I vacationed in Utah for 7 days this fall leaving October 4 and returning October 11. As always, it was an excellent trip other than being too short. Jim Fleming was on the trip and enjoyed it also.
Jim and I flew from Indianapolis to Phoenix to Las Vegas where the trip started. After the rendezvous we drove as a group to Springdale, Utah which is just outside Zion National Park. We spent the next two days hiking through Zion. Then we drove on to Bryce National Park and did two hikes there. Then back to Las Vegas for our flights home.
I'd never been to Las Vegas before. Although we didn�t have much time there, I did find it interesting. I was in only one building in Nevada that didn't have a slot machine. Even the baggage claim area in the airport had them. The rendezvous was at the Flamingo Hilton Hotel and while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, we had time to wander around. I couldn't say that I enjoyed or liked it, but I got a kick out of seeing all the glitz.
Dinner our last night in Vegas was at the Hard Rock Cafe. I'd never been to one before and enjoyed that too. While it was loud, the food and service was great.
Zion National Park is basically some very deep canyons. We stayed at the park lodge which is in the canyon. The rim is over 2000 - 3000 feet above.
We did three hikes there. The first day was a short easy 1 mile walk along a paved sidewalk in an area called "The Narrows." It is possible to go beyond the end of the trail but that requires wading and swimming the river. We only went to the end of the trail.
The second hike was from the lodge to Scout's Landing, just below Angel's Landing. While it was an excellent trail, there were two steep sections. No one was in danger of not making it, but it was a mildly ambitious hike for the first full day.
The next day we drove around to the west entrance to the park (the main entrance is on the south side of the park) and hiked up Kolub Canyon. The was a fairly level hike following a steam bed most of the way. We ended up at "Double Arch Alcove."
We arrived at Bryce National Park about mid-afternoon. We hiked two trails starting at the lodge area, the Navajo trail which connected to the Peek-a-boo trail. This took about three hours. It was getting a bit cool by the end. Of course hiking back up to the rim kept us warm. This was my favorite day. The hoodoos (the weird rock formations) were really neat and the hiking was a little challenging.
Our last day of hiking started from a place in the park known as "Fairyland Point." We were on the trail around 9:30 and finished about 3:30. While not as many spectacular hoodoos as the previous day, this was another good hike.
"It's Not Really A Canyon" refers to Bryce Canyon. While that's its official name, it isn't a canyon. A canyon has to have two sides and be produced by river erosion. Bryce only has one side being the transition zone between two plateaus. While the weird formations there are caused by erosion, it was rain erosion, not river erosion that formed them.