Jewell Judy - Moon Zion and Bryce

HANDBOOKS

W. C. McRAE & JUDY JEWELL

Southern Utah is so filled with staggering beauty, drama, and power that it seems like a place of myth. Five spectacular national parks and several national monuments are all within a days drive of one another. The colorful canyons, arches, and mesas found within this high dry area are surprisingly diverse, and each park has its own characteristic landscape.

Zion National Park contains stunning contrasts, with towering rock walls deeply incised by steep canyons containing a verdant oasis of cottonwood trees and wildflowers. Bryce National Park is famed for its red and pink hoodoos, delicate fingers of stone rising from a steep mountainside. At sunrise the lighting is especially magical, the air crisp, and the trails empty.

A large section of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument preserves the dry washes and slot canyons trenched by the Escalante River and its tributaries. Long-distance hikers descend into the deep, narrow river channels here to experience the near-mystical harmony of flowing water and stone.

The highlight of Capitol Reef National Park is the Waterpocket Fold, an enormous wrinkle of rock rising from the desert. The Fremont River carves a magnificent canyon through the formation, offering a leafy, well-watered sanctuary from the otherwise arid landscapes of southern Utah.

In Canyonlands National Park, the Colorado River carves through deep red sandstone. From the Island in the Sky unit, expansive vistas take in hundreds of miles of canyon country, while rafting the Colorados Cataract Canyon is the wet and thrilling climax of many a vacation. The beauty is more serene and mystical at Arches National Park, where delicate rock arches provide vast windows into the solid rock. Short trails draw hikers into an eerily beautiful land of slickrock promontories and stone arches. High-spirited Moab is the recreational mecca of southeastern Utah, known for its mountain biking and comfortableeven sophisticateddining and lodging.

Southern Utah is more than a showcase of erosion. Its cliffs and canyons have been home to Native Americans for thousands of years, and the haunting beauty of Native American rock art is on display at hundreds of locations.

Although many people first visit as part of a grand tour of the Southwest, they often return to further explore a smaller and distinctive corner of this vast landscape. After a small glimpse of the magnificence and variety, some latch on to one special place and return year after year, growing to know it intimately.

In Zion National Park, hiking trails lead up narrow canyons cut into massive stone cliffs, passing quiet pools of water and hanging gardens. The parks main canyon, carved by the Virgin River, is an easy place to find a day hike; however, the rest of the parks canyons are the province of canyoneers and long-distance hikers.

Bryce Canyon has famous vistas across an eroded amphitheater of pink sandstone hoodoos. Short trails lead down from the canyon edge into a wonderland of fanciful formations and outcrops, and youll have quite a different experience from the amateur photographers perched along the rim if you venture into the parks backcountry.

Grand Staircase preserves some of the Southwests best canyon hiking. Numerous day hikes and long-distance hiking trails follow the slot canyons of the Escalante River. Mountain bikers can head down the Hole-in-the-Rock Road or the Burr Trail to visit some of the same landscape via jeep road; even cruising scenic Highway 12 in a car is an eye-popping experience.

Capitol Reef preserves a vast wrinkle of rock called the Waterpocket Fold, which buckles up into a vertical barricade across more than 100 miles of southeast Utah. Of the few canyons that penetrate Waterpocket Fold, the Fremont River Canyon is most accessible along Highway 24. Ancient petroglyphs, pioneer farms and orchards, and soaring rock formations extend the length of the canyon. A paved scenic highway explores more canyons along the folds western face. The rest of the park is remote backcountryjust the way hikers and backpackers like it.

A WEEKEND: Visit Zion National Park.

FIVE DAYS: Add Bryce Canyon National Park and Kodachrome Basin State Park.

ONE WEEK: Add Grand Staircase and Capitol Reef.

TEN DAYS: Add Canyonlands, Arches, and Moab.

Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands National Park is made up of four sections: the River District,