Arches and Bryce Canyon

Our journey through America’s National Parks continued to Arches and Bryce Canyon. There are 59 National Parks in the US and we have only seen about 9 I think. Zion is next and will make 10. Each park we’ve visited is overwhelming and impressive. The US really know how to show off their natural wonders. Just incredible and as I scroll through the photos of each day I realise how incredibly lucky we are to have seen these places. 

NOW SHOWING.....I have made another short movie (at the bottom) to show the wonderful photos so please watch it to see what you have to put on your bucket list.

Arches National Park is in a town called Moab (we’re still in Utah). It reminded us of Boulder Colorado as it was an outdoor enthusiast town – bikes, hikers, ATVs, jeeps…anything that could be done outside. It was hot like it has been this whole desert trip but it’s quite dry so a little bit more bearable. It is the gateway to giant red rock formations in Arches and there is a history of dinosaur bones and prints. The town itself was full of hippy like people and simple had a cool atmosphere. We had some fantastic food and coffee here too which was a nice treat - we got great coffee at the Love Muffin (love this name). We headed out early to Delicate Arch - another one hour hike up, down and around the red rocks to reveal this huge natural arch feature. It was an interesting walk as we slogged it over a huge rock face that reminded me of Uluru at home and then walking the edges around cliffs to arrive at the beautiful arch. The photos speak for themselves (in the movie). We also checked out another site called Windows that were two holes in the rocks that could only be seen together at a particular point. These windows were huge holes, just mind blowing to stand under them. The park was filled with tall standing red rock features that your imagination could let you see any shape you wanted.

The afternoon was far more adventurous as we took an adrenaline pumping jeep adventure tour. Apparently Moab is the 4WD mecca of the world. This place was crawling with all kinds of all-terrain vehicles with big tyres, big suspension and big engines. There were trials bikes and mountain bikes too. Our driver was fantastic, funny guy and gave us an action packed ride for 3 hours. We didn’t see the traditional Arches sites but instead, burned around the local area called Hells Revenge – a bit unsettling at first but we learnt to hang on tight and felt quite safe with driver Ernie. I told him the only Ernie’s I knew were Ernie Dingo (famous Aust actor) and of course Bert and Ernie. He laughed saying he only knew Bert and Ernie. He loved having a group of Aussies as passengers and we gave him a good Aussie welcome. He showed us a spot where a dinosaur footprint was found but some idiot came out late one night, dug it out and took it home to use as a coffee table. He was eventually found out but said he threw it in the Colorado River – it was never found though. Idiot did jail time. What a shame – people can be so stupid.

After crawling up and down some steep and insane rocks, Ernie suddenly dropped the pedal and raced through the sand dune corners that at first caught us all off guard but we loved it. Ernie asked if that was fun and I said yeah mate, this is how Aussies drive to just get the milk !! He laughed and then every time he was going to do a speedy sand dune run, he’d say we’re going to get milk guys. Funny guy. We had a bloody blast and it really was the best three hours you could spend in Moab. For those coming to Moab, check these guys out at Outlaw Jeep Adventures here….Outlaw Jeep Adventures

Bryce Canyon National Park was our next destination headed down southeast. My wiki research says that….Bryce Canyon is actually not a canyon but a collection of giant natural amphitheatres. It is distinctive due to geological structures called 'hoodoos', formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lakebed sedimentary rocks. Bryce sits at a very high 8000-9000 feet (2400 – 2700m) and you will see in my movie, my Garmin watch showing the elevation and climbing we were doing on a hike. The Bryce Canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and there were some historical remnants of that time around the area.

We started the day with a horse ride along the canyon rim. It was a very slow ride but very relaxing to wander through the Dixie State Forest that borders the national park. We saw lots of pronghorn which look like deer or antelope. These are the fastest mammal in the southern hemisphere. Deb’s horse was Dandy, who farted constantly, I had Lady so you know who was the tramp in this duo and our friend JE had Wizzy. They were beautiful horses and were kind to us. Our guide was definitely a local young cowboy – bit of a drawl, spitter and chewer. Very friendly and gave us good tips to eat around the local area. We had a 90 minute ride and a great way to see a different part of Bryce area. 

Like the Grand Canyon, there was a free shuttle bus to ferry tourists around the park and stop at every lookout and hike trailhead. It’s an excellent way to get around, removes cars and congestion and lets you talk to other people and compare trail notes. We hiked down into the canyon which was so beautiful. The trails are good and vary from easy to hard. They are good trails and retain the natural beauty of the environment. We wandered around the tall hoodoos and canyon corridors and took a stack of photos. You will see several rock features in the movie – Queen Victoria, Thor’s Hammer and Wall Street. I reckon I saw a koala at one stage but no one else could – can’t help lack of imagination in some people. The climb back out of the canyon was challenging. We climbed down about 170m so I was counting every meter back up on my Garmin. It really was beautiful so there were lots of reasons to stop, take a breath and catch the view. There are plenty of hikes to do and I would love to come back to any of these national parks and spend a week exploring every corner of the park. At the end of the day we headed on a shorter hike near our cabin which rewarded us with a small waterfall. The water was very cold but it was nice to put my feet in it albeit for a minute or two.

Well that’s it for now, we’re off to Zion tomorrow before hitting the big lights of Vegas. Don’t forget to watch the movie. The music was inspired by our friend JE who was talking about seeing Keith Urban in concert. I said go for it and I thought one his songs was a good choice for this movie. Enjoy !!