This article is under development and it may take a few days before I have the entire trip documented!
Planning Essentials
On all my trips I make sure we have a solid plan on what we are going to do along with ideas for backups. I aim to maximize the amount of time we can spend exploring when visiting destinations 1,500 miles away from home!
- Utah National Parks Map Bundle - I have not done a lot of comparison shopping of other brands but the National Geographic Maps have consistently worked well for me. I buy these well in advance as I prefer a nice large physical map when planning adventures. I then carry the map, for the current park, in my back pack as a back up plan should my technology fail.
- Garmin GPSMap 67i Rugged GPS Handheld with inReach Satellite Technology this unit is worth its weight in gold as it pairs with my phone and allows us to check our location ensuring we are on the right trail. While in Bryce Canyon we nearly took the wrong trail, which would have gotten us to where we wanted to go, but would have added at least a mile to our hike. Furthermore, the inReach technology has an SOS feature should one of us get injured and it typically is the case, in National Parks, that cell phone reception is limited and spotted. Garmin has many different options but I prefer larger devices as I find them more ergonomically friendly. Furthermore, I was able to buy one of the refurbished models which saved me a few hundred dollars!
Gear
- Neoprene Socks - The water is cold, even in the summer, remember places like Cedar Breaks National Monument, with an elevation of 10,000 feet, are less than a hours drive away!
- Wool socks - unfortunately your feet, rubbing against neoprene, is likely going to cause friction blisters. However, you will want to use wool as it can still trap heat even when wet!
- Hiking Poles - like most rivers the river bed is an endless array of rocks! It is just wise to have something to help you keep your stability, more so on this hike than any other you will take in Utah's National Parks and Monuments!
- Closed toe shoes, preferably hiking boots. Some of those rocks can be small, best to keep those away from your feet.
- Hiking backpacks, it is always a balance between having enough but not carrying too much. For my sons I purchased two of these and I hike with this one. I have found day packs, in the 24 L(iter) range, with internal frames sufficient for our purposes. The frames, in addition to load-lifter straps, and padded hip belts help transfer weight from your shoulders to your hips. I personally would not use a regular backpack when going on long hikes as I have found them hard on my back.
- Water reservoirs also known has water bladders. When hiking, especially in hot arid environments, it is critical to drink plenty of water. Dehydration, heat exhaustion, and altitude sickness are the top three ailments facing hikers in Utah. Obviously to most everyone that adequate water intakes prevents dehydrations and protects against heat exhaustion but water adequate water intake can also help prevent altitude sickness. Also, do not make the mistake of thinking sugary drinks, coffee, and so on are a replacement for water.
- Hydration bladder cleaning kit - at minimum you should thoroughly rinse and replace water on a daily basis. Ideally scrub the bladder and hose and when possible allow everything to air dry. However, a hack I use is I fill the bladder the night before and put it in the refrigerator or I fill it with ice from the ice machines (making sure there is plenty of water to fill).
The Adventure
I started this trip from Bowlus, MN and traveled to Jamestown, ND where I connected with my two sons who were attending an event in that area.
We spent the first couple days on easy activities as a means to get used to the elevation. Average elevation in Utah is 6,100 but even that can be misleading with the state's range being 2,350 feet to 13,528 feet. So in the list of places, we visited, I will also list elevation statistics. Our first National Park was Zion National Park, located in the south west corner of Utah and then we worked our way East and North and we took advantage of National Monuments that could be visited on our way to Zion!
- Day 0: Leave Bowlus, MN Elevation 1,100 to 1,205 feet
- Day 1: Devils Tower National Monument Elevation at its base 4,245 feet
- Day 2: Dinosaur National Monument Elevation of Quarry 5,000 feet
- Day 3: Utah Museum of Natural History Elevation of Salt Lake City 4,226 feet
- Day 4 (AM): Tipanogos National Monument Elevation of cave entrance 6,730 feet
- Day 4 (PM): Cedar Breaks National Monument Elevation 10,460
- Day 5: Zion National Park - Kolob Canyon Elevation 5,000 to 7,000 (parts we visited)
- Day 6: Zion National Park - 5,000 feet (estimate of where we were at)
- Day 7: Bryce Canyon National Park - 6,000 to 9,000 feet
- Day 7 (PM): Bryce Canyon National Park towards Capitol Reef National Park via Utah 12. Utah 12 is the scenic route and does have far more elevations changes but it truly is beautiful. It takes you through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and only adds an additional 30 minutes to the trip unless you stop and take in the scenery! We did not have the time to enjoy the monument but this is something we hope to do some day when we come through the area again.
- Day 8: Capitol Reef National Park
- Day 9: Canyonlands National Park - Needles District
- Day 10: Arches National Park
- Day 11: Arches National Park
- Day 12: Canyonlands National Park - Needles in the Sky District