Traveling the world always reminds me why I keep moving. I enjoy hiking, which enables me to see places in the world that are a little harder to get to. I want to keep moving so that I can see the whole world. Here are some of my most recent and favorite spots from a trip out to Utah to hike in Zion, Bryce and Arches National parks.
About 1 hour into the Subway Hike in Zion
Hiking the Subway (Zion): The Subway was the coolest hike I have ever done, but I’ve never had to rappel or swim on a hike before so it got a lot of new factor points. The hike took us ten hours at a pretty leisurely pace. The terrain was varied, but at times we were at the base of very narrow canyons, pushing our packs through first to fit our body after. We could see the ripples of a millennium of waves on the rocks as if the rocks had frozen water in time. I spent most of the hike in awe of our world. This is worth seeing and doing, but it’s not for everyone.
Plank in Bryce Canyon
Hiking Bryce: We passed through Bryce quickly and only did the most popular hike, the Navajo Loop. I wouldn’t have really felt like I’d gotten a full taste of the park if I didn’t do a least one hike. It only took about two hours. But before we got there I had read if you only had a day in Bryce you should just drive from view point to view point and see the canyon from above. I didn’t believe it. I’m glad I hiked, but the best views are from the top. The lower you get the less perspective you have on the hoodoos, and Bryce is all about the hoodoos. I never got bored from viewpoint to viewpoint. I was blissfully inspired by the beauty.
Delicate Arch–the most famous in the park.
Hiking Arches: These were the easiest hikes, and at some point if you’ve seen one arch, you’ve seen them all. We hiked nearly the entire trail system in one day. But my opinion changed a little when we went on the Fiery Furnace Tour with Moab Adventures. Totally worth the money if you get a guide as good as ours. She was so in love with the area and the land, you couldn’t help start falling in love with the rocks she adored. She showed us arches I would never have noticed and suggested we play on the rocks. We scurried over, under and through tight spaces to see where we could get and what we could see.
Our National Parks should be our playgrounds. We should all long to play in them. It’s creative, inventive, physical play in the natural world.
Enjoying Mother Nature as a playground.
