Utah

Mike took brothers Tom (celebrating his 60th), Dan and Tom's son Chet for an epic trip to Zion NP.

The Native American Paiute tribes called this area Mukuntuweap, but the National Park Service decided that the adopted Mormon name, Zion, was easier for the masses to pronounce.   The park’s striking vertical topography is what draw visitors [...]

Located in the vast Grand Staircase-Escalante desert, Coyote Gulch is a winding, semi-narrow canyon that snakes its way down through incredible red rock country, and joins with the Escalante River just above Lake Powell.  Mike hiked [...]

Capitol Reef is in south-central Utah's red rock country, and was a "new" National Park for us.  Scenic highway 12 is rated the #2 most beautiful highway in the world (behind Milford, New Zealand), curving 124 [...]

Canyonlands National Park has a section called the "Maze" which is known to be rugged and remote.  Visitors must be prepared for self-sufficiency and isolation.   That's why we turned back after one night, as [...]

Monument Valley is a small part of the 16 million acres over 5 states that represent Navajo tribal land.  John Wayne and John Ford returned frequently to this popular spot for filming western movies.   [...]

Arches has been a National Park since 1971.  With over 2,000 sandstone arches in a 120 square mile area, it's a wild array of natural shapes and a photographers delight.  It's also a study in erosion. [...]

One of my favorite National Parks, Bryce a compact 56 miles.  Candy corn colored spires  look like they're from a Dr. Seuss book.  This park absolutely glows in morning and late afternoon light.  The highest [...]

Not all the arches in Moab are in the national park.Witness Jug Handle arch - you need just theright angle to even realize it's there.Hmmm.  Should we take our rental jeepon this trail?Our friend Aron [...]

The deepest point of the canyon haswalls rising 1300' feet, with a narrowwidth.  This section is called Wall Street.A magic moment - a buck nimbly galloped through the boulders across from our camp and stopped to observe the human [...]