High Southwest: National Park Central (Sept 2021)

Itinerary:

Denver –> Mt Sherman –> Leadville, CO –> Crested Butte, CO –> Black Canyon –> Ouray, CO –> Moab, UT –> Bryce Canyon –> Antelope Canyon –> Grand Canyon –> Phoenix

Despite the fact that this trip was in the US, and I was already familiar with a handful of the spots, I don’t think I’ve ever prepared for a trip as much as this one. The route was painstakingly traced out in order to maximize fun and minimize driving, and I think we did a pretty decent job of it. The terrain made the driving amazing, regardless.

After flying into Denver on a redeye flight, our first priority (after coffee) was finding an easy hike to acclimate to the higher altitudes. Our first stop was to hike the Chief and Papoose Mountains, an easy and well-trafficked hike summiting at 11,709′.

Athea heading down from the Mt. Sherman summit

Next day was when the real adventure started. Although I’ve done some hiking in Colorado, I’d never done a 14er, so I looked into the easiest one to do – and Mt Sherman, with the access route starting in the city of Leadville, came up. With one day to acclimate, I certainly wouldn’t call our climb “easy” by any means, but it was a great intro 14er hike with views of an old mine, neighboring 14ers, and even a mountain goat!

Next day was when the real adventure started. Although I’ve done some hiking in Colorado, I’d never done a 14er, so I looked into the easiest one to do – and Mt Sherman it was. With one day to acclimate, I certainly wouldn’t call it “easy” by any means, but it was a great hike with views of an old mine, neighboring 14ers and even a mountain goat!

Yes these bikes were extremely heavy!

We had thrown around the idea of trying out another 14er the next day – possibly Huron Peak – but while driving home through Leadville, saw an advertisements for e-bike rentals. We had read about some good trails in the area, so seemed worth it to check out! While nothing fancy, the Mineral Belt trail was a scenic ride along a paved trail that has once connected a number of now abandoned mines. There were small non-technical mountain bike trails that branched off the main trail, which provided a little more adrenaline as well.

After Leadville we visited Crested Butte, which was definitely the highlight of Colorado for me. The Crested Butte mountain bike park was the first bike park I had ever been to, and everything came together – perfect weather, great trails and almost no other riders on a Tuesday morning. Since we had the whole day, we took the highest lift up first, where we only had to hike an additional 2500′ to the summit of Crested Butte Peak (12,162′). The views from the top were incredible, as Crested Butte dominates the entire valley around it. The biking that followed was amazing, with a great network of intermediate/advanced trails with the views of Crested Butte in the background.

Next up after Crested Butte was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park – our first national park of the trip. While hiking there, we also got a visit from some rain for the first time. After visiting the park and doing a handful of the short hikes, we headed down to Ouray – a beautiful town that still retains much of the character of a late 1800s mining boom town. In the mist and rain that persisted while we were there, it almost felt like I was back in Southeast Alaska. Unfortunately, the weather was such that hiking nearby wasn’t really an option, so we stayed in and rested up for the next stage of our trip.

From Ouray we made the longest day drive of the entire trip, heading out to Moab, UT for 5 days of adventure. We were able to get in early enough in the afternoon to visit Arches National Park and make the hike out to Delicate Arch – despite my visits to Arches, I had never made it out that way.

Moab, UT

The next day we headed out to Moab, UT for 4 days of the following:
– Mountain Biking at Navajo Rocks: only 30 minutes outside of Moab, the 20-mile mountain bike loop had an incredible diversity of routes, from red dirt to long runs on painted slickrock. On the northern side trails, the route is framed by an incredible mesa and hoodoos throughout.

– National Parks (Arches and Canyonlands): just a great series of hikes, including Delicate Arch, Mesa Arch, the Grand View Point trail, and Upheaval Dome


– Hiking Mount Peale (highest point in the La Sal Mountains at 12,726′): After driving about 10 miles up a 4×4 trail, we started this hike in a meadow teeming with free-range cows. A beautiful, although steep climb through the forest at first, this quickly gave way to one of the worst talus fields I have ever had to navigate. Although there were epic views at the top, it’s not a hike I would do again.

Bryce Canyon

After finishing up in Moab, the next stop was Bryce Canyon. Although the park lies at 8000′ elevation, the forecast was still predicting 90 degree weather by midday, so we decided to head out by 6 AM – coincidentally, it also had the great bonus of allowing us to arrive there in time to watch the sunrise from Sunrise Point. We stood there for about 20 minutes watching the sun slowly creep above the horizon, and then began the 3-mile Queen’s Garden/Navajo Loop trail. This hike was incredible, with completely different views around every corner.
After completing the hike, we did a couple other short hikes along the road, but nothing rivalled the incredible views on this first morning trip.

Buckskin Gulch

Antelope Canyon / Page, AZ

As our trip began to draw to a close, we looked forward to the last main stop – the town of Page in the north side of Arizona. Page is nestled next to two of the most significant sights in Arizona: the Antelope Canyon slot canyon, and Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River. The city lies near the border of Navajo land, which allowed us to book an airBnB with an incredibly friendly Navajo couple. It was fascinating, but tragic to hear their account of being taken advantage of by the US government or private industries over the years. Unfortunately, this trend continues into the new century as other states seek to develop their expansive desert lands into solar energy farms.

Both Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon are within a 10-minute drive from Page, and accessible with minimal hiking. While Horseshoe Bend is open, Antelope Canyon requires reservations with a local tour guide, especially important due to the potential for rapid flash flooding in the canyon. Trips to both the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon sections are available, and there seem to be a lot of mixed opinions on which one is preferable. We waited until 3 weeks out to book, so were only able to book a tour on the Lower Canyon – but it was incredible on what was another beautiful, sunny day.

The “Pocahantas” feature at Antelope
Sunrise at Horseshoe Bend

Grand Canyon

The final stop on our trip was the Grand Canyon, conveniently only about an hour from Page. I had visited it several times before, but it was Athea’s first time visiting this magnificent feature. Given the heat (it got up to 99 F that day), we didn’t venture too far into the rim, but enjoyed about 8 miles of hiking along the top with small side hikes into the south side of the canyon. Hopefully the next time we visit is on a raft!

Kodachrome Basin State Park (Honorable Mention)

We did stop at a number of additional side adventures through the trip (including Capitol Reef NP and additional side hikes), but of all of them, I think Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah was one of the most interesting and surprisingly underrated. I love checking out state parks (often less crowded than national parks, but having their own charm). Kodachrome Basin makes a perfect side trip from Bryce Canyon, especially if staying in the towns of Tropic or Cannonville–we were staying in Cannonville for the night, so we decided to head out this way for the sunset. Great views were attainable with minimal hiking on the Angel’s Palace trail, and if we had brought bikes down from Alaska, there appeared to be a great network of mountain bike trails as well. Someday we’ll be able to tour the American Southwest with our own bikes… sigh.

All in all, this was an amazing trip that exceeded my expectations, thanks primarily to the weather cooperating for the entire time. I already can’t wait to go back and explore this area!