Here is my review of the trip.
Walnut Canyon (outside Flagstaff) – small, but cool and would like to hike it if back in the area sometime
Flagstaff – laid back snowboarder/hippie town, not much to do, but good vibe
Sedona – it was like Santa Fe, Branson and Bryce Canyon blended into one. Drive down was pretty, wouldn’t mind spending a day there, but too many people
Grand Canyon – Ran it east to west to avoid the crowd at the main entrance. Cool, but looked fake, looked like the pictures or green screen you see of it because your eyes can’t really take in the size and pick up the color so far out.
Zion – my biggest disappointment of the trip. We didn’t hike the Narrows or Angels Landing due to crowds and time. But the park wasn’t as pretty as I expected it to be and way overcrowded. The East side past the tunnel was the prettiest. I would come back to hike the Narrows from North to South sometime, but no other reason.
Bryce – Our favorite, would love to spend 3-4 day hiking it. We did a few trails and it was beautiful
Scenic Highway 12 – Definitely worth the drive
Escalante – just drove through, will definitely be back to hike it.
Capital Reef – Hot red canyon. Was a good drive through, wouldn’t come back
Canyonlands – Would like to come back and do the 100 mile white rim drive.
Arches – Enjoyed it, some good jeep trails and ways to get away from the crowd, but way too many people.
Colorado National Monument – Definitely worth the detour to drive it if running down I-70.
Grand Junction – enjoyed it, but staying there three nights was enough to see the town and the wine country. Probably won’t stay there again.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison – Cool, would come back to camp at the bottom and do some trout fishing.
Ouray – Cool little town, will definitely be back to run more trails. We ran Yankee Boy Basin to the last switchbacks and had a blast.
Million Dollar Highway – As much as I have heard about that road, I was surprised how tame it was.
Silverton – Cool town, but probably won’t be back other than driving through.
Peak to Peak drive – nice way to avoid Denver
Rocky Mountain National Park – Enjoyed it, but would have been more impressed if we had started there. By that point we had done so many mountain passes, etc. that we were on overload and not as impressed.
It was too many parks in one trip, they lost their grandeur part way through the trip. We will make a trip out in a few years through Santa Fe, Durango, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, North Rim and then hike Bryce and Escalante.
