America’s Canyon National Parks

Over Easter weekend my roommate Felix and I flew out to vegas, rented a car, and visited some of America’s most amazing national parks. We started in Zion and hiked Angel’s Landing, The Narrows, and the Emerald Ponds. The emerald ponds were very disappointing. Just some murky green water and not the emerald color that you see in some portions of the Virgin River.

Bryce Canyon Inspiration Point

Bryce National Park from Inspiration Point

On Saturday morning we left our campsite at 7:30am and drove over to Bryce Canyon National Park. We immediately tried to find a fun hike and chose the Fairyland Loop. It is an 8 mile hike that goes down into the canyon and has some impressive views of the hoodoos. Just after we finished the hike, it started to rain for a brief period. We used this time to take a break and drive to all the view points in the park. The views from inspiration point and rainbow point were awesome. The brochure mentioned that the Queen’s Garden trail to the Navajo trail was a great 2.9 mile loop. We did this loop right before sunset and arrived at sunset point to view a beautiful sunset. After the sunset we drove to Kanab, UT so we could get an early start towards Page, AZ.

luke-fostvedt-antelope-canyon

Standing under the light in Antelope Canyon

We reached Page, AZ at 8am giving us plenty of time to visit the Horseshoe Bend before our 11:30 tour of Antelope Canyon. Both Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon were incredible. We visited Antelope Canyon during the middle of the day when beams of the sun’s rays can reach the floor of the slot canyon. The beams of light we incredible and the smoothness of the walls in the canyon was amazing. According to the guide, the canyon formed from the effects of repeated flash floods. The only downside of the tour is the number of people inside the canyon.

We finished the day by driving to the south rim of the Grand Canyon on our way back to Las Vegas.  It is impossible for any picture to portray the magnitude of the Grand Canyon. It is something you must see with your own eyes to properly appreciate. We did a brief hike down to the “Ooh Ahh” point and stayed at the visitor center viewing point to watch the sunset. The canyon is one of the most amazing places in the world and everyone should visit it.

We reached our hotel in Vegas at 1am and were too tired to lose any money in the casino. However, the next morning I did manage to lost $10 in the slot machines at the airport. Such is life in Vegas.

 

 

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