National Parks of the Southwest

Corinne Alaska, Maintenance, National Parks & Monuments 4 Comments

Welcome to a bonus post in our Alaska series….not centered on Alaska or Canada. We decided that on our way back to New Mexico, we would hit up some of Nevada, Utah and Arizona’s National Parks and Monuments. Well, some of them anyway. There are more parks and monuments than we have the time and energy for right now. But here’s what we saw.

Great Basin National Park

Great Basin is a little visited National Park located in east central Nevada. One day was plenty of time to see all there is. But a good day it was. The park derives its name from the Great Basin, the dry and mountainous region between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Mountains.

Right down the road from the National Park entrance was the BLM campground. Dry camping of course. The price? FREE!!!! We LOVED it!
We got up early to drive up into the Park in the dark. “Up” is the keyword, we were at 8,000 feet elevation at this viewpoint. The goal was to see the sunrise. It was totally worth it.
The Quaking Aspen trees were changing colors.
We were at 10,000 feet in elevation for this hike. Let’s just say, we aren’t as young as we used to be. But still, we enjoyed the hike to an Alpine Lake that was, unfortunately, mostly dried up.
One surprise was the existence of the Lehman Caves in the park. This is a live cave where only a portion of it is open to the public.
“A STALAGMITE pushes up with all its might, and a STALACTITE holds on tight to the roof.”

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Of all the places we visited on this little detour, Cedar Breaks was our favorite, due to the lack of crowds and outstanding scenery. We had never heard of Cedar Breaks, so thanks to Wade and Debi for the recommendation. Cedar Breaks is located east of Cedar City, Utah.

Cedar Breaks is a natural amphitheater, 3 miles across and 2000 feet deep. We were up on the rim at 10,000 feet.
We did the rim hike.
Bristlecone Pines were along the trail. Bristlecones are among the longest-lived life forms.
Every turn along the trail gave us a different view.
We took a drive up Brian Head, the highest peak in the area. 11,000 feet high. We could see an incoming rainstorm.

If you are ever in the area, we HIGHLY recommend Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Kanab, Utah

At this point, we decided to plant ourselves in Kanab, Utah for a week. This was our 62nd campground on our almost 5 month trip. We needed a break from moving almost every day.

The view was EXCELLENT! The RV park also boasted a hot tub. We were in it everyday.

This was our view looking out the front of the RV.

Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park

Outside of Kanab was Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Within the park were two excellent campgrounds that are on our list for our next visit.

The sand dunes are a mile wide. We ventured as far as a platform overlook.
People were renting “sandboards” to ride down the hills. They looked a lot like snowboards.
Unfortunately, there is not a lift system to get you to the top of the dunes. You had to hoof it.
Once at the top of the dune, you can slide down it. It was fun to watch.

Peak-a-boo Slot Canyon

Also within easy reach of Kanab is the Peak-a-Boo Slot Canyon. You have to go through 3 miles of VERY sandy trails to get to the entrance of the canyon. Some people hike it. Some people will drive their high-clearance 4 wheel drive vehicles. Others, like us, did a guided UTV tour! (UTV = Utility Vehicle)

This UTV was our ride for a couple of hours. James thoroughly enjoyed going 30 miles per hour through sand. I hung on for my dear life.

I shot a short 30 second video of what it was like to ride on the UTV. It was not easy to hold the camera securely AND try to hang on for myself. The video link is here if the embedded video doesn’t work for you: https://youtu.be/qHlQzLdV3QM?si=FPomZLUlitkYL2u9.

Peak-a-boo Canyon did not disappoint.
A coral fossil.
See those little stars on the center of the rock. According to our guide, those are fossils of Feathered Crinoids.
A modern day Crinoid. You can see where the star shape in the fossil comes from.
A tall slot!
The indentations in the rock are actually footholds chipped into the rocks by Native Americans. They would put their food stores up on the upper ledges to protect the goods from floods and animals.
I happened upon a photography tour. Their guide would gather up sand and throw it up into the shaft of light to accentuate the sunlight. They allowed me to stand next to them and snap my own pictures with my phone while all the paying customer’s high priced cameras where clicking away. Pretty cool!
See that little hole in the rock? Wait for it….
Smile! Johnny, our guide, knew all the best photo spots.

The UTV ride was a lot of fun! Our experience kind of explains why there are so many UTVs parked next to RVs in the RV Park we stayed in.

Zion National Park

To be honest, we had no idea what to expect of Zion. It turns out Zion is tied for second (with the Grand Canyon) in the list of most visited National Parks. Number one is the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. We believe it, based on the crowds we saw, and it’s not even peak season!

The heart of Zion is a canyon carved by the Virgin River and it seven miles long. You have to take a free bus to visit the length of the canyon.

We had been warned by some fellow campers to get to the park early in order to get a place to park the truck. We heeded their warning and started out at 6:00 a.m. in the dark to get there. Thus, we were able to see the sun hit the peaks.
Once there, we immediately hopped on the bus and made our way to the last stop, number 9, called the Temple of Sinawava.
The Virgin River which formed Zion Canyon.

Have you heard of The Narrows? This seems to be why everyone comes to the Park, to hike further up the canyon in the river. Some hikers grab their water shoes and trekking poles and just go for it. There is an outfitter just outside the entrance to the park that will provided you (for a fee) with what you need to hike the narrows. I just peeked at their website to see the pricing.

This picture shows people who purchased the “Dry Bib Package” for $55.

The Dry Bib Package includes:
Dry bibs (waders)
Adidas Hydro Lace Canyoneering Boot
5mm Neoprene Socks
Wooden Hiking Stick
Dry Top (additional $10)

It was easy to spot the people heading into the Narrows. They all had on matching footwear rented from an outfitter. If we were 30 years younger, we would be tempted. As it was, it was 50 degrees air temperature and we WERE NOT tempted.

Once outfitted, all these people rushed to this point to start their hike. We talked to a couple of people who stopped about 300 yards in when the water got chest high.

If you want to see more about hiking the Narrows, I recommend this video by Keep Your Daydream. It’s long, but pretty good. https://youtu.be/3qnUidAsvpY?si=RfA3HgwFAK32IqfY

Flash flooding is a concern in Zion. There were all sorts of signs warning you to be aware. Towards the end of our week in Kanab, we had an evening of thunderstorms. The next morning, the flash flood level in Zion was “Probable.” Yikes!

At one of the stops, we saw this cliff face. Look closely, can you see the climbers? No…it’s hard to tell in this shot.
But they were there! What an undertaking.

All in all, Zion was nice, but I think we are getting jaded. After all the sights we saw this summer, we are getting hard to impress. I think we need a reset.

Zion Mesa Tour

But we weren’t done yet with Zion. We booked a Zion Mesa Jeep Tour for the afternoon to see the sights outside the National Park.

The vehicle for our Jeep Tour doesn’t look much like a Jeep. Still, we had six of us onboard and had an enjoyable two hours.
The grasslands outside Zion. Most of this is owned by ranchers.
Looking at Zion from the outside. It IS beautiful!

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

We finished off our whirlwind tour of SOME of what the Southwest has to off with a visit to Page, Arizona, Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We had last been in this area in 2004. At that time, we rented a house boat and spent five lovely days on Lake Powell. We never dreamed that we would be back in this area in an RV! What has changed in the succeeding 21 years?

We started out our explorations at Horseshoe Bend at sunrise.

Good morning!
Horseshoe Bend is a very popular place to take photos. You can see why! The Colorado River winds around a rock monolith.
Did you notice in the prior picture the kayakers camped on the shore of the Colorado River? Probably not. But they were there. This isn’t a bad picture for a cell phone!
We were also alternately entertained and frightened by the people ignoring the guard rails and the warning signs about the 1000 foot drop. This couple with the ultra long selfie stick must be YouTubers. She would run up onto the rocky incline with the gentleman following her. They must have done it five times trying to get the perfect shot. It got to the point I couldn’t watch anymore. I didn’t want to see someone die.
This is what 6 a.m. with no shower or coffee looks like. At least the scenery was stunning. 😉
The Glen Canyon Dam restricts the flow of the Colorado River. This dam is what created Lake Powell and makes house boating in the area possible.
This is the Colorado River downstream of the Glen Canyon Dam. This water flows to Lake Mead, another reservoir outside of Las Vegas.

We were VERY curious to see how things had changed in 21 years. So I dug up some old photos we have from that time.

Glen Canyon Dam Overlook

This is from the Glen Canyon Dam overlook in 2004. I placed a red arrow on a feature on the wall that is in both pictures.
And this picture is from the same overlook, 21 years later. You can see more of the wall. I looked up the numbers and the lake level is 25 feet lower than it was 21 years ago.

It’s also interesting to note how digital photography has changed. I’m sure I used a Kodak digital camera to take the 2004 picture. The 2025 smart phone picture is much sharper.

Wahweap Marina

We next visited the marina where we picked up our rental house boat. I had to line up a couple of the landmarks in the distance to figure out where we were standing.

In 2004, our rental boat was in that marina somewhere.
21 year later, the marina appears to be in the same place. But the shoreline appears closer to me.
This is the old boat ramp that was in use 21 years ago. I seem to recall that the concrete was above the waterline then. Now it’s way above the waterline. They have since built another boat ramp.

As I hit PUBLISH on this blog post, we are sitting at a Speedco just north of Phoenix. Sandy, our trusty RV, is due for its one year PM (preventative maintenance). Oil change, new filters, etc. etc. etc. Think of a Jiffy Lube, only for semi-trucks.

Hanging at the Speedco!

After this, we are making a beeline for home. We should be there before the end of the week. Then there will be one last blog post with the final numbers from our trip. We engineer types like to collect data. But give me a few days first to find my way around our house again.

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4 thoughts on “National Parks of the Southwest”

  1. Linda n Al

    Outstanding! What a spectacular way to end your trip. I loved the pics of every place. I’ve never seen those star fossils before. Very cool. We also went to Zion this summer and enjoyed the bus to the top but we were with friends that were fine with the air-conditioned ride round trip (it was June and HOT). Have never been to Cedar Breaks NM and am looking forward to checking it out. Love that slot canyon, have never been but it would be a fun hike. Have you been to the one here? If not, I’ll take you… That’s the biggest thing about Utah, there are so many NP and NM to see that it’s tough to pick which ones to go to.
    The picture of you at Horseshoe bend without shower and coffee, that’s me even when I’m home! LOL I sure hope those adrenalin junkies didn’t’ have a mishap. Those are the type of people we read about all the time.
    Thanks for the comparison pictures at Lake Powell. We’ve been there around that area in 2006 and it would be fun to find our pics and compare as well.

    Can’t wait to see you guys when you get home and decompress!
    Welcome back!

  3. dominiquefeather

    As always — thanks for the great pictures!!!! Our country sure has a lot of offer and you have done a good job of seeing lots of it and sharing your pictures!!!!!

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