Saturday Nov 07, 2009 at 13:20

Fall trip to Utah

The Narrows (click image for larger view)

Alice and I took a six day trip to Utah last week specifically to visit Zion and Bryce National Parks in autumn. We’d visited both before, in 2005, but that was before the camera bug had bitten.

We hit a good few of the major highlights:

• Caught a good sunset at the Watchman
• Hiked the Virgin River Narrows in canyoneering boots and drysuit pants (above)
• Saw a spectacular sunrise at West Temple
• Hiked to the Subway – exhausting, but unmissable
• Missed getting stuck in line behind two coach loads of tourists at the restaurant at Ruby’s Inn (Bryce City) by seconds (this was perhaps the highlight of the trip)
• Drove Scenic Byway 12 – a truly spectacular road through remote Utah
• Saw the almost full moon rise over the strange landscape of Goblin Valley State Park

Bryce Sunrise (click image for larger view)

I figured this might be one of longest road trips to date, but at 1600 miles over the best part of a week, it felt pretty relaxed. (Certainly better than the 1800 miles in three days going to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.) Must try harder!

You can see all my Utah images over at the gallery.

Posted in Locations

Stephen · Saturday, November 07, 2009, 13:20 · Permalink

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