NATIONAL PARKS


UTAH’S NATIONAL PARKS CROWN JEWELS OF THE AMERICAN WEST


Set amid the backdrop of Utah’s naturally- spectacular landscape are geologic wonders so unique and magnifi cent that they have been preserved for all time as National Parks and Monuments. They serve as awe-inspiring examples of nature’s ability to delight, humble and inspire all who visit them.


ARCHES NATIONAL PARK


Arches, as the name implies, is a wonderland of more than 2,000 natural, red sandstone arches, including the iconic Delicate Arch. They frame this area’s amazing beauty and stand as monuments to geologic history a million years in the making. An 18-mile (29-km) paved loop road introduces visitors to a brilliantly-coloured landscape fi lled with pinnacles, outcrops, faults and fossils. Many trails take hikers through eroded canyons, under soaring arches and around windows of stone. www.nps.gov/arch


BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK


Bryce’s original inhabitants, the Paiutes, believed that the rock fi gures were people turned to stone by angry gods. Rose-coloured spires, fi ns and mazes haunt our imagination and beckon us to explore them more closely. Hiking and horseback trails wind through the park, both along the rim and down among the towering rock formations called ‘hoodoos’. An optional shuttle system (late May until mid-September) connects all major natural


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Temples of the Sun and Moon, Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park.


amphitheatres along the western rim; private vehicles are allowed. Evening rodeos, cowboy entertainment, scenic fl ights, mountain biking and cross-country skiing trails are all found on the outskirts of the park. www.nps.gov/brca


CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK


This sprawling National Park is comprised of countless canyons, mesas and buttes separated into three districts – Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze. Island in the Sky has many hiking trails and amazing scenic viewpoints. Grand View Point offers a 360-degree panoramic view of the deep


canyons below. The Needles District offers a very different beauty, with remote loop hikes to spectacular red rock gardens. Off-road vehicles and bikes are permitted on the 100-mile (161- km) White Rim Trail. The remote Maze District is Canyonlands’ most jumbled stone playground, requiring backcountry-use permits year-round. www.nps.gov/cany


CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK


The Waterpocket Fold, an enormous wrinkle in the earth’s crust, forms the 99-mile (160-km)- long backbone of this National Park. Early explorers described it as an ‘impassable reef’


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