Having reached the northernmost point of our road-trip, the beginning of the second week would bring a change of direction, and we now had to travel over 1100 km heading south, until reaching the next Natural Park on our list: the Bryce Canyon. Because we did not want to spend all day driving, we decided to split this trip into 2 legs. With such a long distance to cover, the possibilities for pit-stops are almost endless, and unless one has plenty of time to detailed survey the route, ahead of time, most likely we will miss very interesting places.
When trying to decide where we would spend the first night, an interesting name popped up in our quick survey of the land: Pocatello. Named after one of the most famous Shoshone Chiefs of the XIXth century, and at around 350 km from Canyon Village in Yellowstone, this would be the perfect place for an afternoon visit. Pocatello was a lot more modern than we were expecting, perhaps driven by the presence of Idaho State University. The historic city center was just a couple blocks long, and most of the people in the streets were very young. Still, this small town would be the very first place would met and interact with native Americans.
(double click on the galleries to enlarge and read descriptions)
After 4 nights camping, sleeping in a proper hotel and taking a warm bath was invigorating, much needed for the next leg of the trip, which was planned to be the day with the longest driving distance (lengthwise – around 760 km). For the first time during this road trip, we were on the road before the sunset, aiming to reach Salt Lake City early in the morning, so that we could visit the capital of Utah.
While we were a lot more interested in visiting the iconic American west natural parks, we also appreciate the variety of scenery that visiting a modern city would bring to the mix. Without reading anything about this city, the only thing I knew was that it was home to the Utah Jazz. So it was with some surprise that we found ourselves strolling around downtown, where we found a massive religious complex, that we came to learn was the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (more commonly known as the Mormon church). Strangely enough, and despite being a city of 200.000 people, downtown Salt Lake City was very quiet on a Friday morning, without either a lot of traffic or people in the streets. Perhaps because of the tranquility of the city, our visit was very pleasant, and was well worth the pit-stop on the way to Bryce Canyon.
A few hours after leaving Salt Lake City, we exited the Interstate highway system and took secondary roads, which I normally prefer to drive in, although it takes longer, as speed limits are often more restrictive. About one hour out from our destination, we started seeing the orangish and white mountains that somewhat resemble the images available on Bryce Canyon National Park website. While with an interesting aspect, the breathtaking effect of Bryce Canyon only hit us when we finally reached the canyon mountain top. But, the real wow effect was only felt the next morning, when we hiked some of the most iconic trails in the canyon. We were extremely lucky with our camping spot, which was right on the access to the Queens Garden trail, a perfect first trail with amazing views and accessible conditions, and that would then lead us to the famous and amazing Navajo loop trail.
Hiking the narrow canyons at Bryce was an amazing experience and, perhaps, the surprise effect contributed to the greatness of the experience. As I often mention, exploring the unknown (meaning, a place you do not know much about, and haven’t researched before arrival) can bring great surprises. On the contrary, if you have a lot of previous information, and high expectations, it’s easier to get disappointed when reaching your destination. And if this was true for Bryce, it would reach its peak of expression in Zion National Park.
Just a 2 hours drive (~140 km) from Bryce lays the Zion National Park. I have to admit that in this case, I had even less information, and I was really not sure what Zion was all about. Our first impression was that Zion was somewhat similar to Bryce, with high orangish mountain peaks, although with clear distinct rock formations. But as we moved along the mountain zigzagging roads through the huge impressive canyons, our perception of the park was starting to change. The mountain peaks were huge, so immense that some of the sparse trees in the mountains looked like small twigs. But the WOW effect would only occur the next morning.
Part of Zion National Park is only accessible by shuttle bus. As we were entering one of the shuttles I noticed that almost everybody was carrying a wooden walking stick. At the time, I did not give it much thought, but one hour later, I was finally understanding why they were bringing the walking sticks.
One of the hiking trails at Zion is called The Narrows, and it is classified as a very difficult trail. Because we did not have the most appropriate mountain hiking gear with us, we decided to go to the Narrows, but imagined that we would not be able to pursue the trail for long. What a surprise we had, when we realized that the hiking trail was through the river bed. This was, without any doubt, one of my favorite experiences during this road trip. Not only for the surprise, but because the Narrows was indeed an amazing and beautiful hike. And yes, we did it without any walking stick 🙂
While the hiking was not as difficult as I anticipated, at the end of the day I did feel the strain in my legs, but nothing that a good night rest would not fix.
The next morning we had programmed the longest (time-wise) drive, with an estimated 8 h drive until reaching the South-rim of the Grand Canyon, after a “small” 3-4 h detour to the North-rim. While this sounds like a huge detour just to see a different section of the Grand Canyon, we thought it was worth it. I had been on the South-Rim before (in 2005), so it was with some surprise that upon reaching the north entrance to the Grand Canyon National park, we found a very different landscape: a lavish green forest covering the mountains. We would later learn that the North-Rim suffers a significant rain drop than the South-Rim (about 10 times the difference), which contributes to a very different flora.
Confirming what I’ve read online, the North-Rim receives significantly fewer visitors than the South-Rim, but that only has advantages. The views from the Grand Canyon were, as expected, breathtaking, although we were a bit farther from the Colorado river. After lunch, we headed back to the road, for a wide 330 km stretch of the road that would take us to the other side of the canyon.
The drive from the North to South rim was very interesting, with amazing sights along the way. This route would also take us through the Navajo nation, and other native American tribe lands. Coincidentally I had to refuel in the Navajo nation, which was an interesting experience, as I’ haven’t met that many native Americans. On top of that, gasoline was cheaper (probably due to fewer taxes). We arrived at our camping park late in the afternoon, with just enough time to setup the tent right before a hail storm hit us.
The next day the weather was a bit unstable, with a few hours of rain, followed by a few hours of dry weather. Not equipped to hike in the rain, we had to adapt and do smaller hiking trails. Initially, I was hoping we could go half-way down to the canyon, but we were only able to hike a few km down the Grand-Canyon, and do the Rim-trail, a ~20 km hike on top of the canyon, which had breathtaking views. Despite the not so great weather, we had a great time in the Grand Canyon, making the last few days a diverse and rewarding experience in the amazing canyons of the American West… (to be continued).
One world of color 
Photos taken with the Canon EOS Rebel T2i + 18-135mm lens OR with SamsungA13 cellphone
Amazing!!