National
Parks USA 2025
After the winter at home in NZ we departed Sept 13, flying via San Francisco to Las Vegas. Business class on the United 777-200 was a good experience apart from the food where they missed the mark by a pretty sizable margin. The 12-hour flight was mainly smooth, a few “seat belts” lights but no significant turbulence. Managed a few sleep intervals and arrived at SF on time and feeling in pretty good shape. No regrets at all on our decision two years ago to elevate our long-distance flights to seats a bit closer to the front of the plane.
We'd had a few concerns and heard horror stories about the reception we might get in Trump’s new America. We’d heard of people whose phones were examined by Immigration Officials for
evidence of anti the current regime sentiments. Fortunately that didn’t happen for us
and the trip through bag collection and immigration took less than an
hour, but there were some pretty long queues as we lined up for finger printing and entry
questioning.
We’d
allowed about six hours between arrival time and the connecting flight to Las Vegas, so were able
to relax in the United Polaris lounge for the wait. United definitely got that bit of their service right.
Viva Las Vegas
For peak
season, the place didn’t seem overly busy. That said there were planes
departing and arriving in almost constant streams. It was just a short cab ride to our
accommodation at the Desert Rose. I was a bit surprised when they took a US$250 security deposit for accommodation we’d paid for months ago, but it did disappear from the credit card just a few days later. Apart from that irritating little issue the motel was well-located and had a great pool to escape from the warm
temperatures outside. We had just two nights here so we decided we’d put up with
the lingering “there’s been a smoker in here” aroma we found accompanying our room.
No
restaurant at Desert Rose, so we wandered down the road to Dennys for a casual
meal. We immediately ran into the reality of the huge servings at American meals. We said no to a “doggy bag” and went home and crashed for a really good sleep. We needed to provision up for breakfast so resorted to Google maps to find the nearest 7/11 first thing next morning.
The 6-minute walk, turned out to be by car, so we enjoyed a very warm 60 minute 'stroll' through the somewhat tired-looking LV streets to organise our breakfast fare. After breakfast we were off to visit the famous sights of Las Vegas.
It was certainly a good refuge from the 35C heat and gave some respite from the 17 km we walked in this day. We went right to the end and back, enjoying the great views before setting off on a walk to explore the sights: Paris, Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, and the Forum retail area.
A visit to see the flamingos, which were a favourite of Mum's proved to be less spectacular than it may have been in the past.
However the grandeur of the casino surrounds was
impressive, pictures speak louder than words, so they can tell the story. The casinos were busy, but not overly so, and some patrons have very close ties to
their machine of choice. We did see one pretty spectacular win come up with great
fanfare as we wandered past. The $20 000 on the screen didn’t excite the
player, there wasn’t even a smile from him to accompany the jangles and flashing lights.
Nothing was particularly crowded, but everyone seemed to be having a really good time. I was surprised that for our whole time in Vegas I didn’t see a MAGA hat, and just one TRUMP labelled hat appeared for the whole time we were in the city. We enjoyed the replica Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, the extraordinary Bellagio conservatory with themed gardens and the Bellagio glass-flowered ceiling, a huge hand-blown glass sculpture piece named “Fiori Di Como,” made by famed artist, Dale Chihuly. It is made of over 2,000 brightly-colored glass flowers and weighs over 40,000 pounds. The brightly coloured art piece covers 2,100 sq. ft. of the Bellagio lobby ceiling and cost $10 million to create. Reputedly no two flowers are identical.
Then to Caesar's Palace with statues of Caesar and Cleopatra, among others
Home for a break and swim before heading back to the Strip for the evening sights. We dined at a crepe café in the Paris Hotel
The Sphere, a theatre in the shape of a huge ball, was also particularly impressive as it illuminated as a 100 % screen, day and night.
Picking up our rental car was a treat. It was great to be an Avis Preferred customer, and my best yet experience of it. We turned up to see quite long queues at the Avis counter; however, I noticed a big screen for Avis Preferred customers, and I looked up to see S Nelson B17 Level 1 so off I went, leaving Ann to mind the bags. I found B17, and then discovered the car was ready to go, all that was required was to show the guy on the exit gate my Drivers Licence. Up and away in a matter of minutes. No contracts to sign, just fantastic service.
The Mazda CX 5 sedan was good apart from the usual configuration with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Getting out of town was really easy, straight onto SH 15 and a drive north out of Nevada, touching Arizona, then into Utah, first destination Zion National Park.
We drove through,
dry rocky countryside, with just one stop to set ourselves up with some
breakfast supplies and walking snacks and to stock up on “Night and Day” cold
management products. A Walmart Home store provided all that and included a
lunch bar to boot.
The Plan
Drive from Las Vegas to Zion National Park, then to Bryce Canyon, Arches, Monument Valley and finally the Grand Canyon. Return via Williams to Las Vegas . The map below nearly captures it and you can see more detail in the second image
There are plenty of references to the formation of these spectacular landforms in this blog. The following diagram provides a useful reference point.
Zion National Park
The first
on our National Park list was Zion and we stayed at Springdale, a village just
outside the park but included on the Park visitors' shuttle run. We could leave
our car at the motel and do our travel into the park by shuttle bus, which saves alot of parking hassle.
Our first
requirement was an America The Beautiful pass which gives access to the national parks across the USA, lasts for a year and at US$80 is a very economical way to get
multiple park access. Our first afternoon included a
call at the Zion Visitors' Centre to check out the history and sort our programme for
the next day’s access.
We chatted with other visitors from Washington State over dinner at Oscars, again trying to pick small meals from the menu. The simplest burger did hit the spot. and the views as the sun set over our motel provided a spectacular introduction to Zion.
Breakfast was provided next morning and again it was a bit tricky to get a small enough breakfast. That was bacon and eggs and don’t eat the fries!!
We departed early on the shuttle for our first riverside walk at the far end of the canyon and were able to complete that in the shade before the sun managed to find our side of the canyon. Many people were heading out on the Narrows walk which is mostly wading thigh-deep in the boulders of the river but we decided to pass on that!
Zion is an eroded canyon, settled in European history by Mormon Homesteaders looking to build a life and sustenance. It’s a very spectacular valley with steep, high escarpments on both sides.
We walked the valley floor in several parts of the valley. and admired the towering canyon escarpments. The river flow was quite low, but this is a part of the country where the catchments are so huge that relatively small rainfall events or thunderstorms can cause significant flash flooding. Thankfully we didnt get to experience that aspect of the climate.
The park is a geologically complex area, formed over millions of years. The waterfalls and associated Emerald pools were less than spectacular given low water flows and certainly not emerald, but the walking gave a good insight into how the valley was formed.
Next stop for us was Bryce Canyon NP. We departed mid-afternoon, driving north through more of Zion NP initially and then through more equally dry country.
Bryce Canyon National Park
For Bryce, we stayed outside the NP at another small village called Tropic. You can see it in the backgound of this shot from Rainbow Point, one of the high spots on the ampitheatre rim.
We breakfasted early and were back to do our rim walks at Bryce while the morning was still cool. We weren’t quite early enough for the sunrise viewing at Sunrise Point, but were able to get some shots showing just how spectacular the light is in the stark environment.
Bryce is an amphitheatre, again millions of years old , where the features are remnants of the eroded valley floor called Hoodoos. These are columns of the remnant sediment, very close together and covering a large part of the amphitheatre.
The rim walk include some pretty steep sections, and discretion being the better part of valour, we reformed our plan and used the shuttle to reposition back to the car after our initial rim We then drove to a number of vantage points around the rim.
The views were spectacular and more, and we saw wildlife, especially squirrels and deer browsing besirde the road.
The highest part of the park accessible by road, Rainbow Point, was 9120ft
After our gazing at the view there we retreated to do the washing and enjoy a coffee and frappe at the cafe just down from our motel.
For dinner we couldn’t get an outside table at the restaurant, so we said no to the inside table with the loud live music very close by, and opted for a pizza place just down the road.
To Moab
The drive to Moab for our next visit was about six hours and we took the option driving of the scenic route rather than the fastest road. We were travelling in very interesting country, scenically and historically. The trip took us over a couple of ranges, past Powells Point, Escalante, to a small town called Torrey. Powell was responsible for exploring and surveying much of the areas, it was all very dry, tough country.
One lot of Mormon settlers, sent with wagons to establish a new settlement, planned for a six-week trip to get to their destination, and in fact they stopped some 12 miles short to get their crops in the ground. And in fact that was six months into their six week trip.
There were no roads, and wagons had to be winched over many of the bouldery hills. The town of Boulder received its mail by mule train until 1940. Amongst the bouldery hills we found Kiva Koffeehouse, a café established by a very entrepreneurial family and we stopped for a flat white and a latte. These aren’t common in the USA. Stunning views!
There is a
smattering of farming and horticulture and quite a bit of free-range cattle
grazing, evidenced by cattle stops and occasional corrals but who knows what the stock eat!
The driving was quite varied along the scenic route, and the occasional “hog back” ridge gave us some pretty spectacular views down, on both sides of the road.
Once we got past Torrey, it was much more open country, most of it with Mormon settlement history. We saw remnants of Mormon townships, such as one called Fruita, with remnant orchards, and one tiny cottage, the Behunin Cabin that apparently housed 15 family members.
The rivers were small, the country very dry and flat as we did the next couple of hours to Moab.
Friends, Mari
and Joe, had come across from Denver to do the Arches NP visit with us and we
met up at the motel, mid-afternoon. Ann and Mari had worked together in
Melbourne and we had met up in San Diego with them in 2018. So we had a catch
up on news and a visit to the supermarket and the grog shop for supplies.
Moab’s
claim to fame, besides its proximity to Arches NP is that it was once the
Uranium capital of the USA. The mine closed down in the 70’s.
Arches National Park
We took a drive into the park to get our bearings and work out a programme for some walking and sightseeing for the next day.
This massive area formed during geological activities millions of years ago. For example part of the landscape of this park is a collapsed valley, Salt Valley. A massive layer of salt was deposited as a result of frequent inundation by the sea. Evaporation of the seawater lead to a layer of salt, hundreds of feet thick being deposited. Subsequent activities lead to deposits of many more overlaying sedimentary layers. Then fresh water infiltrating the sediment eroded the salt and collapsed the overlaying sedimentary rock layers forming a valley.
There are more than 200 arches in this park that have formed when water infiltration into layers that vary in porosity causes layers to split apart. Over long periods of time lower layers drop out to create free standing arches. This dynamic process is ongoing and continually changes the landscape even today.
On our first sortie we visited Windows Arches and Balanced Rock, and had an introduction to the Three Gossips and the Sheep.
Balanced Rock used to have a similar but smaller structure behind it referred to as the 'chip off the old block'. That however collapsed in 1974, the pile of rubble is still there but the picture tells the story. The top piece of Balanced Rock is estimated to weigh about 3000 tonnes.
Next morning we got away early for our with 7 am timed entry. Our first walk was to view Delicate Arch, a widely used and recognised symbol of Utah and this park.
The walk up to the viewing point had lots of green-tinged rock which I thought was likely to be chromium or copper, but no, these were caused by illite and chlorite, both iron compounds and formed in Jurassic times, when the park was greener and home to dinosaurs.
Our next port of call was the Fiery Furnace, red and fractured rocks, such a chaotic shambles that you need a ranger guide to explore it,
on then to Skyline Arch and the Sand Dune Arch, accessed through a narrow passage between tall vertical rocks.
We kept our walking to non-hazardous paths which suited both Ann and Mari who had had a recent Achilles injury. Joe and I did a few extra bits on each walk to get a better view or a better picture such as at Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch.
Then on to Panorama Point which provided shelter to accompany the views over lunch.
Quite amazing that much of the development of this area was impacted by inflowing oceans, and we are in the middle of the USA. Tectonic Plate movements was also an influential part of the Parks' changing over millions of years.
Overall this was a great day's exploration: 14,000 steps for me and 17,000 for Steve. Despite warnings we were able to get a carpark at every place and really enjoyed sharing the time with Mari and Joe.
Early the following
day we headed south towards Monument Valley, and Mari and Joe headed back to
Denver. Travelling south on HW 191 was easy driving. We stopped at Two Rocks café
for a jug of coffee.
HW 163 then took us on to our next experience in Navajo Nation.
Monument Valley Navajo Nation
We stopped at the signposted Forrest Gump viewing point and took a photo or two of Sentinel Mesa on the north edge of Monument Valley. Some will recall this view from the Forrest Gump movie, it’s the point at which he decides all is well with the world and stops his journey to head home.
We went on into Monument Valley and drove through to see the sights. Some have great names like the Left and Right Mitten buttes on the left of the image below.
The road is unsealed, hard and rocky in places, and soft and dusty in others. We didn't envy those sightseers in the open dune buggies. Not a difficult road by NZ standards and handled well by the Mazda. Very impressive mesa structures abound here.
If you watched Western movies at Saturday matinees as a child, you would see some familiar sights in this valley which provided their background for many westerns. John Wayne, who featured in many, called Monument Valley 'God's Treasure'.
After 17km of dust and bumps but dramatic rock structures emerging from the sand, we travelled on south to stay overnight at Kayenta, still in the middle of “dry” Utah. That’s not just the countryside, very difficult to get a beer as well. Ann's RTD Margaritas sufficed! There's a well-known cafe called Amigos in Kayenta, no booking system - just write your name on the sheet in the outside lobby and at certain points the door to the restaurant opens and the next group is ushered in. When our turn came we decided to try the famous Navajo taco Ann had read about: chilli pinto beans, lettuce, queso fresco and tomato on a puffy fried Navajo bread circle. Certainly not as spicy as we'd anticipated but when in Rome!!
Grand Canyon
We headed on further south in the morning for the last of our National Park visits. Cameron Trading Post on Highway 89, provided a good break for fuel and a coffee a couple of hours into the trip through yet more dry desert country. The trading post is a popular tourist and tourist bus stop with a huge range of souvenirs, mementos, Indian jewellery and art.
I resisted the urge to buy an ornate sheath
knife as a memento of this visit. In fact I’ve resisted the traditional pocket knife
purchase and restricted myself this time to a Wine friend corkscrew purchase in the Napa Valley.
The dining
room in the restaurant was very elaborate, with pressed metal ceilings and dark wood authentic to its 1918 origins, but a lovely
place to take a break.
Grand Canyon is a short drive from Cameron, through relatively flat country, with evidence of some steeply eroded canyons in the field of view close to the road. We entered through the Desert View entrance where the Mary Colbert-designed Desert View Watchtower is.
On our journey along Desert View Drive we took each opportunity to visit the viewpoints on the Canyon rim.
This is a massive valley which is absolutely integrated with the Colorado river which has been a part of its formation over millions of years. We attended a presentation given by one of the Ranger staff on the Canyon rim. She talked about the formation and the processes which have made this wonder of the world.
DUDE is the
acronym she used to explain the process, Deposition, Uplift, Downcutting and
Erosion. The deposition of sedimentary layers occurred here during inundations by the sea. Uplift of the Tectonic Plate subsequently formed the Colorado
Plateau. Downcutting occurred with the flow of the Colorado River winding its
course westward. Erosion then continued to enlarge the canyon.
We stayed in the South Rim Grand Canyon National Park and restricted our activities to the South Rim Trail, viewing the grandeur from numerous points on the next day as we walked and shuttled to Hermit's Rest at the other end of the trail.
The Canyon is 446 km long, averages 16 km across and is 1.8 km deep. The very muddy Colorado River looks insignificant from the viewing height of the rim, but it does have some very challenging rapids. It has been tamed somewhat by the Glen Canyon dam a few miles upstream, and the now-regulated flows, but it is still not to be underestimated.
The views are incredible, and sunrise and sunset make some fairly spectacular sights.
This was a great base right on the rim, built by Mary Colter, the architect who, in the early part of the 20th century, designed many of the buildings on the South Rim including the Desert View Watchtower imitating ancestral Puebloan towers, a series of cabin buildings where we stayed and Hermit's Rest reflecting a typical rustic mountain man's house!
The history of the canyon is fascinating. Early explorers launched into the Colorado River in wooden boats (Powell was strapped to a chair in the centre of his boat as he'd lost an arm in the Civil Wars). A memorial to him on Powell Point acknowledges his deeds, but not the man who left after the first rapid or the two other men who literally abandoned ship to walk out after some horrific experiences and were never seen again - all called 'deserters'!
The Kolb brothers had a photography studio near the village which we visited and saw more daunting images of their Colorado River journeys.
Mining was also attempted, both copper and uranium. In fact the rim trail goes inland at one point as there are still attempts to decontaminate the ground at the edge of the rim it. Transport logistics ended all these ventures and the surviving source of income was tourism, much as today.
The interpretive signage gives a good overview of the geology, the settlement and lives of the Indian locals, the mining, prospecting and establishment of this great National Park. While the pictures can't do anything that fully capture the scale, we have to rely on them to convey the story.
We did this
trip in a very good sequence, each of our National Park visits showed us some very
impressive sights, but Grand Canyon is the masterpiece, so we are pleased we
finished with it rather than starting the visits with this wonderful place.
Route 66
Getting
your kicks on Route 66 will be recalled by many as a Rolling Stones hit in the 60’s.
However Bobby Troup, a Jazz musician wrote the song in 1946, as he drove along route 66 heading to LA to make his fortune. The song has been
sung by many, including Chuck Berry. It was 1964 when the Rolling Stones used this
in their debut album and is my first memory of the classic.
We departed Grand Canyon and headed south to stay in Williams, on the forementioned Route 66.
The town had many shops full of Route 66 memorabilia. We were on the route for
just a short part of the trip, but it was a nice diversion and memory to have.
The drive
back to Las Vegas covered some interesting sights including a glimpse of the Hoover
Dam and its lake. We thought we might go for a view, but missed a turning and
getting back there wasn’t too attractive as we were on a flight departure
deadline.
It was intriguing
to see quite a few ramshackle rural developments in deserty, dry, treeless tracts
of land. The homes were a mix of tiny houses, trailers, sheds, with a
scattering of cars trucks and utes abounding. These 'developments' had just
dirt roads and generally a line of 40-50 letterboxes at the roadside. We didn’t
really get to understand what and who was happening, but none of it looked like
desirable living space, with not a tree or any other source of shade for cover.
Dropping
off the car was again really easy. We got a bit of a surprise when we turned up to the
United lounge for our flight. Sorry you can’t come in on your Business Class
ticket unless you are making an international connecting flight. A trap for
young players. So we found a Café/Bar near our departure gate, ordered the fries,
with truffle aoli and parmesan to share, a beer and a white wine, and comfortably
waited for our flight. Very happy with this part of our USA 2025 visit.
