The Big Five Parks of Southern Utah Tour

In the late summer of 2022 Ken and Virginia needed to use the airline tickets they had purchased way back in 2020 but could not use due to the Covid pandemic. They decided to visit the “Big Five” national parks in southern Utah. Ken developed a plan that hit Arches, two sections of Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. He also tossed in Natural Bridges National Monument since it was near the others.

This shot was taken in the "backyard" of Ken and Virginia's hotel in Torrey, UT where they stayed while visiting Capitol Reef National Park. Ken is using it as the cover photo for this blog since it it is surely among the best of the shots he captured.

 

Overall Map

This map shows K+V’s overall route in southern Utah. The trip began on Monday October 10 with Ken + Virginia flying to Salt Lake City, via a connection in Denver. After arriving in mid-afternoon, they drove a few hours south and stopped for the night in Price, Utah. They hit the local Walmart to stock up on supplies and the next morning continued on southward toward Moab, Utah, which is quite close to both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

 

Desert Mountain View

On the morning of Tuesday October 11, while driving a tiny section of I-70 eastbound between Price and Moab, V+K stopped at the Crescent Junction Rest Area.  While there they were treated to a view hinting at what was ahead for them.

 

Desert Autumn

It was also a view of the autumnal colors of the desert.

 

Lonesome Highway

 

From here K+V drove down to the Moab area, passing the road into Canyonlands. Their plan was to get into Arches and at least talk to the rangers a bit before the main event exploring the park the following day. The park was closed due to overcrowding when they arrived at about 11:15AM.

The Incredible Shrinking Virginia

Plan B was to drive back to the Canyonlands access road and head into that park. Along the access road were several places to pull out and view the scenery.

 

NOT Pictographs of Elephants

A pictograph is a painting on stone. Although there were not any interpretive signs around, K+V are pretty sure these were not pictographs since they were so large (and elephants are not native to the area). They have no real idea how these marks were formed however.