Along the Utah National Park Highway

Leaving Arches, we drove a stretch of road that would treat us to five National Parks in less than six hundred miles. First up was the needles district of Canyonlands. The short detour off highway 191 into the park turned out to be a long one. The endless canyon was out of this world, but a long series of cattle guards and an extra long wait for some road work to be completed in the hot afternoon sun broke Sierra. He officially lost his marbles and wanted nothing to do with the van as he paced back and forth like a caged animal. Nathalie gave up her front seat and we tried many new arrangements to ease his anxious mind. None seemed to work.

Fortunately, we found a sweet campsite in Glen Canyon, just above the Colorado River and Sierra made it until morning as he relaxed in the dirt and stained his white pelt brick red. He rebounded slightly the next day, but we didn't want to test his fragile state by sightseeing too much in Capitol Reef National Park.

We continued on to Bryce Canyon and managed to do some short hikes into the bowels of the canyon under the famous Thor's Hammer. Bryce's amphitheater of awkwardly sculptured rock spires, or hoodoos, radiate warm yellows and oranges at all hours. It was impressive to see such a drastic change in the landscape after traveling such a short distance.

Last, but not least, we made it to Zion and were greeted by Brooks' dad and sister. It was great to see family and to have them experience life in the van. They gave us a taste of the high life that we left back in the bay area three months ago. We ate and drank like kings and queens and worked off our full bellies each day on Zion's network of trails. The highlight was was slogging back into the narrows. Hiking up the river the canyon walls are 2000 feet high, but in places only 18 feet apart.