Over Memorial Day, Samuel was moving back to Michigan from San Francisco so we got a chance to go on another fantastic, jam packed road trip hitting eight National Parks in four days. In my last post we had just finished our Angel’s Landing (Zion National Park) adventure and were heading to Bryce Canyon National Park. After Bryce we wanted to try to reach Capitol Reef National Park before sunset. We knew it was ambitious to reach the three parks in one day but we were optimistic. As we climbed in the car for the drive to Bryce and the adrenaline from our morning hike subsided, our stomach began their telltale rumble. As such we were excited to stumble upon the Thunderbird and their most delicious pies. After filling up to the point of stuffed, we continued our journey to Bryce.
As we drove up to Bryce, the change in landscape was significant even though the two parks (Zion) are only an hour or so apart. We didn’t have time to dedicate to a specific hike but we walked out to several viewpoints that were all stunning in their own right. Overall, the scenic drive was very much enjoyable, providing breathtaking panoramic lookouts of the park. On a previous trip, Samuel and Kara hiked to the bottom on the canyon, which was quite taxing but affords its own amazing views. If you look closely in the distance of our photos you’ll see smoke rising from a forest fire. On our way to Capitol Reef we drew rather close to this fire only to find out it was a prescribed one. Our time in Bryce was definitely short and I look forward to exploring this stunning park more in depth in the near future. With our glimpse of Bryce complete, we continued our trek east toward Capitol Reef National Park that was a mere two hours away.
What an amazing landscape. It looks like you could be on another planet.
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Oh I absolutely agree! Especially considering the landscape in the morning around Zion which was only a few hours away!
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Fantastic pictures! We visited three years ago and it was one of the most amazing parks with Yellowstone!
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Thanks! I really need to visit Yellowstone again. I haven’t been since I was a kid.
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[…] hiking to the top of Angel’s Landing at Zion National Park and taking the scenic drive at Bryce Canyon National Park. As Capitol Reef National Park was only two hours from Bryce Canyon we decided to fit in this third […]
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[…] we fit in hiking to Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park before taking the scenic drive at Bryce Canyon National Park and finishing our day at Capitol Reef National Park. After completing our Grand Wash hike we […]
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[…] National Park in Nevada before hiking Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park, and exploring Bryce Canyon National Park and Capitol Reef National Park. We hiked to the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park and were […]
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