One slot canyon, two national parks, one surprise storm, and one very puffy bag of snacks.
Bright and early, we all lined up outside the hotel, ready to load into the van.
Toni told us, “I’m really good at the snack game.” As we were getting ready to climb in, she very proudly showed us her box of snacks. It was adorable!
Then we were off to Snow Canyon State Park, named after two Utah pioneers, Lorenzo and Erastus Snow. The park is full of gorgeous red and cream sandstone splashed with black lava rock, all inside the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, which protects the desert tortoise. The drive was a great chance to get to know our guide Toni, along with Mark, Madelyn, and Jenny.
Jenny’s Canyon
First stop, Jenny’s Canyon! Our Jenny posed with the sign, of course.
Toni explained how flash floods roar through here, carving the rock along the same paths again and again.
It’s a short, twisty slot canyon carved into the Navajo sandstone, and we took a ton of pictures.
Then Toni spotted cone shaped traps made by antlions. These freaky little bugs hide at the bottom with giant pincer jaws, just waiting. When an ant wanders too close to the edge, the sand gives way and down it slides. We looked them up on our phones, and let’s just say they are not cute.
A few of us walked ahead to the van, and of course that’s exactly when a roadrunner showed up for the rest of the group.
The Petrified Dunes
Next up were the Petrified Dunes. About 190 million years ago, this whole area was a giant sea of sand, one of the biggest deserts Earth has ever seen. Over time those dunes got buried, pressed, and cemented into stone. You can still see the swirly lines the ancient winds left behind, frozen in place. We scrambled all over them while storm clouds rolled in behind us, which made for some seriously dramatic photos.
Kolob Canyons
Then Toni announced we’d be having lunch in Zion! I thought that was later in the trip, but it turns out we were heading to Kolob Canyons, the quiet northwest corner of the park. It doesn’t even connect by road to the main part of Zion, which we’ll visit later in the trip. Jenny grabbed the front seat and videoed the whole drive, and the scenery was spectacular.
The Kolob Canyons Road climbs about 1,100 feet in just five miles, winding past towering red cliffs and narrow finger canyons. When we got there, Toni stayed behind to set up our picnic at the bottom of the trail while Laura led us up the Timber Creek Overlook Trail.
Just as someone said “you’re almost there,” the sky turned dark. I heard a huge rushing sound, like ocean waves crashing, and Laura called off our mission. We turned around and hustled back down the trail to the van.
So much for the picnic! Lunch was served in the van instead, which was actually pretty cozy. NatHab works so hard to cut down on waste, so Toni was disappointed that the place they usually get sandwiches from had switched back to plastic containers. I joked that it was fine, because we were going to make a huge mess in her van, and the plastic containers would help keep it all in one spot!
On to Bryce Canyon
The drive to Bryce was beautiful. The aspens were just starting to turn gold, and in Red Canyon the road goes right through tunnels carved into bright red rock, with rain dripping down the windows.
As we climbed higher and higher, I noticed our bag of snacks puffing up like a balloon. By the time we got to Bryce, it was stretched to the max! Higher altitude means lower air pressure outside the bag, so the air sealed inside expands. That bag became our official barometer.
By the time we arrived, the rocks had changed. We had left the sandstone behind and were now looking at limestone. And here’s a fun fact: Bryce Canyon isn’t actually a canyon! It’s a series of natural amphitheaters carved into the edge of a plateau, sitting at over 8,000 feet. That explains the cold, and the snack bag.
The last time we were here, back in 2019, we spent just one night at the Bryce Canyon Reserve, not far from where we ate dinner tonight. The next morning we blitzed through the park, then headed straight to the airport and flew home. That was the end of that trip. This time we finally got to slow down and soak it in.
Before we even checked in, we walked out to the rim near Sunrise and Sunset Points for our first peek at the amphitheater, and it was stunning. The hoodoos, those tall skinny spires of rock, are shaped mostly by ice. Water seeps into cracks, freezes, expands, and slowly pries the rock apart, night after night. The park is named after Ebenezer Bryce, a pioneer who settled here in the 1870s and famously called it a hell of a place to lose a cow.
Then we scored! We got one of the cabins at Bryce Canyon Lodge, Cabin 528, and it was adorable. The lodge dates back to the 1920s and is a National Historic Landmark, so it’s full of rustic charm. It was freezing outside, so we cranked up the heat and got cozy.
Dinner at Stone Hearth Grille
We gathered for dinner at the Stone Hearth Grille, and here’s the funny part. We ate at this same restaurant on that quick trip in 2019, and the exact same pictures for sale were still hanging on the walls!
On the way back from dinner, we passed a line of mules, the ones that carry riders down into the canyon. It looked like they were heading home for the night too.
Then we spotted mule deer grazing in an open field. Toni taught us that mule deer are crepuscular, which is a fancy way of saying they’re most active at dawn and dusk. A few of the young ones started running and bouncing around the field, and Jenny said, “Look, the young deer have the zoomies!”
While the guides were telling us about the plan for the next day, a Steller’s jay swooped in and interrupted the whole briefing. These gorgeous birds are deep blue with a black crest, and this one posed long enough for me to get a really good picture.
Then I popped into the gift shop, because that’s my favorite thing to do. I fell in love with a t-shirt in the glass case and asked the clerk where the rest of them were. He said that was the last one. When I asked what size it was, he said he didn’t know, because they had lost the key to the case! He really made me laugh.
We were supposed to go stargazing with a Dark Sky Ranger that night, but the clouds got it moved to the next night. I’m so excited for it. On our 2019 trip, we stayed in a house with a jacuzzi, and while we were soaking under the stars, I saw my very first shooting star. It’s still the only one I’ve ever seen! So with that to look forward to, we headed back to our warm little cabin and called it a night.
Want to relive the whole day? Here’s a quick look at everything from Snow Canyon to Bryce, including a few photos and videos that didn’t make it into the blog.
