Tour of Utah

Having arrived in Utah together with three friends aboard an SUV rented a few days earlier in Los Angeles as part of a Tour in the U.S.A. We enter the Mormon State after visiting the spectacular and very famous Monument Valley whose entrance is in Arizona but whose northern foothills also spill over into Utah. The landscape that welcomes us is a desert area dotted with rock formations certainly less beautiful than those of Monument Valley but still interesting. The spires of the Monument are behind us but even seen from here they are truly beautiful, it is sunset and the sunlight changes on the rock formations. As evening falls we cross a landscape of colored stones before arriving in Blanding where we look for accommodation without finding it because the hotels are all fully booked. Nevertheless, a room is booked for us in the next town, Monticello.

Having found the Motel we park and try to eat something in a nearby place halfway between the village bar and the small supermarket. We have to make do with what we find there which, among other things, is not very inviting and of poor quality. With our stomachs almost empty and very tired we return to the hotel where we find an unpleasant surprise, the room is dirty, the air conditioner is a mass of rust and the door doesn't close properly. Somehow we still manage to sleep, also because fatigue ends up taking over.

We wake up hoping that at least the breakfast they told us was included in the price is decent but the surprises aren't over, at the reception there is no one and there is no place to have breakfast!! We take the car and stop at the first bar we find along the road but we immediately understand that there is nothing to eat. Utah really did not welcome us well, we continue north and turn off for one of the three areas of the Canyonland Park, the one of the Needles, thin rock spires similar to needles. These strange formations remind me of the fairy chimneys that I saw a few years ago in Cappadocia, there is a layer of harder rock that has resisted erosion allowing the formation beneath it of the slender, more crumbly column.

Leaving the canyons and driving back along the road that will take us to the main road we see some modern cowboys on horseback grazing with their livestock in these desolate lands. Having left the Park we head for Moab where we stop to eat at the first supermarket. Fortunately supermarkets in the United States offer the possibility of heating up a sandwich and dressing it as you like. In Italy all this would not be possible because many would abuse it shamelessly but here they are used to it and no one takes advantage. Before visiting Moab, Arches Park awaits us where we see dozens of natural arches, bigger or smaller, but also other strange rock formations. One of my companions and I venture onto a trail to see one of the largest natural arches in the world but we all give up on going to the Delicate Arch.

The trail is too long and it's hot, we just look at it from afar and photograph this arch which is the symbol of Utah. Having left the Park we make a short stop in Moab, a small town that seems to offer nothing interesting except some neo-western architecture for the benefit of the numerous tourists. Having left Moab we reach Salina where we finally have a real dinner in a nice restaurant and where we stay in a good motel.

We continue to Bryce Canyon, certainly the most beautiful Park seen in the United States. The elegance of the pink columns that form this spectacular rock amphitheater leaves you speechless. Together with two of my companions we tackle a nice trail that, passing among the rock formations, takes us down to the bottom of the natural amphitheater and then back up. The spectacle that nature offers here is truly exhilarating, still not satisfied we reach with our car three panoramic points that offer as many observation points of Bryce. If the previous Parks visited in Utah had partly disappointed us, this one was definitely worth the trip so far. Before leaving the Park we take a look at the small but well-kept Museum.

Continuing our itinerary, within a few kilometers the landscape changes completely, the canyons and strange rock formations give way to an alpine-type mountain landscape, the road climbs steeply and enters Zion Park passing through a tunnel and then descending back down into the valley with hairpin bends from which you can observe beautiful landscapes. In Zion we ended up by mistake but the thing doesn't displease us at all. Having left the Park the road continues to the border with Arizona where we re-enter for a short stretch.