What I didn't know was there would be millions of acres of other amazing parks including National Monuments, National Forests, State Parks and BLM lands (Bureau of Land Management). There was just too much to see to fit into six weeks.
We experienced snow storms, 90 degree days, thunder storms, high winds, sand storms, rain and almost any weather you can imagine. This weather had an effect on our abilities to fully see some areas but was part of the great experiences we had.
I had preconceived ideas as to what area we would enjoy the most. My ratings of what we liked best surprised me in the end. Here are the winners.....
Bryce Canyon National Park - The best way to describe this park is "Shock and Awe". I had no idea before visiting this park that it would be our favorite place. Stunning is not a powerful enough word to use when describing Bryce.
Zion National Park - A hikers paradise. This park is a visual overload for the eyes. We spent a week here and enjoyed it all.
Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument - This is not one of the "Big 5" but with 1.7 million acres of awesome scenery it deserves our third place vote. It also was the area of our Peek-a-Boo slot canyon hike, our favorite hike of the year.
Arches National Park - I thought this would be my favorite park, it could have been if not for the other places we have seen. It is still an amazing place to visit.
Capitol Reef Nation Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park finish out our list with several state parks and BLM land as close contenders.
Sunday we start our serious north bound travel. We will work our way through Salt Lake City than head for Boise before following the Columbia River west on the Oregon side. We should arrive in Tottle, Washington in early June to visit Terri's brother and SIL.
That gives us two weeks to cover 1,000 miles. We won't be moving fast.
Life is good.
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