For some time now, Mia has been asking to go to the Grand Canyon. Logistically, there are a couple of real problems with this idea. First, the Grand Canyon is 1400 miles away from Seattle by highway, so we'd need a lot of time to do the trip, or else we'd spend the whole time on the road. Second, the weather makes it difficult to want to be there in the Winter or Summer! After enough persistence from Mia, we finally came up with a solution: Find "reasonable" airfare during Spring Break. But, if we're going to spend money to fly, rent a car, and stay in a motel, we'd better make the trip worth it, by visiting much more than just the Grand Canyon. In the end, we squeezed every drop of Spring Break in order to see six national parks, four national monuments, and four state parks.
Map Courtesy of GPS Visualizer
Hiking
Our most aggressive hiking on any vacation to date, we hiked nearly 52 miles, eclipsing our previous record of 42 miles in the Canadian Rockies. I suspect this record will last for a while, which is a testament to how much there was to see and do on this trip. A full page hiking maps organized by area can be found here.
| Hike | Park | Total Elev (ft) | Distance (miles) |
| Court of the Patriarchs | Zion NP | 147.6 | 0.8 |
| Emerald Pools | Zion NP | 673.9 | 3.4 |
| Riverside Walk | Zion NP | 0 | 1.1 |
| Weeping Rock | Zion NP | 767.7 | 1.2 |
| Inspiration Point | Bryce Canyon NP | 196.9 | 0.7 |
| Bryce Point | Bryce Canyon NP | 56.8 | 0.3 |
| Navajo Loop / Queen's Garden | Bryce Canyon NP | 593.9 | 3.1 |
| Mossy Cave | Bryce Canyon NP | 144.4 | 1.1 |
| Shakespeare Arch | Grand Staircaise - Escalante NM | 68.9 | 0.8 |
| Cottonwood Narrows | Grand Staircaise - Escalante NM | 318.5 | 4.5 |
| Petrified Forest State Park | Grand Staircaise - Escalante NM | 298.5 | 2.1 |
| Devil's Garden - Escalante | Grand Staircaise - Escalante NM | 91.9 | 0.7 |
| Gooseneck / Sunset Point | Capitol Reef NP | 78.7 | 1 |
| Capitol Gorge | Capitol Reef NP | 236.2 | 2.5 |
| Grand Wash | Capitol Reef NP | 126.2 | 3.8 |
| Goblin Valley | Goblin Valley SP | 82 | 1.1 |
| Shafer Canyon | Canyonlands NP | 68.9 | 0.3 |
| Mesa Arch | Canyonlands NP | 101.7 | 0.8 |
| Upheaval Dome | Canyonlands NP | 177.1 | 0.8 |
| Green River Overlook | Canyonlands NP | 13.1 | 0.2 |
| Grand View Trail | Canyonlands NP | 105 | 2.4 |
| Big Spring Canyon | Canyonlands NP | 29.4 | 0.2 |
| Needles Overlook | Canyonlands NP | 52.5 | 0.5 |
| Monitor & Merrimac Butte Overlook | Arches NP | 36.1 | 0.2 |
| Windows & Double Arches | Arches NP | 200.2 | 1.6 |
| Delicate Arch Viewpoint | Arches NP | 32.8 | 0.3 |
| Devil's Garden - Arches | Arches NP | 91.9 | 1.3 |
| Sand Dune & Broken Arches | Arches NP | 88.5 | 1.6 |
| Fiery Furnace | Arches NP | 26.3 | 0.3 |
| Park Avenue | Arches NP | 242.8 | 1.4 |
| Horse Collar Ruins | Natural Bridges NM | 85.3 | 0.6 |
| Kachina Bridge | Natural Bridges NM | 131.2 | 0.6 |
| Owachomo Bridge | Natural Bridges NM | 206.7 | 0.6 |
| Betatakin Ruins | Navajo NM | 269 | 1.4 |
| Desert View | Grand Canyon NP | 40 | 0.7 |
| Tusayan Ruins | Grand Canyon NP | 45.9 | 0.4 |
| Mather Point | Grand Canyon NP | 52.4 | 0.5 |
| Bright Angel | Grand Canyon NP | 1161.4 | 3.3 |
| Maricopa Point | Grand Canyon NP | 32.8 | 0.3 |
| Powell Point & Hope Point | Grand Canyon NP | 52.5 | 0.7 |
| Mohave Point | Grand Canyon NP | 55.8 | 0.2 |
| Hermit's Rest | Grand Canyon NP | 36.1 | 0.2 |
| Walnut Canyon National Monument | Walnut Canyon NM | 347.7 | 1.3 |
| Hoover Dam | Hoover Dam | 98.5 | 0.9 |
| TOTALS | 7763.7 | 51.8 |
Parks
Highlights
- Draw-jopping scenery everywhere. We took more pictures than on any vacation we've ever taken!
- The Southwest has an amazing geographic diversity, and the scenery is constantly changing with very little driving.
- Mixing it up from our normal vacation format of camping was nice
- Sleeping in beds instead of the ground
- Eating out gave us a variety of food to eat (of course, not having to cook was enjoyable to Suzanne)
Lowlights
- Because Southern Utah is a pretty remote place, accomodations can be a bit sketchy at times. For the most part, we stayed at clean motels, but the quality in some areas was certainly less than others.
- We had to wait an hour and a half at the rental car place, and in spite of our reservation, they didn't have any mid-size cars available for us, so we didn't get the most comfortable of rides for our 1400 mile adventure.
- In the Spring, the weather can be downright unpredictable. We experienced everything from sunny 70-degree weather on some days to snow and blistering cold wind on others.
Favorites
Here's what each family member said was their absolute favorite park of the trip:
| Raymond: | Bryce Canyon NP |
| Amelia: | Grand Canyon NP |
| Suzanne: | Canyonlands NP |
| Mike: | Bryce Canyon NP |
Photos
We took over 1000 pictures! In the end, we kep 827 pictures, many of them panoramas, and placed them in 15 online Flickr albums. You can take a look at all of these albums here.
