I work full-time as a freelance writer/ author, and I recently landed another book contract on hiking in Utah. Though I've done many, many of Utah's hikes, I needed to take a research trip to gather GPS data and photos. So David and I packed the car (again) and headed back south from Montana. (Unfortunately, a lot of this - 1700 miles, in fact - was backtracking of recently driven roads... but I unfortunately found out about this project just a tad late.)
Over five days of hiking, we covered 16 trails all over southern Utah - and because of the associated amount of driving, we ended up running a lot of this.
We had set out to do 20 hikes on this trip, but I ended up coming down with some pretty undeniable pain in my right foot. And lest I wind up with stress fractures, we decided to play it safe and pull the plug a little early. After all, summer is right around the corner!
Below is a photo from each hike/ area:
ZION NATIONAL PARK
Gooseberry Mesa
Angel's Landing
Emerald Pools Trail
Watchman Trail
Canyon Overlook Trail
RED CANYON
Losee Canyon (to Cassidy Trail)
Arches Trail
BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK
Queen's Garden, Navajo Loop, Rim Trail
GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT
Escalante River to Natural Bridge
Calf Creek Falls
CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK
Chimney Rock Loop (*trip favorite*)
Cassidy Arch Trail
Golden Throne Trail
Cohab Canyon
DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK
Rim Trial with Overlooks
ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
Delicate Arch Trail
FISHER TOWERS RECREATION AREA
Fisher Towers Trail