe this trip, I’m glad we packed the plan this way. The beauty of that area and all the experiences we gathered along the way were well worth the hustle we had to put in for it.

So why were we glamping? Well, Sunset Campground at Bryce Canyon I do not feel as guilty for. It was just a really clean and well-maintained campground, exactly what I was hoping for and was not disappointed. Lake Page Powell campground at Antelope Canyon however, was full-on luxury. There were laundry machines, walled-off campsites, a swimming pool, and with wifi, we could’ve even taken out our laptops and started watching YouTube or something. I did not know this when I booked it. Oops. The last two nights at Zion were at a hotel even, since we couldn’t get a campsite. Shame, shame. (But if I were to be honest, the hotel was a welcome change after hot, sticky days and two nights sleeping on the hard ground).

As for our fancy pants car? It was a Chrysler 300S. It had lots of buttons to play with, Apple CarPlay so we could hook it up with Spotify, and a big sunroof. This car was perfect for driving down the strip in Vegas (where we rented it) with a group of good-looking girls dancing out of the sunroof, drinks in hand. But no, we packed it to the brim with camping gear and increasingly smelly clothes, and took it out onto the dusty mountain roads instead. Thank you Sixt car rentals for not having our car ready and giving us this awesome fun one instead.

I am also very proud of how prepared we came for this trip! Flew in all the camping gear we needed (huge suitcase..), thought of it all, and lacked nothing, used almost everything. Hey styrofoam cooler we gambled on Walmart having, you did your job very well and I am proud of you too. Those Chinese sausages I flew in all the way from SF, YUM, you will always be good over a campfire. 

But anyways, it really is just majestic out in this area of the states. Even excluding the parks themselves, just driving out on the roads, it’s a really unique place to lose yourself and just be.

And now for a quick overview of the places we went.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Point

I can’t remember the last time I woke up for a sunrise but the sunrise here did not disappoint. The canyon slowly lights up more and more in anticipation until this perfectly circular orange egg yolk peeks over the horizon, and at that moment everyone excitedly gasps in unison. From there, we all attempt continuing to watch the sun rise while avoiding looking at the sun (huh?) until at some point someone suggests– okay, this is probably definitely a bad idea by now.

Navajo Loop / Peekaboo-Queens Garden Loop

Our first hike of the trip! I believe it was 5 hours long and took us all through some very interesting geological formations.  There was a good variety of settings to keep our interest along this journey, and every turn of the road was very picture-worthy. There were also many sad portions of hiking down knowing we’ll just have to hike back up, so that was another memorable aspect of this hike. In general, I don’t know why Bryce Canyon doesn’t get more love because I think it’s quite unique and definitely worth anyone’s time.

Rainbow Point

It was a meh drive, lots of stops to get out of car, take a picture then get back in the car. After doing our hike, the drive was too easy for us to enjoy it much. Gotta work for your views.

Horseshoe Bend

It really is a beautiful spot, and it had so much potential. Unfortunately we went during sunset, on Labor Day weekend, and people were swarming this place like flies. It had already been a long, challenging day, and I had nothing left in me to fight for a view. Sunset actually wasn’t the best lighting for this place either. But I know if we ever return here again, this famous spot could really be enjoyable.

Antelope Canyon

All those pictures you see of this place online? They lie! This place is not multicolored; it is only various shades of red and people apply filters to make the colors come out, so there, you’ve been educated. Even then, this hole in the ground is just so unique so it’s definitely worth seeing. Just don’t get poisoned by the Sand Vipers. They bury their bodies in the ground and attack as you’re walking to the entrance… or so our tour guide had us believing until the tour ended. Freaking out on the way there, I’ll admit it was quite funny in hindsight.

Zion

The Narrows

I am grateful for the random fire drill we had at work, whereupon I got pulled into coffee with co-workers I’ve never met before, one of which had just come back from Zion and recommended me this hike. Somewhat a stroke of luck we got to experience this.

So what is this? You literally go hiking in a river. Step carefully, grip onto your walking stick, and don’t lose your balance. For the most part it wasn’t too deep, but at one point we had to lift up our bags over our heads to wade through torso deep water. Thank you rental shoes and neoprene socks for making our feet feel invincible. Thank you random photographer for unwittingly let a certain member of our party stalk your movements and know exactly where we should be taking photos. I hope you didn’t notice us. I have a feeling you probably did.

Angel’s Landing Trail

We didn’t die. Nice.

This is Zion’s most infamous hike. Every time our park shuttle drove by this area, it pointed out the tiny people at the top of the towering, yet terribly skinny cliff, and I remembered to hate us again for subjecting ourselves to this impending doom.

Day of, the hike was actually doable, as long as you are careful. Probably the months of dread leading up to the hike and everyone telling me how scary it is helped overhype it, so yay? It was a little harder being the last hike of our trip and we had already asked a lot of our legs by then. At the last .5 miles, aka the scary part where you climb up with the help of chains, I finally pinpointed what it is I’m actually so afraid of, not heights or whatever, but fear of unnecessary death, especially caused by my own stupidity. It’s why I’m so afraid of driving. So a lot of the time on this last portion I kept thinking to myself I really don’t have to die today and consequently moved cautiously along on all fours.

Emerald’s Pool Trail

As underwhelming as it gets.

Canyon Overlook Trail

We went during sunset to see the winding roads glow in the distance. Unfortunately it was a little too cloudy. But I think this hike is the best bang for your buck; you get all your quintessential Zion views for a relatively short 1hr hike. There’s a lot of places along the whole hike to stop and appreciate. If we weren’t chasing those sunlit roads we might’ve had more time to enjoy them, but the top is very memorable too. A perfect place to forget the rest of the world, if just for this temporary moment.

Canyon Junction Bridge

This bridge is a picture perfect spot. It has all the key elements you could ask for. Just don’t get run over by the cars while you’re trying to get in a good picture. There’s a very peaceful and paved walk starting next to the bridge too. We saw the sunset color the Watchman a faint orange, listened to the faint echoes of tiny bats in the sky as the night descended, and gratefully wondered how it’s possible we mostly had this path to ourselves.

To wrap up this post, here is a picture to commemorate the curious incident of the trunk that wouldn’t close.

A Google Maps of our trip!