Southern Utah in 6 days

Well it was a whirlwind trip that included 7-8 national parks, about 45 miles of hiking, and more variety in landscape than you can shake a stick at. We had an absolute blast getting to many of the "must sees" of southern Utah at break-neck speed. Hopefully everyone had as much fun as I did. In interest of time and to spare you from my sorry captions, I'll cut back while trying to give you enough to know what's going on. Also, I'm doing this from memory so the names, facts and spellings might not be perfectly accurate. Videos and panoramic shots are coming in a post soon.


Balancing rock in Arches National Park.


Delicate arch, also in Arches Natl park. This is arch is (self-)proclaimed by Utah to be the world's most famous arch. It's the one you see on the Utah license plate. We got there around sunset and the colours of the stone really came out. You can see us below the arch in this pic.



Almost as interesting as delicate arch was the area around it. Here Austin and Michael did some nifty rock climbing to get up on this pedestal.


I thought this looked like a suitable throne until others noted its similarities to the porcelain variety.






How they spent most mornings. The first night I slept in between the two because of their homophobia. After getting pummeled like a punching bag, I vowed never to do that again. These guys were the most violent sleepers ever. You can see Michael clutching my black sleeping bag. I'm just glad that by this time I was no longer in it.



Sipapu Bridge - the world's 2nd longest natural bridge. Second only to Rainbow bridge on Lake Powell. It took some tricky rock climbing to get up on here, which we later learned was illegal. (Really, it was later.) 89 feet thick in the middle I think.


Same bridge seen above from different angle.


While reviewing this picture Austin shouted out, "Man, that guy's buff." We all assumed he was referring to Mark's forearms as it seemed the only thing worthy of such a compliment.


Me in front of Owachamo Bridge. Only 9 feet thick in the middle.


Owachamo again.


Michael cliff jumping at Lake Powell. We got some sweet insider information at the dock from one of the locals. It went something like, "Well you can't do cliff jumping here...but if I were to go I would climb over those two hills there and try in Cluffy Bay." For parental reassurance we checked the water below carefully before each jump.


Austin leaps.


We ended up taking many dirt roads to get around and saw lots of landscape that many probably don't see. This is one example.


At one of the local restaurants we ate at. Austin felt that this warning was too close to home and declined being a part of this picture.


The view from altitude (10960 feet) at Devil/Donkey checkpoint (?). We descended from here down into Green Lake where we camped.


Green Lake. I liked the sun rays.


Jen always makes fun of me for my "TV face." It looks a lot like this. I guess men just look dumb when they're mesmerized by something.


FIRE!!!


Green Lake at night.


Cool rock formations in Bryce Canyon or Red Canyon - they came one after the other.




Mark, Michael, Austin, and me (Scott) at 11,200 feet in full regalia.


With our packs.


Austin, Michael, and Mark in front of Blind Lake. There was a scout camping near there who might have had appendicitis. I told a couple other scouts how to diagnose it. Hopefully he made it out ok... I'm not a doctor yet.


Buckskin Gulch. Apparently it's rated one of the top ten hikes in the world. It was very impressive. I took 80 pictures just of the canyon.


Michael.


Austin.


Evidence that flash floods can come through the canyon depositing drift wood well over our heads.





We encountered some technically difficult rock climbing along the way. There was a sign warning hikers at the beginning that only physically fit people should enter.


Cool mud splat that looks like a still shot of a live splash.


Michael wades through some water pools.


Austin tries to set new fashion trends.


Canyon walls got up to 500 feet tall with a 3 foot space between them.


Parched.



Plucky little tree accented the landscape nicely.


Cool rusty walls of stone.




My hiding spot in case of a flash flood; how did this thing get carved out anyways?


Less than three feet wide.


Overlook hike in Zion National Park.


On the way up Angel's Landing.


The sheer dropoffs were spookier than they look.


The final ascent.


Getting a little adrenaline rush.


You can see the chains we used to keep close to the mountain.


He risked a serious burn for this. I guess if you work out everyday and only flex in the mirror you've got to want to share the joy with others.


Steep ascent by switchbacks.


On Angel's Landing. I waited for a little while but none came.


Angel's Landing from the bottom looking up. We were on the highest little point.