We checked off Canyonlands from the 5 national parks in Utah. Previous years we’ve been to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and now Canyonlands. Now Dave and I just need to visit Arches together, which we’ll do next summer. But for now, lemme talk about Canyonlands.
First of all, it was our first road trip with a baby and driving was definitely the least fun part. Simon did pretty well but we listed to “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto like 7819024789328 times and you bet Dave and I know every word. Even once we made it to the park, there was still quite a bit of driving because Canyonlands is so vast. It’s the biggest national park in Utah. At one point Dave said he thought it was his new favorite national park. We only visited the “Island in the Sky” section because it was the easiest to visit but it had a super cool landscape where it really feels like you’re on an island or plateau with canyons down below on all sides. It would be so cool to go backpacking here but there is no way I would do that with a baby😅
We found a campsite at one of the campgrounds near the park and it was a perfect little place to set up our tent and grill some hotdogs. Simon is really starting to walk and just wants a hand to hold so he can explore where ever he wants.
See, isn’t the name fitting?^
We would have liked to go on more hikes, but Canyonlands has many stopping points you can get of your car and enjoy the views from, which is nice when a long hike with Simon would take forever because really he just wants to do it himself.
His grumpy face lol^
He loves stairs! He walks up them like an adult and puts one foot on a stair and the other foot on the next stair without putting both feet on the same stair.
We did bring the carrier and he was chill in it for a little while.
We hiking the Mesa Arch trail to one of the most iconic views in Canyonlands. It was a perfect little baby hike. Unfortunately, I don’t know how much Simon really understood how amazing it was.
The next day we hiked the White Rim Overlook Trail. A park ranger was giving a lesson about the history of the place and it was pretty mind boggling. At one point, it was an inland sea. At another, it was swampy like Louisiana.
The littlest semi-happy camper. I’m 85% sure the whole trip was worth it 😅 Just kidding, the photos make it at least 99% worth it. Cheers to still getting out and doing stuff.
