The Southwest of the USA have many sights to offer but you do not have infinite vacation plus not all of them are as good as the others. This is a short guide about the locations you should check out. I have been at all of them and must say, they are breathtaking :-). They made me an USA fan. Can’t wait to go there again :-).

Zion National Park includes one hundred fifty thousand acres of canyon country. It is located at the east side of St. George in Utah. It includes the narrow and vibrant Kolob Canyons along the north as well as the huge dense mountain. Most travelers tend to come to Zion National Park just to visit Zion Canyon.

With the numerous ecological marvels in Utah, Zion Canyon is the most magnificent with its red and white granite cliffs that soar up to two thousand five hundred feet from the North Fork in the Virgin River. You can enjoy visitor amenities and the best viewpoints. If you are into hiking, you can take pleasure in different hiking trails including ten-minute easy strolls and the more difficult trails for the trained hikers. Zion provides the most variety of hiking trails in all of the national parks. This includes the well-known Narrows Trail located at the upper part of the Virgin River. Many panoramic views along the canyons await the visitors.

You can reach the Zion main canyon by state highway 9 that continues to the east through a tunnel going to Mount Carmel Junction, to Bryce Canyon National Park.

The Grand Canyon and Yosemite are part of the Southwest National Parks. Starting the year 2000, Zion National Park introduced access to free shuttle tours from Springdale town.

Grand Canyon in the South Rim of Arizona is overcrowded and expensive and there can be problems with accommodation and parking spaces. However, thousands of tourists still flock to the Grand Canyon because of it is one of the most popular natural tourist attractions in the United States of America.

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands

Canyonlands National Park includes the large area of rock formations located in the Southeast of Utah, surrounded by the Green and the rivers of Colorado. Different astonishing rock formations with various colors are carved by millions of years of combined rivers and small streams. Canyons, spires, buttes, mesas, arches and countless stunning rock formations make up the five hundred square miles of the national park. Since 1964, the Canyonlands was selected to be a national park. Because some areas are inaccessible, the best way to explore Canyonlands is through overnight hikes and 4WD motor vehicle.

The mountains in the western Sierra Nevada in central California are the location of Yosemite National Park. The area consists of countless forests, meadows, lakes and granite peaks with the sceneries of Alpine. Through the Yosemite Valley runs the Merced River. You can easily access various picnic spits, trails and viewpoints.

I suggest that you explore other areas of the Yosemite National Park and enjoy the well-preserved wilderness with perfect sceneries. Other Sierra national parks are the Sequoia and the Kings Canyon.

In Yosemite National Park, you can see the three groves of huge sequoia trees and two groves around Crane Flat. In the southwest area near the Wawona private village, the most well-known Mariposa Grove of Big Trees are located. Around the protected hillsides of the national park, there are more than four hundred massive sequoias, including the Grizzly Giant, which is known to be the largest and is almost three thousand years old.

If you are going to the South-West of the USA then you will probably want to see some of the national parks there. There are plenty of them and perhaps you do not have time to check out all of them. This is a short guide to help you with choosing good parks which you wanna visit. I recommend you to take at least 3 weeks of holidays, else it might not be relaxing. You need to drive a lot, although compared to the size of the States, all parks are relatively close together. But, I always prefer to not rush from park to park… I have been in all parks which I described here in this article. All of them were fantastic :-). I must however say that I liked Zion most…

The Riverside Trail in Zion

If you are going to Zion National Park from Las Vegas, you can take I-15 north to UT 9 then take Highway number 9. The one hundred fifty-mile trip can be done for about two and a half to three hours. If you are coming from Salt Lake City, take I-15 south to Torqueville exit or exit 27. Just follow SR 17 to Highway 9 then turn left to the Zion National Park. The three hundred mile-trip takes approximately five to six hours. Once you are there and have some time to spare: you need an hour and a half travel from Zion National Park to the Chamberlain’s Ranch. It is just a one-way hike so parking your car at the visitor’s center is necessary then just drive your car to the Chamberlain’s Ranch. I can also suggest taking the shuttle. When I was entering the park it was in the evening, it was already dark. It was just stunning to see the sharp and steam cliffs to the left and right. I still remember that my mother was really scared and wanted to turn to get out. It was just wow.

The Double O arch in Arches NP

The next park which I really liked is around 1500 miles to the East of Zion. Arches National Park is one of the world’s biggest places of natural sandstone arches. It has the most fantastic and inspiring landscapes. The park contains different wonderful ecological formations including huge balanced rocks, sandstone fins and towering peaks. Various trails for hiking enthusiasts and viewpoints will definitely charm the tourists. The park also has many geological histories.

You can explore the Arches National Park in different ways. Tourists can enjoy the wonders of the park just by passing the area but if you want to take the pleasure of experiencing the hiking trails better, you must spend one or more days. You can choose from a wide variety of famous activities such as hiking, photography, auto touring and biking.

The largest park in Utah is the Canyonlands national park that has diverse scenic locations. Three districts divide the Canyonlands by Colorado Rivers and Green. These districts are the Needles, the Island in the Sky and the Maze, which have different characteristics to offer.

The Island in the Sky is the part of the park that is located at the top of a huge one thousand five hundred feet mesa. Most of the best views along Canyon Country can be visited by twenty miles of smooth roads. You can enjoy the scenic view of thousands of square miles of the Canyon Country area from these viewpoints. As I visited Canyonlands, I spent the whole afternoon just enjoying the sunset. I recommend that you do the same, or you can also take a short-day hike.

Canyonlands on its best (dad on the right)

The Needles got its name from the wonderful sandstone spires from the ground. It is a ten-mile drive with perfect scenery. The adventure lovers can enjoy different astounding terrains. Grabens, arches, canyons and magnificent rock formations lie ahead for backpackers, hikers and 4WD lovers.

The Maze is known to be the wildest area in the Canyonlands National Park because of its remoteness and inaccessibility. The Maze is composed of puzzling canyons so if you are searching for serenity and adventure; the Maze is the best place for you.

Besides the Canyonlands National Parks and the Arches, you can also try hiking to the Moab area, which has numerous trails for everybody’s’ taste. You can experience the cool hikes in the stream-side and the wonderful sandstone arches. Moab is the town where you probably got your hotel anyways, so that is a good idea :-).

After visiting Arches National park yesterday the last national park close to Moab I have not visited yet is Canyon Lands national park. I woud like to provide you with a short review of Canyon Lands. so that you can decide whether it is worth your time to check it out or not.

Here a Canyonlands national park picture (click to enlarge):

Check this link for more information on geographic aspects and history of the park. Also check out this link.

Canyonlands national park is around 25 miles from Moab and I recommend you to get some gasoline before heading towards Canyonlands. There is no gas station in or in front of the park. Just get your gasoline in Moab and not on the highway because in my case Moab’s gas prices were 20 cent cheaper per gallons.

When you enter Canyonlands national park you will encounter a Visitor center on your right side. You can not compare it with the visitor center in Arches and Bryce Canyon as it did not contain a lot of information as was not well made.

I took the road to the end of Canyonlands national park and then took the Grand View Point trail. It is around 1 mile and upon reaching the end you will encounter a beautiful view over the plateau, cliffs and valley below. I definitely recommend you to take the trail as it is a very extreme experience and you will see nature on its best.

On the way to back to Moab, I stopped at the Upheaval Dome. There are several benches and it is a quite good place to rest and eat something. The benches are all in shadows of trees so that the climate is relatively fresh compared to the rest of the park.

A short conclusion of my Canyonlands national park review, it is worth the money. My rating: 9/10 points. I will be heading back to Moab now for which I also provided a short review. Check out my Cortez review which I will write tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed reading my review of Canyonlands national park :).