• Wyoming

    Yellowstone

    October 29, 2014 - By 

    Yellowstone is the suburbia of national parks; its vastness spreads across more than one state and the substantial distance between the sites, trailheads, and camping grounds make me wonder if its visitors spend more time in their cars or the wilderness. When we arrived during the last half of October, two roads had already shut down for the winter and all campgrounds but one near the far southern entrance remained open. Had we camped in Yellowstone, it would have been a 2-hour+ drive to Old Faithful, Yellowstone’s most famed geyser. Due to the prohibition of boondocking within the park and its…

  • Wyoming

    Grand Teton

    October 21, 2014 - By 

    Driving north for only half a day completely transformed our surroundings with Wyoming’s alpine mountains, dense forests, year-round snow, and countless lakes replacing Southern Utah’s endless deserts, dry canyons, and wind-sculpted rock formations.  Although quite the opposite of where we’d spent the last 2.5 weeks, it was not difficult to fall in love with Grand Teton National Park. We left Salt Lake City in the afternoon and arrived in The Grand Teton long after dark.  As we made our way up toward Wyoming, we even ran into other Scampers!The mother-daughter pair who owns this 2014 13′ Scamp spend a lot…

  • Utah

    Slot Canyons

    October 17, 2014 - By 

    Within the Utah/Arizona region that holds the highest concentration of slot canyons compared to anywhere else in the world, Antelope Canyon is probably the most famous of them all.  Almost everyone has seen a photo of or been to Antelope Canyon. Typical photos include abstracts of glowing orange and subdued purple colors twirled together as if Mother Nature’s paintbrush swept the walls.  If it weren’t for the people posing within the narrow river-carved and wind-swept canyon, it would be easy to assume that it was a corridor of fantastical dreams. Even the drive between Zion National Park and Antelope Canyon awed us with indescribable…

  • Utah

    Zion

    October 15, 2014 - By 

    They say it’s a magical place. They say it’s the most visited national park in the United States. They say they come here for a weekend trip or a vacation and skip the other parks because they only have time for this one. They call it Zion National Park. One quickly realizes these statements are facts within minutes upon entering the park as heads turn here and there into a dizzying frenzy of enchantment.  However the well-seasoned traveler will also soon discover what they don’t tell you about Zion National Park, which I’ll lay out below. In the outskirt of the park lies the town of Springdale, which…

  • Utah

    Capitol Reef, Bryce, and Cedar Breaks National Parks

    October 10, 2014 - By 

    Capitol Reef Though not as grandiose and epic as the nearby Bryce and Zion National Parks, Capitol Reef still has its charm.  We ended up spending 3 days and 2 nights in this quaint park, hiking several trails and enjoying the ride through its known 15-mile round trip scenic drive. I can’t remember the last time we drove through majestic walls such as this–Capitol Gorge Road.  We occasionally stuck our heads out the window to gawk at the natural wonder: This road ended with 2 trailheads: Golden Throne Trail and Capitol Gorge Trail.  We hiked both since they were easy. The Golden Throne…

  • Utah

    Little Wild Horse Canyon, Goblin Valley, and Capitol Reef

    October 5, 2014 - By 

    After I completed my hike at Canyonlands National Park, we headed out for our next destination: Little Wild Horse Canyon and Goblin Valley State Park.  With storms swirling overhead the past couple days and even forecasted for the following day, we were surprised to be granted one sunny day with scattered clouds.  The day turned out to be perfect for cruising and enjoying the scenery. Boondocking in the vacant lands between Little Wild Horse Canyon and Goblin Valley State Park was recommended to us by a friend; little did we know that this area would expose us to a desert beauty…

  • Utah

    Canyonlands National Park

    October 3, 2014 - By 

    The autumn thunderstorm that struck on Saturday afternoon lingered throughout all of Southern Utah, teasing us with glimpses of warm sunshine between periods of lightning, curtains of cold rain, and violent winds.  Fortunately when we left Castle Valley on Monday morning for Canyonlands National Park, there were only billows of fluffy clouds in the sky. Getting stuck in the mud was no longer a probability and we ventured out for our next leg of our adventure–Utah State and National Parks. We were already in Moab and had previously visited Arches National Park.  Canyonlands National Park wasn’t too far away, so we figured…