![]() In fact, it has the greatest concentration of hoodoos of anywhere on Earth. Rooms from $119.īryce Canyon is famous for its hoodoos - rare, spindly rock towers that are formed by erosion. Each guest is welcome to purchase a $5 breakfast voucher when booking the room, which goes a long way at Oscar’s Cafe just two doors down. A quaint green cottage that looks like something out of a fairy tale, the inn is run by Mark Chambers and Joe Pitti, who have beautifully preserved the historic building, which was previously the Christensen House and a town post office. Where to stay: Under the Eaves Inn is a sweet little bed-and-breakfast near the fifth stop on the Springdale shuttle, about a mile from the south entrance of the park. It serves filling fare including duck breast in a prickly pear gastrique, lamb shanks and specials like filet mignon (which was served with a remarkable potato croquette that we’re still thinking about weeks later). Noteworthy eats: The Spotted Dog is a 10-minute walk from the park’s visitor center it was one of the few restaurants in town that was seating people at 8:30 p.m. And though it’s tempting to stay in Zion until sunset, I’d recommend parking at the visitors lot if you plan to do so: the last Zion shuttle doesn’t line up with the last Springdale shuttle, meaning that if you get to the visitors lot after 8 p.m., you’ll need to walk the rest of the way to wherever you parked in town. Shuttle info: From March to late November, Zion doesn’t allow private vehicles on its main canyon scenic drive, meaning that people must park in Springdale (the town just south of the park) or at the visitor center to hop on the park shuttle, which is a beautiful 45-minute ride from start to finish. If you’re in the market for something more challenging, one of our shuttle drivers described Observation Point, which can be accessed from East Zion, as “harder but not as sketchy” as Angels Landing. The Emerald Pools are also an easy and rewarding route, but there’s absolutely no swimming allowed in those. The walk winds along the Virgin River and passes plenty of breathtaking views, weeping rocks and swimming opportunities. I’d recommend the Riverside Walk, a fairly flat, 2.2-mile trail that goes from the ninth shuttle stop, Temple of Sinawava, to the start of the Narrows. While there’s no easy way to do Angels Landing (and there have been confirmed deaths along the route), plenty of Zion’s other trails are adaptable for people of different levels of hiking ability. Park adventures: Zion is split into six sections, but the most recognizable trails in the park are Angels Landing - which requires a permit and has a 1,488-foot elevation gain that involves 21 steep switchbacks - and the Narrows, a tricky, nearly 10-mile round trip trek through the river (which gets as small as 22 feet wide). Elias National Park & Preserve, is about 89 times that), it has a laundry list of natural marvels to gawk at that could win over even the most blasé cityfolk. Though the park is just 148,733 acres (for comparison, the largest national park, Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Zion is a magnificent and singular place where sunset-hued rocks meet lush greenery and electric-blue water that you’re actually allowed to swim in. I wrote about the whole journey in depth in this story. We drove alongside running pronghorn in Emery County, Utah, teetered on the edge of Black Canyon in Montrose County, Colo., slept beneath the Milky Way and marveled at rainbows from roadsides and dinner tables. Over the course of 12 days, we were able to visit nearly a dozen parks, drive 3,350 miles, take thousands of photos and devour a shameful amount of roadside hamburgers. (One cost-saving tip: The America the Beautiful National Park Pass lets you visit 2,000 sites nationally, including all the ones on our route, for $80.) ![]() This past summer, after booking tickets to see Big Thief at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, my partner, Reanna, and I decided to configure our own version of the Grand Circle road trip, expanding it to include a few extra parks in Colorado and a stop at Joshua Tree on the way home to L.A. Regardless, the route - traditionally centered around Utah’s five national parks and the Grand Canyon - is a time-efficient way to see the Southwest’s most iconic natural wonders. Some say it was inspired by an itinerary that Utah Parks Company offered in the 1900s, while others consider it a successful national park marketing campaign that brought an influx of tourists to the Colorado Plateau. The genesis of the Grand Circle road trip isn’t totally clear.
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