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| Monument Valley |
Southern Utah is a beautiful area full of reddish sandstone! From Monument Valley in the east, to Zion National Park in the west, there is a lot to see! My visit to Utah was also a time of "lucky chances". I stayed one night in an Airbnb that was within hiking distance of Monument Valley, and I had some beautiful evening views! I didn't know what Monument Valley was until I looked it up a few days later. At the time, it was just a stop on my way to Zion NP. Two earlier stops for driving breaks, turned out to be views of Mexican Hat and Forest Gump Hill. Rain clouds moving into Zion Canyon resulted in my favorite photo, and my experience of hitchhiking brought me to Peekaboo Slot Canyon in an ATV!
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| My favorite photo |
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| Mexican Hat |
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| The rejuvenating view |
Zion NP has many hiking trails. A well known trail, The Narrows, was closed during my visit as the river was very high. The Narrows is a hiking trail in the Virgin River when the water is low; hikers walk upstream through narrow canyons. The Riverside Walk, which leads to the start of The Narrows, was open and busy with hikers and hungry squirrels. I hiked Riverside Walk, and the next day hiked the three Emerald Pools trails (Upper, Middle, and Lower). I found a rejuvenating view along the Kayenta trail as I hiked back from Emerald Pools. The view was far more beautiful than the photo shows, because I had just hiked for over 2.5 hours. Like trail mix eaten on the trail, somethings are just better in the moment and when hiking.
If I had another day in
Zion, I would have liked to hike to Scout Lookout. It's a strenuous
hiking trail with 1,000' elevation change. From what I could see from
below, it looks neat, but also a bit scary as some switchbacks are along
the edge of the steep canyon wall.
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Virgin River at the end of Riverside Walk
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In Kanab (a place of old western movie stars) sand caves, sand dunes, and sandstone slot canyons waited to be explored! The Sand caves are not natural. They were made when people trying to make a profit from glass, carved into the side of a sandstone hill. It was not a profitable location, and thus abandoned. Today the caves are a fun location to climb to and see all the words people have carved into the walls. It can look like vandalism, but it can also look like a modern petroglyph site. Modern man's hundreds of carvings are sure to be as confusing to future peoples, as ancient petroglyphs are to modern man. The sandstone in the caves is so soft, just brushing against a wall loosens the sand, sending it to the ground.
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Peekaboo slot canyon
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I found Peekaboo slot canyon on google maps and it looked like a beautiful place to visit. Unfortunately, it was 3.5 miles along back "roads" of deep sand. Hiking is not recommended (though I met a group from
Carnegie Mellon University who were preparing to hike the distance), ATVs are recommended. I did not think I had the experience to hike 7 miles in deep sand and it sounded like it would take all day. So I opted for ATVs. Saturday morning, I asked the first group that showed up with ATVs at 9am if I could join them and they said yes! It was an awesome ride! Walking through the canyon in the early morning light was indeed very beautiful. The pathway was always wide enough for one person to easily walk though, turning sideways was not required. The "parking lot" at the entrance of Peekaboo was fairly busy. As one group left another would come. One fun looking group consisted of elderly couples, two with walking canes, and their tiny dogs! And they drove themselves to the canyon! I hope I'm that adventurous at their age!
The sand that makes up Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park looks more apricot colored than coral pink. Sledding in the park is much easier than it was at White Sands NP in New Mexico! However, the large dunes are very tiring to climb back up. Sharing time with others at Coral Pink SDSP (one group was experienced snowboarders) and at Peekaboo slot canyon made Saturday awesome. So far, that Saturday in UT has been the best day of my adventure.
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Looking out a side hole in Sand Caves.
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Beautiful colors in Sand Caves
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ATV group I traveled with!
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| Peekaboo slot canyon |
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