If you’re touring the American West, Bryce Canyon National Park will have to be on your list of places to visit.  Located in south western Utah, it’s a small National Park that is big on scenery… and often wins reviews as a favorite for it’s unique geology.

So what’s unique about it?

Hoodoos.

They’re everywhere you look.  Do you know what hoodoos are?  Wikipedia and the National Park Service describe them this way, “A hoodoo is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badlands.”

Hard rock on top protects softer stone below from rain and erosion.  What you end up with is pinnacles or spires of rock… but hoodoos come in a variety of shapes and sizes and thicknesses. (more…)

The Grand Canyon is one of those places that you have to see in person.  Pictures will never do it justice.

Descriptions will tell you that it is a great chasm carved over millennia… the Colorado River slicing away at the Colorado Plateau.

People will tell you that it has awe-inspiring views.  Vacationers and holiday makers will tell you it’s a great place to hike or ride the rapids.

All of that is true… but you have to see it.  An amazing fact we heard from a ranger once is that a typical stay in the park lasts five to seven hours, and most visitors stay at the rim of the Grand Canyon for less than an hour.  (We’ve even heard less than 20 minutes!)  How can you do that? (more…)

You may not have heard much about Zion National Park.  It is overshadowed by it’s bigger, more famous neighbor, the Grand Canyon which is wide and open and puts on a show for you in the changing light.

And it may seem a little staid next to it’s showy smaller neighbor, Bryce Canyon where hoodoos seem to dance and play with you and invite you in.

When you first arrive in Zion, you might even say, “How can I really see this park?”  This is a place of soaring, brooding walls… a park of hidden treasures.

As a kid exploring Zion National Park, what I remember is the winding road into the park, those towering cliffs around the lodge, and a walk under a big overhanging rock I was worried would fall on me.

I guess that rock is pretty stable because as an adult, I walked under that same rock, and my favorite new memory is a day hike in The Narrows. (more…)