Kolob Canyon in Zion National Park

After leaving California, we drove the few hours, through the Mojave Desert, to Las Vegas. Our plan was to stay here one night on our way to Utah. I went to Vegas on a previous family vacation in 2004 but it was so different than I remember. It seemed smaller, somehow, and kind of depressing. Funny how 12 years can really change a person’s perspective. I decided while we were there I didn’t like it. It served its purpose though. We had a night at the Flamingo and Jordan and I had dinner at The Yard House, which was delicious. I played one penny slot and then we went to bed. It sounds lame, but after being in Yosemite and Sequoia, I wasn’t ready for such intense civilization.

The next morning we got up early and hit the road. It was time to enter the second part of our awesome trip: Utah’s Might Five! Our original plan was to just hit four. But with our close proximity to Zion National Park, we had to do all five.

The Kolob Canyon entrance to Zion was basically on the way to Bryce Canyon.

We stopped for a short hike in Kolob Canyon called the Timber Creek Overlook Trail. The trail was about one mile RT to a nice overlook of Timber Creek, Kolob Terrace, and the Pine Valley Mountains.

Utah was hot and dry. It was so different from the climate in California! I loved it. We only spent about an hour and half in Zion. We hopped back in the car and drove to Bryce Canyon, our next destination. Jordan and I were running the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon the next day so we wanted to pick up our packets. To get to the pick up location, we drove part of the course. It was incredible.