Utah, USA

From Canon City, Colorado, our next stop of this epic road trip was Utah.

It was a fairly long drive so we left Canon City at 6am with a car full of food and water to see us on our way. The scenery on our drive was just so varied and absolutely stunning! One minute we were at the bottom of a gorge driving for 50 miles, then we climbed to over 10,000ft, then followed the Gunnison river for miles on end, then after passing through Grand Junction, we found vast open skies and desert. We covered 400 miles in 7 hours, with a photo stop here and there, including the first of many continental divides which we would pass on our roadtrip. We learnt that a Continental Divide was a drainage divide which dives a continent- on one side of the divide the drainage from rivers feeds into one ocean or sea, and on the other side of the divide the basin drainage feeds into a different ocean or sea. 

Our first stop in Utah was Canyonlands National Park.

We were buzzing with excitement as we purchased our America pass from the park gate – this 80 dollar pass would give us access to all the National Parks in USA and whilst we weren’t able to do them ALL in one trip, we had got 5 to look forward too. Canyonlands was probably the one we knew least about. Let me tell you. It blew our minds. Our first overlook literally took our breath away. We had NO idea it was going to be so insanely beautiful. It was similar to the Grand Canyon with these deep canyons and staggering Pinnacle rock formations.

We had pre purchased and downloaded the Guidealong (formerly Gypsy Guide) on my phone, and as soon as we approached the park gate (we visited the Islands in the Sky area of the park) it sprung into life and gave us a GPS based commentary throughout our drive around the park. The app is FANTASTIC. We called the chap narrating Butch and we grew rather fond of him! 

As it was gone 2pm when we arrived in Canyonlands, we did half of the Islands in the Sky area – stopping many times for photos and a quick hike to a view point. We enjoyed seeing Mesa Arch and honestly just couldn’t get enough of the views. 

By 5pm however we were getting tired, we’d been travelling for 11 hours by this point so decided to go and check into our accomodation for the next two evenings in nearby Moab. 

Moab is a nice town, catering more for tourists I would say than locals, it being the closest town to not one but two national parks. There is a brewery and a distillery which we enjoyed visiting and a handful of eateries and lots of lovely shops too. 

We enjoyed a drink at the brewery (which to be honest was a bit of a walk out of town but worth it for the lager and the gin) and then a delicious pizza in Zaks which was a recommendation from someone in Canon City. Our evening was really pleasant! 

The next day we set off to the nearby airport – a small airfield that caters for very small planes. We had booked a 1.5 hour flight over Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. I don’t think either of us expected the plane to be quite so small, we’re both nervous fliers, and our hearts were in our mouths when the pilot greeted us, then walked us out, did a quick safely demo, piled us in and off we went. Keith was lucky enough to get to sit in the front as co pilot – although he admitted afterwards he was absolutely terrified – and having done it in Alaska I can completely appreciate why!

He was brave though and so was I, and we were rewarded with spectacular views. Canyonlands is actually 1,366.21 km2 and only a tiny part of it has road access. Flying over it meant we could see the while park and appreciate just how large it is. It was just incredible and I can’t put into words how much we enjoyed it. Our flight also took us over Arches national park which was close by and we got to spot many of the arches, including Delicate arch which we ended up walking up to later in the day. 

We honestly can’t reiterate how much we loved the flight. Red Tail air were very good and all the locals we talked to said how good their pilots were (well thats a relief!) . We booked through Viator which worked well. If you are ever in the area it really is worth doing. 

Flight video below

Once our flight had touched down and our legs had stopped shaking, we made our way to Arches National Park.

Butch on the Guidealong app did a sterling job of giving us a tour through the park and we stopped many times to do a small hike here and there. One of our favourites was Delicate Arch, which whilst being a bit  of a strenuous 3.5 mile hike in oppressive heat, was so SO worth it. For the second time that day we were rendered speechless as the trail turned a corner and suddenly we were faced with this huge freestanding arch high in the sky. It wasn’t too busy and we found someone to take some pics of us in front of the arch.

We spent a bit of time up there as we were just blown away with it all. Delicate arch features on most Utah merchandise, including the Utah license plate. 

Another notable hike for us was the one to Landscape arch. This is the longest natural arch in the world. The trail was a bit easier than the delicate arch one in that it didn’t climb so high, and was a bit shorter too. But it was impressive to admire the arch, especially see the bit which was so very thin, it will very likely collapse at some  point, which made the whole experience even more special. 

Balanced Rock is also worth a mention. This huge pinnacle has a giant boulder that is roughly 3 x the size of a school bus, naturally balanced on top.  No concrete holding it, nothing! 

We again were bowled over by the whole park and just couldn’t stop swivelling our heads looking at the views. 

Our evening in Moab was low key, we were emotionally drained! We had a quick beer in the brewery (this time stopping by in the car) before staying local to our hotel and having a bbq tea. 

It was our last night in Moab; we were moving on in the morning but we had decided to make another visit to Canyonlands to do a couple of other roads that we had missed and a hike or two before we left the area. The final morning in Utah began early with our breakfast at Green River Overlook and then a hike up to Upheaval Dome, which some describe as a salt dome and others are sure it’s a meteorite impact. Either way it’s huge and massively impressive. The hike out and the various view points were great and we really loved it! 

We then took the Aztec Butte trail which was described as easy and a way to see ancient dwellings. In reality it was not at all easy and saw us scrambling up on hands and knees, clinging on for dear life. Of course by the time we’d realised it wasn’t an easy trail we were past the point of no return! We did get some good views, and we saw what was left of the ancient dwellings, but let’s say the swear box took a battering and I wouldn’t describe it as a favourite hike but we lived to tell the tale (second time I’ve said that in two days – first time was the flight!)

After a picnic lunch overlooking Buck Canyon we made the 4 hour journey to Salt Lake City. It was during this journey that Keith discovered we’d need to change our hotel reservation due to absolutely horrendous reviews including drugs and break ins; so tonight we’re a bit more upmarket than normal at the Hampton – best not get any ideas Lydia. 

Tonight’s just an overnight stop to break up a long journey north, but we managed to find a great brewery, Red Rock and ended up eating there too.

The next day we made a couple of tourist stops in the car- we visited the Capitol building of Utah which is in a leafy area of Salt Lake City.

We also took a ride out to see the Great Lake at Salt Lake City. The size of this blow our minds, at 20,000 sq miles its the largest salt water lake in the world. 

The salt that is extracted from here is used for road salt and industry. We took a walk up to the shore but resisted a paddle! 

It was time to wave goodbye to Utah and move into our third state of the trip. We’ve very much enjoyed Utah, the scenery particularly was breathtaking. One thing to note though – the alcohol laws here are very strict, and as such every single person gets ID’d just to get into the threshold of the bar. Also in Salt Lake City we wanted a few beers at the brewery before ordering but as we ordered our second drink they denied us it unless we ordered food. We were intending on eating there, but not straight away as it was fairly early. So we need up ordering a starter in able to get our second drinks!

Where to next? Stay tuned!