Enjoying Our Dash

Next up on the list of National Parks was Sequoia. Once again, we headed out early in the morning to beat the crowds and see the park in the early morning light. We were greeted by a beautiful sunrise, although is was somewhat muted by the smoke from wildfires near Fresno and some prescribed burns that were going on. We made our way out to the the largest sequoia tree in the world (by volume and weight) , General Sherman! Along the way, there were plenty of large and beautiful trees. One thing that we were sad to see, was that many areas of the park that had experienced fire damage. Check out the pictures and the video below. Much of the damage that we saw occurred during the 2020 Castle (170,648 acres) and the 2021 KNP Complex (88,307 acres) wildfires. The sequoia tree tends to be fire resistant for several reasons. Their thick, spongy bark insulates them from heat injury, and the branches of large sequoias grow high enough to avoid the flames of most fires. But starting in 2015, ...

Before you ask, yes, it was hot. But hey, it was summer time. Death Valley was more than I expected, the most interesting part was the diversity of the park. I thought that it was just a big, hot valley, but not so much. There is actually a lot of diversity to the terrain. We checked out several different areas including; Zabriskie Point, that reminded us of the Badlands, the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes, and the Artists Palette. Did you know that mining of ore began in Death Valley began in the early 1800’s? Fuel and water scarcity as well as transportation challenges made this type of mining difficult. However, ‘one of the earliest successful mining operations in Death Valley was the Harmony Borax Works, which was active from 1883 to 1888. This operation was famous not for its ore deposits, but for the Twenty Mule Team wagons used to transport the partially refined borax. A very memorable advertising campaign used the wagons’ image to promote the company’s Boraxo soap....

After beautiful Bryce Canyon, we headed to the last of the ‘mighty five’ National Parks in Utah, Zion National Park. This park is a little different from many of the ones that we have been to so far. Most of the parks have a scenic route with various pullouts and parking areas showcasing the beauty of the park. At these stops, there are trails of various lengths taking you closer to the sights. These scenic routes allow personal cars and you are able to travel them at your own pace. This allows us to bring Cole along and often, there are some trails that he is allowed to enjoy. At a minimum, he can enjoy some new smells as he walks around the parking areas. Zion, unfortunately, does not have this feature. Because it is an actual canyon, the roads are narrow and the parking at the stops is minimal. Instead, there is a shuttle bus that takes you to the end of the canyon and back with multiple stops in between. There is also a shuttle that goes through the adjacent town...

So we thought we had seen the best that Utah National Parks had to offer, and then we went to Bryce Canyon. I can not even begin to describe the beauty in this National Park. The park has an 18 mile scenic drive, with the first 3 miles of the drive called the Bryce Amphitheatre. This area of the park is ‘referred to as an “amphitheater” as it is a bowl-shaped area shaped by the drainage of seasonal rains and melting snow (not truly a canyon, as those are shaped by flowing rivers)’ 1 .  This is the most iconic section of the park, the Bryce Amphitheater is home to the greatest concentration of “hoodoos” found anywhere on Earth. A hoodoo is a pinnacle, spire, or odd-shaped rock left standing by the forces of erosion. The Amphitheatre can be seen from several stops on the scenic, Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point and Bryce Point. Views from Sunset Point Views from Sunrise Point View From Bryce Point (My Favorite) When we told ...