Fall 2010 Trip to The Grand Circle of Utah's National Parks

Grand Circle of Utah National Parks

I planned a road trip of grand circle of Utah national parks in between my project break. i made no hotel reservations and decided to make decisions on the fly, based on where we reach by the evening on each day. I don't have a fixed plan of what to see on what date. planning to drive maximum of 4-5 hours per day. A Rough itinerary i planned will look like, start with Yosemite, great basin, Bryce canyon, Capitol reef, Arches, canyon lands, page surroundings, Grand canyon north RIM and Zion National parks. based on our time and Mesa Verde national park can be covered.


We started at San Jose, CA at 9AM. it took 4 1/2 hours to reach Yosemite with small break in the middle.
Day 1: Yosemite National Park, CA
First we stopped at Bridalveil Falls, next drove to Glacier Point on the way we saw Washburn view point, Tunnel view. we were told water is filled and There is enough water in falls.
night we rented a cabin at curry village.


Day 2:
Morning we started to Tuolumne Meadows by Tioga Pass Road on the way we stopped at many view points. i saw a notice board of "ICE on the Road" many times, i was not serious until to see forming ice from night rain or water at higher altitudes with my eyes. we saw few glimpses of yellow color at east entrance of Yosemite NP. there was an ice/snow along the sides of the road at east entrance by the time went to Yosemite (October last week)

After Yosemite, we headed towards Great Basin NP. It was long drive on CA-120 and I-6/I-50 for 8 hours from Yosemite valley. we traveled all the way to Baker, NV. it was the gateway of Great Basin NP. It is just miles away from great basin national park. night we stayed near Great Basin NP Visitor center. there are few small independent motels exists in bakers. room has all basic necessaries to stay for a day.

Note: Tioga Pass Rd will be closed in winters. check about the conditions before going to east entrance.

Day 3: Great Basin National Park, Nevada.

morning we went to great basin NP. we went to Lehman Cave Grand Place Tour is approximately 90 minutes long. inside the cave we went to many rooms of sizes. It is beautiful inside the cave. we witnessed the dark in side cave for few minutes just to understand how dark it is. literally see anything.

we tried to go to wheeler peak scenic drive. it is not to miss view point in NP. we could not reach wheeler peak view point as it is covered with ice. Scenic Road to mountain top is closed at Mather overlook.
after completing Great Basin np, we had lunch and then headed to Bryce canyon.

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT.
we spent later part of the day till sun set in Bryce canyon. we drove to till Rainbow Point (18 miles one way) and stopped at all the viewpoints on your return trip. Main view points are Sunset, Inspiration and Bryce viewpoints. we went to trail at sunset point. it was excellent, trails goes into Bryce canyon. Hiking back at around sunset will be awesome.
night we stayed at Tropic,UT.

Day 4: Capitol Reef National Park, UT
we went to Kodachrome Basin State park. after 2 hours we were at Capitol Reef NP. All trees are full of yellow color at visitor center. Capitol Reef offers hiking opportunities and some good scenic drives. we did a trail. we saw cattle on the road controlled by horse men and women.
Information:
Early settlers in the region planted orchards of cherries, apricots, peaches, pears and apples that are open for picking from late-June to October.

after spending couple of hours we started driving on scenic Byway-24. Hwy-24 is full of fall colors, beautiful rock formations with different colors. we drove through Glen canyon Recreation area and lake Powell to natural bridges of NM.

Natural Bridges NM:
Natural Bridges National Monument covers a relatively small area in southeast Utah, close to scenic highway UT 95 between Hanksville and Blanding. Natural bridges are formed by running water and hence are much rarer than arches, which result from a variety of other erosional forces. This is also the reason why bridges tend to be found within deep canyons, sometimes quite hidden, whereas arches are usually high and exposed, often the last remnants of cliffs and ridges.we could not have much time to do loop trail. so we decided we take the loop road that has overlooks of three bridges, Sipapu, Kachina & Owachomo bridge. we did small hikes at individual overlook points to see the bridges bit closer. we drove to Moab, UT after seeing all bridges.
Day 5: Arches National Park,UT
Arches NP is located in eastern Utah and it is preserving over 200 natural sandstone arches including the world famous and Utah state symbol Delicate Arch. The park is located around 30 minutes drive away from Moab, UT.
Morning we went to Arches NP. first major stop was balanced rock, we walked around balanced rock. then we drove to north and south windows, on the way stopped few vista points. Then we drove to Delicate Arch Trail point, Wolfe Ranch. There are another two view points to see Delicate Arch. Upper view point is really good and needs little hike. Delicate Arch hike is around around 3 miles round trip and it takes 2-3 hours based on one's capability. it is worth hiking.
After that we drove to Devil's Garden, there we went to some trails. we missed the order of seeing things in NP.
It is better to go Devil's Garden in the morning, All arches in Devil's Garden looks good in morning, at noon balanced rock, north and south windows and finally in the evening Delicate Arch.

Canyon lands National Park, UT
After completing Arches NP, we went to Canyonlands NP, we could not had enough time left to do some hikes instead we went to all view points, its amazing to see in the evening. then we went Dead Horse Shoe SP.

Day 6: Mesa Verde national park, CO


Mesa Verde NP offers an excellent opportunity to see and experience the life of the Ancestral Puebloans. Spectacular cliff dwellings and mesa-top villages were built between A.D. 450 and 1300, when the Ancestral Puebloans migrated from the area. Visitors may walk, drive, or take a bus tour through the park. Hiking and climbing ladders in and out of cliff dwellings is one option, or walks through less rigorous self-guided routes are also available.

we took cliff place park ranger guided tour. park ranger has given enough information about life style of Puebloans. After completing the guided tour we drove to monument valley through four corners NM, it the place where one can see four states at the same time. we did not stop at four corners as we don't have much time. before sun set we reached Monument valley Navajo Trial park.
Monument Valley
Monument valley has definte unique sandstone formations. the park is maintained by Navajo tribe. 17 mile valley scenic drive is awesome But drive only with 4WD. we are about to struck in the sand narrowly escaped after few attempts of reversing and forwarding the car.

Day 7: Antelope Canyon @ Page, AZ
Antelope Canyon is one of the most breathtaking places on earth. It is also known as a “slot canyon” or “Corkscrew Canyon” and has been described as the most photogenic in the world.
we took upper antelope canyon tour, upper antelope canyon is accessible only by guided tour.
After antelope canyon, we headed to Zion NP. we drove through Grand Staircase Escalate NM, Lake Powell Dam. drive was beautiful.



Zion National Park, UT

We drove to Zion NP from Mt Carmel Junction. we have many vista points, few views points are very good. we drove through 2-3 tunnels and one tunnel is more than 1 mile long, literally dark inside. we drove on Zion canyon scenic road till the Zion canyon. we went on Virgin River trail. Trails goes to along the river, while going on trails, one can enjoy the fall colors on trees inside the park in fall season.

night stayed at Kanab, UT.

Day 8: Grand Canyon North RIM, AZ
We started from Kanab, UT in the morning to go North RIM of Grand Canyon. most of the facilities at the north RIM will closed by middle of october But park, entrance and visitor center will be open until Hwy-67 is open. visitor center is open at 9PM.


We reached there before 9AM. we saw a wolf just before the entrance gate. we hiked bright angel trail behind the canyon lodge. then we went to cape royal point. It took us around 2 hours of one-way trip to drive and visit views at Cape Royal, Point Imperial and view points along the scenic road.

Grand Canyon South RIM
we had a lunch at jacob lake. and drove through Glen canyon recreational area to south RIM of Grand canyon through east entrance. it took around 4 hours to reach the the desert view, the first view point from the east entrance.
Desert view point has visitor center, watch tower, restraunat. along the south RIM we stopped at various view points. Yavapai point will be good spot for sunset. After sun set we headed to flagstaff, AZ. for night halt.

Day 9:
Out of Africa Wildlife park, camp Verde, AZ. ( see for more information about out of africa at their web site. http://www.outofafricapark.com/mission.html )

we took bush safari tour where we got an opportunity of encounter with giraffe, zebra, ostrich and few other animals. we saw tiger splash, snake show where one can touch a snake and feel it.
we enjoyed a lot. for first time visitors of such parks will enjoy more. children will love the experience. we saw many children, who were there the day we went, enjoyed every show and activity they were on.


Return Trip:
By evening we started our return journey. It will be around 12 hours 45 minutes. we drove on I-17 and I40 till we reach CA border from Camp Verde, AZ. we stayed at Needles, CA for night.
while driving back, we started seeing sun set at 5:40 PM, Arizona time. it like that for more than an hour to complete turn into dark. it was one of the awesome evening drives i had so far. one can see very good sun set view while driving on I-40 West.

Last Day:
we started early in the morning by evening we were home.

Information about the cops where i spotted many on Freeways:
I would have seen at least 25-30 cops on the roads i drove. i was not sure what was happening. i am adding this information so that in case one of you drive these places, can pay attention. i saw cops near Bakersfield while approaching and leaving, 1-2 hours before reaching CA 58 on I-40, I have not found anyone got tickets on I-5, But i saw many cops waiting along the road. Interestingly, i would have spotted at least 8-10 places where cops were giving tickets, most of the places are 10 miles of inward or outward direction of city limits.

Oahu : Sept, 2010

Oahu

we stayed near Waikiki area. we spent more than half day in Waikiki beach. it was the best beach i went so far. it really awesome beach, blue water beach. many shops just across the road , restaurants, and even mall.

After lunch we headed to Waikiki beach, stayed till sun set. we purchased fold able mat, rented an umbrellas and surfing board & water ring. its so much fun with water ring. we swam and played a lot. Native Hawaiian cultural program was organized in the evening. It so refreshing sitting and watching in the evening especially after we tired so much.

Next day we went to Kauloa ranch, it is less than an hour from Honolulu. more than an hour from Waikiki. The ranch terrain varies from dense rainforest to broad open valleys and from beautiful white sand beaches to verdant cliff faces. It is truly a paradise for outdoor recreation with many places accessible only by horseback, on an all terrain vehicle, or by hiking.
There are two major areas of the ranch: the northern half of the ranch including Ka'a'awa Valley which contains most of the movie locations sites, and the southern half that includes Hakipu`u Valley, the 800 year-old Moli'i fishpond, and Secret Island. If the ranch's views look familiar, that's because Kualoa Ranch has been the site of many television shows and Hollywood films such as Jurassic park, Windtalkers, Pearl Harbor, Godzilla, Tears of the Sun and 50 First Dates. TV shows include Hawaii Five-O, Magnun P.I. and, most recently, the hit show LOST.
we did RTV and movie set tours. RTV is fun. movie set tour is OK. But Ranch has so much scenery. Green hills, flat grass lands and one side is open to pacific ocean appears as blue back ground.

we also spent time in Hanauma nature preserve. it is very sandy beach. water is very clear even by standing in water we can the bottom. one can see coral with couple of feet from shore. that makes Hanauma is the very best snorkeling spot in oahu.

we just missed the pirates-4 shooting by few days. as they completed shooting in oahu few days before we landed in Oahu. shooting took place koko kai state park next to Hanauma bay in Oahu and on Napali coast in island Kaua'i.

Big Island : 3 days in Sept, 2010.

Big Island

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

we landed in Kona airport in the night. we stayed in kona area for the night. after breakfast in the next morning we started to Hilo for our flight to catch to hawaii volcanoes NP.
Kona to hilo route is really awesome. within 3 hours drive there is a lot of difference in landscapes. tropical gardens, old lava eruptions, water falls, beaches on side.


we took 1 hour helicopter trip for volcanoes national park. we did not see much red lava. except where it joins oceans. by the time we went in only two places it is visible. one at inside national park and another where it joins ocean. as there was big eruption inside park there was big volcanic gas spread across the volcanoe NP. we could go there by chopper instead we went to place where joins Ocean. we saw only in few places. But overall chopper trip is really good. seeing Hilo beaches and city from top is awesome view. How lava is spread across the Big Island, especially in Hilo area. we can see destroyed homes.

After that we went to Hawaii Volcanoes national park. it may not be so magnifient as yellow stone. But It has its own beauty. live volcanoes. there are many volcanoes in Big Island.
we stayed there till sunset to watch Red lava glow in the night. it was one of the high ligts of our trip. it has to watch. there was big volcanic gas explosion when we were there. so, they closed all trails leading to volcano.

Next Day moring we went to Tropical garden. we really enjoyed a lot. there were many plants i did not see before they are beutiful. we both are from a village baackground, so we love plantation a lot. it was a feast to our eyes. it was first time i learnt, there will be many various flowers from Ginger plants and they are so beautiful with different color. next thing i am unable to resist to mention here, i saw flowered banana tree, banana will form as a flower.


after spending couple of hours in the morning in tropical garden, we went to zoo, spent rest of the evening on richardson beach park. it was so nice in the evening. it was fun watching lone surfer in the ocean. water is not that cold. But we could not enter into water.

Just for the information:
1. There is an iscan temple in Big island.
2. we went to one viatnam hotel near hilo airport road. it was one of the best fried rice have eaten.


Next day we started in the morning to Wailley Valley lookout view. it was heavy rain on the way and in valley. Valley was not so clear, But Very scenic view. if we could not go into valley, as we don't have time. But i recommend to all if you go there, plan to go wailley valley beach, horse back ride might be more fun.

Then we satrted to Kona airport. we stopped at another beach on the way to airport. we stayed in the beach longer than we suppose to stay. and eventually we missed our flight to Maui.
we went to maui on next flight.
Some how i liked beaches on Kona side of Big island. white sand, black sand beaches.