The Grand Circle of National Parks/ The Mighty 5(6)

 

9/5/2020

Packing for a two week RV trip was definitely a challenge. We decided on five hiking outfits and five regular (casual) outfits..as well as a couple of cold weather things.

We purchased an $85 annual park pass ahead of time (each park is $30), which we ended up forgetting..oops! Thankfully having the email confirmation was sufficient for each park.

We booked our RV through Outdoorsy.com, which was basically AirBnb for Rv’s. The RV was $2700 for 12 nights

Our original two-week trip to Japan was cancelled due to COVID, so we decided to use our well-earned PTO to travel around the national parks in Utah and Arizona. Thankfully, since we can check a car seat bag and a stroller bag free we got away with not spending a penny on checking bags. We also have the American Airlines credit card, which allows us to check two bags of 50 pounds free as well. Both bags were about 48 pounds. (We were able to fit the Osprey hiking bag in the stroller bag)

 

We caught an 8:00 AM Uber to the airport, with a 9:45 AM flight out of Charlotte. With the two-hour time difference, we arrived in Salt Lake City at noon. Beckett did amazingly on the four-hour flight. He played with his buckle bag, which is the greatest invention for toddlers ever and he watched an excessive amount of Little Baby Bum that I downloaded from Netflix.

 

Traveling during a pandemic is definitely strange, while the plane was still full; everybody had to wear masks the whole time. Thankfully, toddlers are exempt from that policy, because there was not a chance that Beckett would have worn one.

 

Beckett got to meet the pilot and take some photos in the front of the plane when we landed.

 

We ubered to the RV owners house, who were actually out of town. Their father met us there to show us the ropes. I was super disappointed with the cleanliness of the RV as they advertised it as very clean, we even paid a $75 cleaning fee. After we (well, Mike) felt comfortable learning the ins and outs of how to drive the monstrosity we headed to the grocery store where we spent $300 on meals and supplies. I was pleasantly surprised that they had an instant pot aboard as all of the Pinterest Rv meals recommended them lol. We finally got on the road around 5 PM, so we didn’t arrive in Moab until after nine. The drive was nothing short of spectacular, a beautiful scenic route, with a few deer and goats spotted along the way.

 

It’s currently 8 PM here, so 10 PM at home, Beckett has been dozing in and out in the car seat, he’s definitely ready for lay down in the pack and play.Unfortunately, I am anticipating a rough night for all of us, as I’m sure the time zone change and a long day of traveling will really disrupt his schedule.

 

Also not thrilled on the car seat situation, as they assured us there was a rear facing spot for the car seat, and while there is, it was definitely not a safe spot. We had to move Beckett to the seatbelt in the couch so he has to sit sideways which definitely has me on edge.

 

(We stayed 3 nights At Canyonlands RV Resort and Campground. Total was $223.45

 

9/6

With the time zone, Beckett was up quite early, we brought him into our bed and tried to go back to sleep for a little while, but we were all up by six. We made breakfast, had our coffee, and made our way from Canyonlands RV Park to Arches national Park. It’s about a 5 mile drive and it’s just breathtaking. Just miles and miles of red rocks and canyons. We are beginning our day doing a portion of the Devils Garden hike, we are going to go about a mile and a half in to see the landscape arch.

 

We are driving through Arches national Park, heading to the very end point first, we got lucky with the weather as it’s only 61° right now, perfect hiking weather… Although it will be 100° this afternoon.

 

Due to COVID, they gave us a junior badge right from the get-go at the visitor center; usually you get them at the end after the kids do some activities, aka scribbling for Beckett.

 

It was about a 2.3-mile round-trip hike to Landscape Arch then Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch. Beckett slept in the hiking pack for most of it.

 

We stopped at the Fiery Furnace overlook for a few quick photos then did a quick half mile hike to the Delicate Arch viewpoint.

 

Chill pads are our best friend. We stopped at Double Arch and by the time we finished that half mile hike it was 96 degrees, So unfortunately we didn’t do the Windows hike but we felt like we saw everything we wanted to in the park. We stopped at Balance Rock for quick photo while Beckett snoozed in the car seat, then we found a new favorite shape, which we named The Angry Man in the Rock.

 

Double arch was our favorite, so not one to be missed. Was very cool to not only hike up to it, but you could hike into it and through it as well.

 

On our drive out of the park, we had fun pointing out shapes and animals in the rock formations (like clouds).

 

We exited the park at 2 PM and they were turning people around, saying “no entry, come back in three hours” because the park was completely full.

 

After exploring the campground, we walked right across the street to Moab brewery for a nice cold brewski.

 

We made stroganoff in the instant pot for dinner, had some issues with the shower. The water was not hot, and the shower wouldn’t drain. Turns out the gray water was already full, Mike emptied everything out like a champ and we got used to showering very quickly to preserve hot water for each other. After we put Beckett to bed, we sat outside and played a quick game of Qwixx.

 

9/7

We woke up at 4:45am to get going. We were an hour away from Mesa Arch, where we wanted to watch the sunrise.

 

Unfortunately, it was overcast and smoky (from the nearby fires), so we did not really get to see the sunrise. It was still an amazing arch and an incredible view.

 

We then drove to Grandview Point and did the 2 mile hike to the top, which was absolutely incredible. I would recommend it to anybody. Beckett slumbered on Mike’s back, while Mike did all the hard work of carrying him :-) we stopped at multiple points to get panoramic views and breathtaking photos.

 

We then drove to upheaval Dome and hiked a little over a mile for a couple different views.

 

We stopped at to the visitor center to get Beckett his junior badge, grabbed a few things from the grocery store and then headed back to the campground for lunch.

 

We walked a little less than a mile into town to do some shopping and pick up some souvenirs :-). We got an awesome mug with hiking paintings on it and a Moab plaque for our adventure wall. A few shirts and a hat later we called it a night and went back to make Chicken Cordon Bleu in the Instant Pot. After we showered and put Bex to bed, Mike and I sat outside playing a game of Monopoly cards and Qwixx.

 

9/8

We woke up this morning around 3 AM to rain and wind. We fell back asleep but took our time in the morning. We made cinnamon buns and once the rain started to subside, we headed to do the Corona Arch hike, which was fantastic! We loved the hike and found that arch to be the best out of them all! There are a couple spots you had to use a ladder and ropes to get yourself up, but was still safe enough with the baby on back.

 

We got back to the RV around noon, had some lunch and now we are headed to Lake Powell. Not exactly sure what we will do there since Navajo nation is closed, we were supposed to go to Monument Valley on the way, unfortunately will have to skip that.

 

It is a long drive from Moab to Page, but the entire drive is like taking the scenic route. The rock formations are very different here than they have been along the way. Tumbleweed legit blows across the road like you would see in a movie.

 

Two days ago was 106° and it’s currently snowing on our drive!!

 

We checked into Waheap Marina RV Campground (2 nights, totaled $68.18) around 6:30 PM. We purchased some firewood and s’more supplies. I cut up some squash and zucchini, peeled the corn and Mike started a campfire. It had a grate too, so we cooked our veggies and some sausages over the fire. We did laundry and after Becks went to sleep we had our dessert and a drink and went to bed ourselves.

 

9/9

We took our time this morning, as it was 50° outside, so we didn’t have to beat the heat. We went and hiked the mile and a half trip to Horseshoe Bend. On our way back we stopped to check out Glen Canyon Dam then went back to the campground so B could continue napping. We had leftovers for lunch then found a secret slot canyon called State Line Canyon. All other slot canyons are closed due to them being on Navajo nation. This one is a bit odd and hard to find, we read that we need to Park at marker 555.3, cross the road and head west. So hope we are going the right direction.

 

Barbed wire is optional right? There was no opening in the fence, so we had to go under a Barbwire fence and passed the baby over top. I guess it was neat to see part of a slot canyon, but not a very exciting one at that. Probably would have been more exciting if we were able to go into the narrow sections, but we couldn’t do that with baby on back. We saw a couple rabbits but thankfully no snakes or scorpions.

 

We headed back to camp and made gnocchi sausage in the instant pot. Toasted some s’more’s over the campfire then played a few games of Uno before calling it a night.

 

Super bummed that we didn’t get to see Antelope Canyon, I heard it’s really neat.

 

9/10

We left our campsite and headed down to put our feet in Lake Powell. I got a shirt as a souvenir and we headed to Kanab to do the Wire Pass slot canyon hike. Unfortunately, the road was not conducive for RV’s. We drove 45 minutes out of the way for it, but we figured it was worth a shot. We are a little bummed, but excited to trek on to our next place.

 

We are on our way to Kaibab Camper Village (1 night $40) near the Grand Canyon (N Rim). Russell and Alecia (and their dogs) will meet us there tonight. They have a pop-up camper in their truck.

 

We’re about 20 minutes from our campsite, and are driving through Kebab Forest. Everything is burned from recent fires. Trees on both sides of the road just charred and black. There is a very high Fire warning for today, which is a bit daunting.

 

Shockingly, we were still able to have a campfire at the site even with the fire warning so high. Obviously, there are designated fire pits. Russell and Alecia got there around 5:45. We made sausages in our RV for dinner and ate outside. After we put Beckett to bed we sat around the campfire for a while before going to sleep. The temperature got down to the mid-30s, I was freezing! (We had to stop at Walmart the previous day to get Mike a sweatshirt. He didn’t bring one, as this cold front was not in the original forecast!)

 

9/11/20

It feels appropriate to go to the Grand Canyon today on 9/11. Doesn’t get much more American than that.

 

Looking out at the GC, I prayed for all the lives lost and thought about where I was when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

 

We left the Dogs in the car and we all hiked the mile trail to Bright Angel Point.

 

Mike, Beckett and I did another mile and a half trail to the Coconino overlook. Russell and Alecia stayed back and did a dog-friendly trail.

 

It was strenuous coming back from the overlook, but definitely worth it to be inside the canyon, we passed multiple groups doing Rim to Rim. Some of them even doing all 44 miles in one day, crazy! Others mentioned they were just going the 22 miles one way but camping three nights en route and a bus would take them back from point B to point A.

 

I think Michael and I would enjoy doing something like that one day, sans kids.

 

We are now going to stop for a quick bite to eat then a trek onwards for two hours to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes where we will rent sleds and board down the dunes. We are camping the next few days in Zion. (Zion Canyon Campground, 3 nights, $201.12)

 

Sledding down the sand dunes was so much fun! I highly recommend it! You will get sand literally everywhere...We all took a quick shower before getting back on the road.

 

The dark drive, in the RV was kind of scary especially because we weren’t sure the height of it and we kept passing tunnel warnings. Russell stood on the ground and Mike on the ladder on the back to try to measure by their height haha. We cleared the tunnel fine but my goodness was it a long tunnel, on edge since we weren’t sure how much room we had above us!

 

Alecia made us all delicious Ramen for dinner, which was perfect since it was quite chilly out.

 

9/12

Getting tickets for the Zion shuttle is very difficult; you have to login right at 9 AM and tickets sell so quickly. We were able to login yesterday at the right time but were onlyl able to get 12 o’clock tickets for today, we’re going to login right at nine today to try to get earlier tickets for tomorrow.

 

We took the 12 o’clock shuttle in and had a picnic before doing just a short one and a half mile hike to the Lower Emerald Pools. It was pretty but I’m sure is absolutely beautiful when the water is flowing.

 

We explored Zion National Park and did a little shopping before heading back to the campground to meet R and A for dinner. Mike and I made Chicken Crack sandwiches for dinner in the crockpot for everyone.

 

9/13

We spent Beckett’s half birthday hiking the Narrows trail.

 

It was a bit scary thinking about doing this trail as there was a harmful bacteria present in it at the time, but research showed that as long as we didn’t drink it, it was fine.

 

We got tickets for the seven to 8 o’clock shuttle as well as the 8 o’clock to 9 o’clock shuttle. We slept in a little bit since we weren’t in any huge hurry and we had gotten our rental equipment the night before, so we ended up getting to the shuttle at 8:45.

 

I highly recommend renting equipment for this hike, we rented boots, neoprene socks and wooden hiking sticks.

 

We said goodbye to Russell and Alecia (who were heading out for their 9-10 hour drive home) and headed out towards the shuttle, I got halfway there and realized we forgot our facemasks. Mike had to run back to get them, (as if the day wasn’t going to be exhausting enough!)

 

We started down the Riverside Trail probably around 10, which leads to the beginning of the Narrows, We hiked over 6 1/2 miles, through the Virgin River in the Zion Canyon. It was just so incredible and so enjoyable. Mike said it best, he said, “my legs could be on fire but I’m having the time of my life so I wouldn’t know.”

 

He’s the real MVP, he carried Beckett for over five hours. Bex did great, was super content just saying “hi” to people who passed by. He took a short snooze while we waded through the water. The water got up my thighs a few times, so definitely recommend wearing shorts.

 

We made friends with 3 ladies on our hike as our day was quite parallel to them and we kept running into them. We ended up grabbing a beer with them afterwards at Zion Brewery.

 

9/14

 

Somehow, we really aren’t sore today, I guess we’re in better shape than we thought we were! haha

 

We contemplated doing the Canyon Overlook hike, but there’s no RV parking for it so we decided to trek on to Bryce, Which is a little less than two hours away.

 

We passed by herds of Buffalo grazing, lots of cows, horses, sheep and a few deer.

 

We got to Bryce Canyon around 2 o’clock and decided to do the viewpoints. We started at the furthest point. We went from Rainbow Point to Black Birch Canyon then Ponderosa Canyon to Agua Canyon. We saw the Natural Bridge which is very neat, then Far point viewpoint and Swamp Canyon. For the rest of the overlooks we had to hop onto a shuttle, as there is no parking for RVs.

 

We made ribs in the instant pot and did laundry at the campsite, then around 830 we let Beckett fall asleep in the car seat on the way into the park. We parked at Sunset Point and walked down the trail a bit to get the absolute perfect view of the stars. On a moonless night in Bryce you can see 7500 stars, the Milky Way was shining brightly from horizon to horizon. You could also see Mars, Venus and Saturn! Beckett slept through the entire process of taking him in and out of the car seat/the pack and play.

 

9/15

It was a chilly morning so we weren’t in much of a hurry, we started hiking around 10 this morning. We did the Navajo/Garden Loop Trail and included Wall Street, which was challenging yet amazing! Another hike that I would definitely recommend. There were hoodoos everywhere, which is Beckett’s new favorite word, except it comes out as “Doodoo”. While we waited for the shuttle he had a blast chasing around a cute little chipmunk.

 

On to our last stop, Capitol Reef (Thousand Lakes RV Park)

 

Driving the scenic route through CR at night it was very cool, it was so quiet that there were deer everywhere, and would come quite close to you without any fear.

 

We went to Sunset point to have dinner and watch the sunset

 

9/16

 

We took our time getting ready this morning, we had eggs and bacon for breakfast, then checked out of the RV park as we decided to get a little closer to Salt Lake City tonight.

 

We got to the park and went straight to the visitor center to obtain a junior ranger badge for Beckett. Due to Covid, all of the other parks gave us the pamphlet and the badge right from the get go, capitol reef junior ranger program is much stricter. The other places claimed “no one is too young to be a junior ranger!” in CR, they weren’t happy the badge was for a one-year-old and told us the entire pamphlet would need to be filled out in order for us to get a badge.

 

We did the Cohab Canyon hike, We really enjoyed this 3 mile hike, it showed the difference between capitol reef and all the other parks. The highlight of this hike was when a Mountain Goat hopped on the trail literally right in front of us. We also saw a snake, which I could have done without seeing. Beckett snoozed for at least 1 mile and missed the Mountain Goat completely.

 

We heated up leftovers for lunch in the RV and had a picnic near the Gifford house, there were Deer just lying leisurely around. We had apple pie and strawberry rhubarb pie from the Gifford house for dessert.

 

Beckett saw his first horse as he stared at them wordlessly in awe.

 

We headed back to the visitor center to obtain his badge, they were not happy that I only did a few of the activities, but they did handover his badge. We stopped to see the petroglyphs and capitol dome.

 

Now we are headed towards Salt Lake City for our flight home tomorrow morning.

 

9/17

Beckett did fantastic on the flight home and honestly the entire trip! He didn’t have a single melt down, he was so content in the backpack. We did 6 National parks, we had such an amazing time and would recommend this trip highly!!