A Trip Out West

It’s crazy to think the last blog post I have on here is from March of this year. Life has been crazy and I haven’t had the time I’ve wanted to spend on my blog or sharing content. But today, I’m back and I’m sharing a special trip I took with my sister, Amber, back in August. It was our first sister trip and our first time going to a National Park. I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors and being in nature and since Covid I find the time I enjoy the most is when I’m outside and not being connected to technology.

Upper Emerald Pools Trail

Amber and I flew into Vegas and took the short drive to Utah and spent a majority of our trip in Springdale, where Zion National Park is. We did do a day trip to Bryce Canyon National Park which was cool to experience. The two parks are so opposite of each other. We were there for 4 1/2 days excluding travel days and I think if we had another day we could have fit in at least one more National Park but there’s always next time.

While we both went in with expectations of the park being overcrowded to our surprise it wasn’t that bad. We went the last week of August heading into Labor Day weekend and what we had on our side was the extreme heat, and going in the middle of the week. We woke early and were on the trails by 7am, 7:30am the latest and by the time we finished hiking the trails we wanted for the day we saw more people heading into the parks. We spent the mid afternoons by the pool relaxing and soaking up the sun and exploring the shops in the small towns.

It’s hard to say which trail was my favorite because each one offered a different challenge, a different experience and different views, all of which were beautiful. Bryce Canyon was a very cool experience but definitely more challenging for me. While there was descent on the trails there was also ascent and the drop offs at some points definitely challenged my fear of heights but it was so worth it in the end to say I accomplished that.

Amber and I at Bryce Canyon National Park

Before we even left to come home I was already telling Amber I wanted to start planning our next trip. I never thought I would have enjoyed Utah as much as I did, to be quite honest I never even had Utah on my list of places to go until I started researching National Parks to visit. It’s funny how life can surprise you with things you don’t necessarily plan for yourself.

Until next time.

-B

Zion National Park - Trails we hiked:

• Emerald Pool Trails -

  • Lower

  • Middle

  • Upper

• Watchman Trail

• The Grotto Trail

• The Narrows - we started this trail late morning after completing a different trail. It was a great experience but we only hiked 3-4 miles out of the 9.4.

Bryce Canyon National Park - Trails we hiked:

• Sunrise Point

• Sunset Point

• Inspiration Point

• Queen Trail