The Scenic Route

June 30, 2024 - Reading time: 12 minutes

Yesterday, a Canyonlands park ranger traced a pathway with a yellow highlighter on a printed map of Utah,  enthusiastically encouraging us to travel scenic highways 89 and 12 on a route from Moab to Las Vegas through four national parks in one day.  I was completely stoked about this drive, in spite of my fear of heights and her slight warning that one particular section would be, in her words, "a little bit cliffy."    

Up first was Capital Reef National Park.  Beautiful rock cliffs and hills in layers of colored sand and stone.  Hues of pink, white, red and gray. 

Next we passed through the verdant green of the Dixie National Forest before entering Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument - both beautiful parks with elevations of 9,000+ feet.  Stunning views.  At the apex of one particular ridge in Grand Staircase the most terrifying section of highway I’ve ever driven stretched out just below our vantage point at the top.  The speed limit dropped to 15 mph as the road narrowed into a catty-wampus, lumpy land bridge with steep cliffs on either side and NO guard rails.   Who thought THIS was a good idea?  With white knuckles wrapped around the steering wheel, a pounding heart (Surprise! I could still do Lamaze breathing instinctively 27 years since last giving birth) I inched the car forward at a snail's pace ever so gently while my sweet brother in the passenger seat quietly and calmly offered up words of encouragement.  “You got this, sis.  You’re in control of the car.  You can do it.”  There are no photos of this.  We were trapped in the moment.  But I highly suspect there will be post traumatic nightmares in our future.  Time will tell. 

Above:  Dixie National Forest

Upon reaching the turn off to Bryce Canyon National Park, we celebrated our survival with some much needed leg stretching by exiting the car at nearly all of the scenic overlooks along the 36 mile loop of the main road to admire the towering cliffs and hoodoos which appeared constructed of orange cake batter and melted cream.  There was a cool arch here as well.

 

 

Lastly, we drove through Zion National Park.  It was so different than the other parks we'd seen this week.  Instead of sweeping views bordered by rocky cliffs and hoodoos, the highway through Zion featured a tightly packed landscape of dense mountains, like hardened swirls of soft serve ice cream in a zig zag pattern.  I wish we had taken more photos here, but the ten hours of driving with 3 more to go was beginning to catch up with us.  We did slow down long enough to snap a pic of a family of goats ambling along the road.  It's a park I most definitely would like to visit again with more time to properly explore. 

The driving tour was great, but after 13 hours in and out of the car, Las Vegas on the horizon at dusk was a welcome sight.  We checked in to the hotel then spent about two hours walking The Strip, enjoying the lights and sights of the Bellagio fountains, Caesar’s Palace, and the Cosmopolitan before crashing for the night.  More on that next time.