Dec 31: At 40000 feet
Out west again, in winter again. And looks like we will be lucky with the weather again. This was probably the latest we have planned any trip, less than two weeks ago. Somebody please ask Delta to hire a good IT firm to redo their seat allocation system. We were split up in two middle seats. The window seat next to me was for sale for $29, and its occupant actually didn’t purchase it! His family of 4 was also split up in 4 different rows, and an entire row two rows ahead of us was unoccupied! And the gate agent “didn’t have anything” right before boarding ? Give me a break! Anyway, all I care about at this point is that the SLC-Vegas flight is on time an we can get started on our 6 hour drive to Torrey ASAP. Hopefully the insane car rental deal from Costco doesn’t have a fine print to it! It’s Budget, and my only experience renting from them before wasn’t an expedient one.
This is probably the most frustrating 3 hours of the trip – waiting for the connecting flight to Las Vegas at Salt Lake City airport. By the time we pick up the rental car, it would be at least 5 hours, and it takes 6 hours to drive! Worse, we will then drive to Torrey for 6 hours, which is 4 hours away from Salt Lake City! So much for hidden city ticketing. The ticket price would be $150 higher if we simply took the same direct flight to SLC. What a shame. At least the scenery from the lounge is nice: airplanes surrounded by mountains.
Jan 1: New Year’s Morning at Torrey
The final 60 minutes of drive to get to Torrey was a little bit of an adventure last night. There were no new year’s eve fireworks in the desolate mountain passes! Had a decent night’s sleep at Days Inn. Capitol Reef beckons!
Jan 1: Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef is frequently neglected by people because of its remote location compared to the other famous parks of Utah, but no less spectacular. To me, it was a little bit of a microcosm of many different landscapes seen in different areas of Southern Utah. Sulphur canyon resembles Grand Canyon (except for the depth, of course!), capitol gorge and its towering cliffs feel like right out of Zion canyon, and there are plenty of sphinx-like formations similar to what you would see in the Vermillion Cliffs region.
By mid-day, we were at Capitol Gorge, debating whether to take the unpaved road through the gorge. We almost passed, when we saw a Corolla come out, looking largely unscathed, except for the muddy tires. Off we went, through alternating patches of packed snow and dirt with occasional mud, depending on where the sun shines. This road was apparently used by settlers 100 years ago with primitive cars, and here we were, mindful every minute about possible damage to the rental car! We didn’t take the hike at the end of the road because it looked more snow covered than we were willing to negotiate. We had lunch and headed back north on the scenic drive. We did the Hickman’s bridge trail, strenuous for our fitness-challenged frames.
Jan 1: Land of Goblins
Some state parks around the grand circle region could easily have been parts of national parks and received as much adulation had they been more favorably located near one. Just like Kodachrome Basin and Valley of Fire which we saw on our last trip, Goblin Valley was another unique and no less spectacular place, particularly late in the day when the sun lightens up the goblins! It almost felt like a giant open air clay modeling workshop out in the middle of the desert. Except that these were rocks. Importantly, rocks that are softer than those in other areas like Arches, so they got dwarfed by erosion into goblins.
Jan 2: Driving along the Colorado River
This morning started with a drive through scenic Highway 128, as Colorado river runs along. We went up to Fisher’s Towers, but the morning sun wasn’t at a great angle at the time. But the best scenery was waiting for us right at the end of our round trip near the trail hub. This picture is taken from the bridge that runs over the river to the trailheads.
Jan 2: Arches
Today was supposed to be exclusively for Arches, but the river drive was well worth it. We reached Arches at 10. The rock formations, a combination of Entrada sandstone and Navajo sandstone, are common in other parks too, but the concentration of arch formation is unique to this area. The first few arches that we saw were good, but nothing spectacular. Toward the end of the day came the nicer ones. We liked the sandstone arch a lot, perhaps because of the long, narrow alleyway through which you have to get in, and the vibrant colors inside.
Jan 2: Delicate Arch
No matter how good the rest of the park is, Arches is about Delicate Arch more than anything else. It is such an icon, not just for Utah where it adorns the license plates, but for the entire Southwest. It is easily the most photographed stone arch. The trail leading to it is nothing but delicate though! Climbing on hard sliprock surface at a 45 degree incline was no fun — I can’t imagine how much more difficult it would be in summer with the sun beating down on you. We made the one and half mile in just over an hour, which I thought was pretty good, considering how exhausted we felt throughout. When the arch appeared suddenly in view as we turned a corner, it was worth it, particularly as it was bathed in late afternoon sun.
Jan 3: Island In The Sky, Canyonlands National Park
The enormity of the vistas you look down into from the appropriately named Island In The Sky easily rivals those in the Grand Canyon, in their expanse (of course, not in depth). There is more variation too, and all in all, I agree with those who like it better. Luckily, today was also the first day the sky was rather busy, instead of the flat blue skies we got so far, and that made for much better pictures.
Incredibly, these vistas by themselves were not even the star of the day, at least for us. Add the neighboring Arches-inspired Mesa Arch at sunrise to the mix, and you truly have a photographer’s dream (and non-photographer’s like mine too). Yes, it takes some enthusiasm to be up at 5 and be at the trailhead in time for sunrise, specially in winter. The frost on the car windshield didn’t make it any easier. I foolishly poured cold water on it which immediately froze! We were set back by about 15 precious minutes. In the end though, we reached well in time, and for a while even thought that we would be the bravest souls there today. Alas, once the arch came into view at the end of the trailhead, there were already 5-6 folks standing behind their intimidating tripods and clicking away furiously in the pre-dawn light. I still managed to get a reasonable spot, and by the time we left, it was everything I had hoped for, and more. It would have been a great day even if we hadn’t seen anything else, but we got some bonus at the end of the day when we managed to speed our way to Monument Valley in time for sunset.
Jan 3: Sunset in Monument Valley
We reached Monument Valley with enough time to check in before heading out for the sunset. As we got out into the balcony of our second floor room, the first thing that came to mind was why we did not book a second night here! The mittens were right in front of us, with the magical late afternoon light shining on them. We went outside to the viewing area at Visitor’s Center and stayed there until after sunset. The picture here was taken well after sunset from the balcony. Tomorrow morning the sun will rise from behind the mittens and buttes and mesas creating their silhouettes. As tired as I am and will go to bed shortly, can’t wait to get up!
Jan 4: Monument Valley
The sun rose behind the mittens, bringing with it a colorful mysterious backdrop of the silhouettes. Sitting at the balcony, I realized why people rave about staying at the View Hotel. Sure, it can be expensive at peak season, but nothing beats it.
After having breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we met Larson, our tour guide, at the lobby. It was us and a family of five adults in the van. We debated whether the tour was worth taking, considering the high price, even higher than the Pink Jeep tour in Sedona that we did. But if we were not to be content with the views from the hotel room and the visitors center lookout, this was the only way to see the valley up close for us. If you have a 4×4, sure you can do the valley drive. Even then, you can’t get to the magnificent landmarks accessible only with a guide. As the tour progressed through the morning, Larson led us to one amazing place after another. The highlight of the tour was him playing a Navajo flute for us under the watchful eyes of Big Hogan. It was a serene experience. We got back to the hotel at noon, and started our long 7 hour journey back to Vegas.
Jan 5: Valley of Fire: encore
The Lassi Fusion with less lassi and more rum at Tamba the night before almost spoiled our plans to revisit Valley of Fire in the morning before catching our flight home in the afternoon. Last time the camera had run out of battery, and the car ran out of fuel! This time, we had sufficient redundancy on both. There wasn’t much time though, so we could only do a brief drive-through, stopping at a few places like the Beehives (picture below) and went as far as the Seven Sisters in the east side of the park.
Jan 5: Returning home
The return journey was relatively uneventful, except at the very end. When you are in a hurry to catch an early morning flight, what do you do ? You leave the cabin light on – and come back to pick up your car in a frosty night to find the battery dead. A good samaritan tried in vain to jumpstart the engine, and I called AAA. The ordeal luckily didn’t drag on much longer as the parking lot guy had a charger. I’m sure they see a lot of these. We reached home after 1 in the morning. It will probably be a while before we go back to the southwest again, if ever. But I will never get tired of red rock country. There is simply nothing like it.