mohaus: Utah or Bust: Grand Staircase and Bryce Canyon

When we were in the early stages of planning this epic trip, Daniel had some reservations about whether it was worth it to take the kids on such a trip. He worried that they were too young and wouldn't remember it.

I reminded him that I traveled extensively as a young child and have many memories from that time. Plus the memories we made would be seared into our own brains and therefore would be worth it.

Fast forward to last week when I had Rick Steve's Europe playing on PBS. The show was about Turkey and there was a section with hoodoos and ancient cities carved into the sides of cliffs.

Isaac walked through the room and said, "Hey! We've been there!" and "When are we going back?" We proceeded to chat about how this was different but similar to our visit to Bryce Canyon and also Mesa Verde.

Isaac was only three when we were on this trip, and almost a year later he still remembered. I can't tell you how happy that made me.

My last post was about our quick visit to Capitol Reef National Park and camping in Dixie National Forest. Dixie NF felt more like home than Utah and we were grateful for the cooler temperatures and lazy morning before heading on to our next stop.

We would be driving across and down the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with a stop for lunch at the Kiva Koffee House before we drove on to Bryce Canyon for the night. We had two days to get to Northern Utah for Daniel's work, and we actually considered skipping this part of the trip. We are all thankful that we didn't skip it!

The Grand Staircase was something else. At this point we probably shouldn't have been surprised at how magnificent Utah is, but we were.

As we drove we realized we were on a ridge with steep drops into canyons all around us. Pulling a camper, this was actually a little unnerving! We stopped several times to admire the views and feel the wind blow us around. Unfortunately Isaac slept through this entire drive. We will have to go back some day so he can experience it.

I don't even know how to adequately describe what it was like driving down this canyon and ending up at the Kiva Koffee House. All I can say is that if you have a chance to drive this, you should. And don't forget to stop for a bite to eat at Kiva. It's worth it just for the views of the canyon as you enjoy your food.

After lunch we headed on to Bryce Canyon National Park. Once again we did not have a camping reservation. But it was early enough in the day that we were pretty confident we would snag a walk-in site.

There was a bit of a line entering the park, but we arrived early enough to be able to pick out a camping spot that suited our needs.

This was our first time to camp inside a National Park and it was worth it! We decided we would make more efforts to camp in parks in the future (that requires a bit more planning than we had allotted for this particular trip).

After setting up camp and getting dinner on the grill, we decided to do a quick hike down into the canyon. Bryce isn't actually a canyon but a natural amphitheater of hoodoo formations with ridges you can follow down into the canyon.

It was close to sunset but we had just enough time to do a quick out and back on the Queen's Garden trail.

As a mother of young boys, this turned out to be quite a terrifying hike for me. The trail would just drop off with no rail. The formations were awe-inspiring, but they were hard to enjoy while also keeping a hand on our kids who prefer to run ahead when we hike.

We didn't have time to make it to the bottom, but we did go down far enough to get a sense of Bryce and be inspired by the formations and colors of the hoodoos.

Doing this hike at sunset was stunning.

As part of the Jr. Ranger program we went to a late night ranger talk about stars. Isaac fell asleep during the talk, but Daniel and Jack were able to go with the ranger to look through giant telescopes at the night sky.

When Jack and Daniel came back at the camper, Jack was beside himself with excitement. He had seen craters on the moon. The rings on Saturn. And a whole other galaxy! He was giddy.

After each park we visited on this trip, Jack would generally say that the one we had just been to was his favorite. After Goblin Valley I thought we had topped out in terms of favorite parks. However, Jack declared Bryce Canyon to be the best. When I pressed about why, it wasn't the hoodoos or canyon that captured his imagination, it was the telescopes and the night sky!

While traveling like this with young kids can be difficult, moments like this made the trip worth it! If you have a chance to take a trip like this, I would encourage you do it. Regardless of how young, or old, your kids are.

The next morning while Daniel packed up camp, I took the kids to get their Jr Ranger Badges – Bryce was our fourth National Park on this trip and the first one that allowed Isaac to get a Jr Ranger Badge. He was over the moon about his badge.

My next post will be about our five days spent at Hyrum State Park, about an hour north of Salt Lake City. Daniel had four days of training in Logan and the kids and I hung out at our campground for the week. It was the only place we had reserved a campground for our entire trip.

Day 10 Video Diary: Camping in Dixie a national Forest before driving down the Grand Staircase and on to Bryce National Park.

Day 11 Video Diary: Bryce Canyon then our drive to north Utah. We saw a wild fire north of Provo but Hyrum and Logan have thankfully had clear skies.

Trip Stats
Camping Locations:

Pickwick Landing State Park in Tenn.

Gore Landing City Park in Okla.

Wallydocking in Guymon, OK (FREE)

Family Base Camp in Alamosa, Colo.

Mesa Verde RV Resort in Mancos, Colo.

Sand Flats Recreation Area outside of Moab, Utah

Upper Big Bed Overflow on the Colorado River outside of Moab, Utah (FREE)

Boondocking on BLM land outside of Goblin Valley State Park, Utah (FREE)

Singletree Campground in Dixie National Forest in Utah

States Covered:
TN > GA > AL > MS > TN > MS > TN > AR > OK > NM > CO > UT

Significant Stops: