Picture Post: Canyonlands

If I had to pick one park from our Arches and Canyonlands trip, I would pick Canyonlands. The pictures at Arches were easy to take; the park speaks for itself. It's so hard to capture the vast beauty of Canyonlands on camera. It was stunning, and my tiny taste was not enough. I want more. 

You see this sign and then you keep driving and driving and driving...

Part of Shafer Trail--where you can drive your Jeep down that scary ass road. Yes, please, and thank you, I'll be doing that next time. 

Shafer Trail

Shafer Trail, look, it was just very cool, alright?

Most of my pictures are from the Grand View Point Trail. It was an easy hike, which we definitely needed at that point in our day.

In recent years, I've developed a bit of vertigo when getting close to cliff edges. I'm not afraid, but I do get dizzy. Rather than letting this hold me back, I've taken to getting on my butt to get out to the edge.

It's just canyons, as far as your eyes can see. It's amazing.

I loved this view so much, I did it twice with two different camera lenses.

Same spot on Grand View Point Trail, different camera lens.

This doesn't even really capture the gorgeous color of it all.

And it is SUCH a drop, just RIGHT THERE.

My sister is terrified of heights but I convinced her this would be an amazing picture and she would thank me later. I think she was swearing at me during this picture.

We stopped other places but I honestly don't know what I did with my pictures? I think I may not have offloaded them from my camera. Here, have another picture from Grand View Point Trail.

Whirlwind: Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

I thought I was not going to get to a national park this year until October--maybe June, if we managed a run up to Indiana Dunes for a weekend. I was apparently wrong. 

After Finn passed away, my sister decided I needed a break. I've had a rough couple of month--lots of solo parenting while JK traveled, intense work stuff, and then Finn. She begged me to jump on a plane on a whim and go with her to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks for a whirlwind 48 hours trip.

So, my plan-loving soul is going with very little notice or chance to plan. 

Arrive: Fly into SLC, arriving at 12:00 AM, are you even kidding me, meet my sister, grab rental car, and drive to Arches. 

Arches: roll into Arches while it's still dark, hike with headlamp to a good spot to watch the sunrise. We've got a few picked out. We don't have timed entry reservations, so we need to get in before 6 am, and we will stay until we are done. We've got some mild to moderate hikes picked out and we will see what moves us. 

Canyonlands: we will take a quick break in Moab and go check out Canyonlands. We've got some short hikes picked out and highlights to hit. 

SLC: return to SLC on basically no sleep and crash at hotel. Next day, check out Antelope Island and downtown SLC.

Depart: Leave SLC at 6 pm and arrive in Indy at 2:00 AM ARE YOU SERIOUS ugh.

It's going to be wild, and hopefully, what my heart needs right now. It's a disservice to the parks to spend so little time in them, but I'll take what I can get. I'm struggling with the idea of leaving JK and the kids while things are so fresh, but JK is pretty much pushing me out the door.