Utah: Life Elevated
Home to Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, and Monument Valley, Utah has a crazy other-planet kind of landscape- and sky high campsite fees to match it.
Make sure you have a camera on hand- the landscapes are out of this world! One of my favorite views along the road was after we left highway 15 and got on 70. We had been driving through the hot dry desert towards portentously black clouds dramatically gathering over the San Rafael “Reef.” We pulled into a turnout to get a better look at what seemed like a promising viewpoint. Getting out of the car we were assailed with a heavy gust of wind followed by a burst of hail.
But despite the intense weather, the stop was totally worth it. The landscape was beautiful- although with the all hail we couldn’t take any photos once we got out of the car. There’s a trail that goes through the canyon with rock art along the canyon walls and we didn’t get out the bikes at this stop, but it looks like it could be fun to ride through with a view of the chasm at the end.
We didn’t know it at the time, but this may also be a good place to camp if you have a vehicle that can go off road. Instead we camped a ways before we got to the canyon at the Fremont Indian State Park. The sites were 13.00- a good deal compared to the 20+ you’ll pay at some of the sites off of highway 15. The sites were nicely spaced out, not too many people, but not empty either, and surrounded with plenty of neat sandstone formations to keep you busy for an afternoon of exploration.
As a side note- after writing up this post, I found out I’m not the only one who thought Utah was a little “otherworldly” – the Mars Society set up a desert research station here to simulate a mars habitat.
