In these days of $4 per gallon gasoline, is the Great American Road Trip dead? Not if you pick your roads well. For example, suppose you want to visit some national parks in your accessible RV. If you choose Utah, you can visit five national parks in one trip. Zion, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands and Bryce Canyon are all situated in Utah’s famed red rock country, and each offers unique scenic wonders unlike any on Earth. Perhaps best of all, they’re all reachable via well marked highways with short distances between them.
Designated in 1919, Zion National Park is Utah's oldest national park, and also the southernmost park in the state. Zion canyon features soaring towers and monoliths that suggest a quiet grandeur. Zion is also known for its incredible slot canyons, including The Virgin River Narrows, which attract canyoneers from around the world. With nearly three million visitors per year, Zion is Utah's most heavily used park.
A bit north and east of Zion, Capitol Reef National Park is characterized by sandstone formations, cliffs and canyons, and a 100-mile long bulge in the earth's crust called the Waterpocket Fold. Erosion has carved the rock into marvelous shapes. This is an inviting wilderness of rock with descriptive names such as Capitol Dome, Hickman Bridge, Grand Wash, and Cathedral Valley.
Arches National Park, located about five miles north of Moab, contains the world's largest concentration of natural stone arches. This red arid desert is punctuated with oddly eroded sandstone fins, pinnacles, spires, balanced rocks, and arches. The 73,000-acre region has over 2,000 of these "miracles of nature." A 40-mile round-trip paved road in Arches National Park leads visitors to the major sights and hiking trails, including Balanced Rock, Skyline Arch, Double Arch in the Windows Section, Fiery Furnace, and the park's most famous geologic feature: Delicate Arch. Note that while some of the arches are visible from the road, some require moderate hikes on unpaved trails.
About 35 miles west of Moab is Canyonlands National Park, where you can view thousands of feet down to the Green and Colorado Rivers, or thousands of feet up to red rock pinnacles, cliffs, and spires. As Utah's largest national park, Canyonlands has been naturally sliced into three distinctive districts: The Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze.
Bryce Canyon isn’t really a canyon, but the eastern slope of the Paunsaguant Plateau. Millions of years of wind, water, and geologic mayhem have shaped and etched the pink cliffs of Bryce, forming a huge amphitheater, where thousands of delicately carved spires rise in brilliant color. Visitors may take a 37-mile round-trip drive to Bryce Canyon's most famous viewpoints—dizzying in scope—including Sunrise, Sunset, Rainbow, Yovimpa, and Inspiration Points.
Because all are National Parks, accessibility has been addressed to some extent. To find out specifics, visit http://www.nps.gov/state/ut/, click on the name of each individual park, click on “Plan Your Trip” on the left side of the page, then click on “Things to Know Before you Come.
To find out more about traveling to Utah’s national parks, visit:
www.Utah.com and www.utah.travel.
Photo Courtesy Utah Office of Tourism
