Day 1: Long Beach to Joshua Tree

This drive is fairly easy from greater Los Angeles, and JT is definitely the most accessible National Park from the Southland. I remember specificially driving down the 62 and thinking, "this trip has truly begun". Sand and stone stretched around in every direction. Then the Joshua Trees started to appear. Most national parks are designated due to their geological significance. Think: Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon (we'll get to that one later) but Joshua Tree is somewhat distinct in that it is a National Park simply due to the abundance of these plants, more like Redwoods than Badlands, found nowhere else besides the Mojave Desert. Spread of the Joshua Tree was a symbiotic relationship between the plants and now extinct Ground Sloths. The Trees provided the fruit and the Ground Sloths spread the seeds. The Joshua Tree population no longer increases in geographic area, thus, your cool story and national park designation. Joshua Tree is a cool spot to explore for reasons besides taking pictures for Instagram.

Joshua Tree National Park

Most of the Day was spent exploring different areas of the park, Ryan Mountain is an easy little hike with some decent elevation, but nothing too hard. My campsite was a car camp spot at Jumbo Rocks. After I setup my tent and had some dinner I was greeted by one of the gnarliest sunsets I've ever seen. Red cotton candy, unreal, will never forget the sunset over those martian looking rocks truly the feeling of being welcomed to another world.

Day 3: Grand Canyon to Zion

Getting back to the trailhead, the car, and the road, I was headed through Northern Arizona to Zion. The drive took me through the Kaibab Plateau and into Utah. The climb through the Grand Staircase had begun. The sandstone layer at the top of the Grand Canyon is the bottom of Zion. And the top of Zion is the bottom of Bryce Canyon, and so on - hence The Grand Staircase. 

Getting into St. George and Zion is really an awesome experience the first time. I had a car camping spot the first night in Zion, and was able to grab some good food, get a shower and get my gear ready for Angels Landing the next day. I also scored a backcountry permit for Cable Mountain the next night, but I was beat and had a long day ahead. 

Day 5: Zion to Bryce and Coyote Gulch

The second National Park of five in Utah was Bryce Canyon. But driving on Highway 89 between Mount Carmel Junction and Kanab was another highlight of this day. As you approach Kanab the rock turns a deep red, and is the actual inspriation for Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland. The hoodoos and formations on the side of the road feel fake, like an amusment park, one of the coolest drives in the US. All of these formations would be their own state parks anywhere else in the world, but in Utah, they are just another mile marker.

Bryce Canyon National Park & Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Arriving to Bryce Canyon, and hiking the Wall Street trail was an awesome expereince. Seeing all of the hoodoos transports you to another planet, it really feels like Mars. That being said, out of the five national parks that I visited in Utah, this was probably the most underwhelming. The rock formations are awesome, but that's pretty much all it has to offer (something cool to look at). Also it is extremely heavily trafficked and cultivated. There isn't a feel of a nature trail and moreso an art gallery or waiting in line for a rollercoaster. I checked this off my list and headed to Escalante to get away from the crowds.

I rolled into Escalante in the late afternoon and I had compeltely overestimated the shape Hole in the Rock Road was in, not that it is probably ever in good shape but the 50 miles of unmaintained road made for a very long drive to the Hurricane Wash Trailhead. I hit the trail at around 5:30pm and thankful to the lingering civil twilight I was able to get into Coyote Gulch in time to hit the water and find a campsite around 8:00pm. Nothing could have possibly prepared me for the hike further into the canyon the next day.

I had seen a few videos of people hiking Coyote Gulch on YouTube in 4k, and yes it looked awesome. But I was not prepared for the spiritual experience of walking the Canyons of the Esclanate barefoot as the sun started to peek over the sheer hundred foot smooth stone canyon walls. Every sound echoed; from the sloshing of my feet in the stream, to the chirping of the birds and the laughs of other campers in the gulch. As I meandered thorugh the u-turns of the stream, I turned the corner and saw the Jacob Hamblin Arch. A double arch that towers about 150 feet tall and 100 feet wide. Standing on the western side of the arch I looked in awe at one of the most magnificent natural creations I had seen in my whole life. God is a perfect artist.

As I walked back to camp I just felt a presence. I did not have to see the pteroglyphs and constructed huts in the gulch to realize that I was walking with the spirt of my ancestors of the human race. The worries and tribulations of the world washed away with the weak flowing stream. I felt the nearness of our creator and a oneness to nature that I didn't even realize I quenched. At about this time a perfect stranger moseyed up to me with a huge smile on their face and talked to me exactly about what I was thinking. You can believe what you want to believe but to me, they were god talking to me in human form. I realized that I did not need worldly possessions, and had no necessity to dominate those about me. I did not need to be caught up in the rat race, I was working too hard and putting too much emphasis on my career. I needed to make more time to channel these natural and spiritual connections. To leave no trace so that others can have this same experience as I had that morning.

Day 7: Moab to Canyonlands and Home

I overpaid for my hotel room but it was well worth it. My first shower in four days and the first real bed I slept in for a week. I only had one more park of the Mighty 5 to check out and that was Canyonlands. I think this goes in the same category as Capitol Reef, as a sight that I only briefly saw, but in the future want to experience more of the underbelly of. Island in the Sky was an awesome sight - I assume what the Badlands looks like, just hundreds of miles of rock formations and trails, but I was ready to head home with memories and a self realization that would last me for the rest of my life.

Canyonlands National Park

The adventuring of the Southwest Spirit Quest was over. Seven national parks and one national monument, all five of the five in Utah crossed off of my list. There's a scene in Good Will Hunting where Robin Williams scolds Matt Damon about not experiencing the places he read about in books or heard others talk about. That something is not fully attained or appreciated until you have been there and done it. This has always rang true for me. I want to experience the thing for myself and I will not stop adventuring until the day I die. I didn't care that I had an eighteen hour drive home, it was worth it. To feel the beauty and wonder of the American Southwest. How an ancient seabed became a canvas for weather to depict sandstone masterpieces. How you can feel the spirit of the Navajo and Paiute as you step foot on the same paths they did. How you realize that maybe they were right all along and if the European settlers had seen some of these natural wonders they would have realized that there is more to life than the pursuit of capital. Perhaps I am getting too spiritual here, but go ahead and check it out for yourself.