2017 Graduation Road Trip: Vegas, Utah, Arizona
- meems
- Jun 27, 2018
- 13 min read
Back in May 2017, I graduated college.
In honor of this huge milestone and achievement, I planned a road trip
for me, my bf, and some of my best friends from Vegas to Utah and Arizona.
I knew there was so much of the world out there and it was about time I start seeing them.
We hiked our way through some amazing places, slept very little, explored A LOT,
went through a scary emergency situation, learned a lot,
laughed a lot, broke one fibula, and came home changed with a lifetime of memories.
And so the adventure begins!
I'm a planner through and through and I live by Google Sheets. It's the BEST thing for being transparent, planning, making shopping lists, tracking and splitting costs, etc. As I was preparing for this trip, it also helped to lay out an itinerary like this below so that I could outline when and where it would make sense to fit in all that we had wanted to do. Everything was flexible and for the most part, we conquered almost everything as planned.
Leaving bright and early on Saturday morning and headed to Las Vegas!
Me and the boo boarded and ready to go!
The plan for the next four days was to conquer the route below. CRAZY, I KNOW! Here we GO!
After landing in Vegas, we picked up our rental van and grocery shopped for road trippin' snacks. We filled an ice chest with cold drinks, picked up chips and snacks to munch on, and began our journey. The crew is excited and ready to roll!
Our first stop: Seven Magic Mountains.
This colorful artistic piece sits in the desert outside of Las Vegas.
There were many people here trying to get pictures but it was still a cool stop to check out these ginormous colorful stacked rocks.
Thanks to a little photoshopping, I was able to snag this cool picture. #expectationsvsreality
Peep the little photobomber to my right :)
Finally leaving Vegas
After hours of driving, we finally made it to Utah. Bryce Canyon National Park was our second stop and it is located in southern Utah. From Seven Magic Mountains, it was about a 4 hour drive. Please keep in mind that there is a one hour ahead time change.
Bryce Canyon!
This place was amazing.
My first time seeing hoodoos and they were magnificent.
At every corner of our drive were just amazing views.
We took a scenic drive through Bryce Canyon and stopped so often for pictures and just taking in the beauty of it all.
This was a helpful map for our scenic drive through Bryce on picking stops.
We stopped at Sunset Point, Natural Bridge, and Rainbow Point.
Bryce Canyon was our first national park stop and also where we bought our Annual National Park Pass.
This pass is $80 and gives you entrance to over 2,000 federal recreation sites. Since we knew we were going to other national parks, we invested in this pass as entrance is generally around $30 per park. You have one year from the date of purchase to use this pass as much as possible.
On the back, the main pass holder is required to sign and they check ID at national park entrances. I left the second row blank in case any of my friends or family needed to use it in the coming year. I was happy to be able to share it with our cousin Kathy!
Now on to Sunset Point.
This place is MAGIC.
We arrived at Bryce Canyon around 3-4 PM and took our time exploring.
Sunsets in May are around 8:30 PM at Bryce and it was interesting to see the effects on the hoodoos.
Here at Sunset Point, we had an amazing views of Thor's Hammer, all the hoodoos, and nature at its finest.
Travel often and with your best friends :) This trip was that much more amazing sharing it with my bestie, Tina.
We spent hours at the Bryce Amphitheater. As we continued our drive up to Rainbow Point to watch the sunset, we stopped at a few viewpoints and truly just enjoyed the moment. We stopped at Natural Bridge and was in awe of nature's work of art. Some moments cannot only be captured in that moment and no pictures could ever do it justice.
Now on to Rainbow Point!
Towards the later part of the evening, as the sun was setting, it got pretty chilly. Even in May.
Rainbow Point is the most spectacular place.
I've been blessed to be able to have seen a lot of amazing sunsets
but I ALWAYS think back to the moments spent here with my love and best friends watching the sunset.
It was here, where everything felt right and at peace. The moments we live for.
On top of the world.
Sunset watching.
AMAZING.
Bryce Canyon, the impact you left on us cannot be put into words. I can't wait to meet you again.
As it got dark, we left Bryce Canyon and drove 2 hours back towards Zion National Park.
I booked us a 2 night stay in Hurricane, just outside of the park by about 30 minutes.
We arrived around 11 PM, checked in, and slept as we had a early and long day the next morning!
This whole trip started because I really wanted to go hike the Narrows at Zion National Park.
I did SO much research regarding Zion National Park and Joe's Guide was very informational.
Through his site, I found information about renting gear for the Narrows and reached out to the Zion Adventure Company to reserve the gear for our group. By making a reservation, we saved a lot of time that morning. We rented pants, shoes, and sticks. My shorter bff, got the entire jumpsuit and everything worked out well for us all.
As I was planning our trip, I found some information regarding a hike called The Subway at Zion National Park that required permits. I submitted an application for the advance lottery in March and won the permits! The plan was to pick up the permits the day before our scheduled hike at the Subway so that we could start early. After getting our gear, finding parking in Springdale, outside of the park by the Zion Adventure Company (SO DIFFICULT), I went to go pick up our permits at the Zion Visitor Center.
**NOTE: We went on the busiest weekend of the entire year, Memorial Day Weekend.
Although I had an amazing time, I would never ever ever go back on this weekend ever again. DON'T DO IT.
Lines were long for the shuttle. We probably waited an hour and we got there early!
In line for the shuttle. SO many people!
We took the shuttle to the last stop: the Temple of Sinawava to hike to the Narrows.
There are signs that tell you what stops will take you to the different hikes and areas to visit.
Because the wait was long, we started much later than we had hoped.
We started our bottom-up day hike at 11:30 AM and made it just about to Big Springs before turning around because we were worried about hiking in the canyon in the dark. We stopped and ate lunch at the boulders after Wall Street before beginning our return trek and made it back by 4:45 PM.
Walking through the trail that leads to the water entry of the hike.
At the beginning of the narrows hike, there were HUGE crowds of people.
As you move further up, the crowd starts to thin, especially when you get in the canyon walls.
Squad taking on the narrows.
Check out our gear!
I lightweight felt like a space ninja wearing the pants.
P.S. Good waterproof hiking boots + neoprene socks are everything
Tim just resting under a giant rock.
A lot of people asked us where we got our hiking sticks.
They came with our rental girl.
They were definitely helpful.
I don't recommend using your trekking poles here.
Canyon walls.
Listen to the warnings from the park rangers and look for signs of flash floods
because there really aren't too many places for safe ground in parts of the areas during this hike.
It got pretty deep at some areas.
We had such a good time!
We're also beat.
Hiking in the water takes a lot of you!
Zion Narrows. You have my heart.
Can't wait to come back and do the permit required top-down hike!
After this hike, we were so tired so we took the shuttle back to the visitor center,
and headed out to find food before going back to the inn to rest up.
The next day, we had our Subway hike!
We woke up extra early and drove to the Left Fork Trailhead to hike the Subway.
The subway is a 6.5 mile strenuous hike in the wet canyon with many obstacles.
Some people get permits to go canyoning down from the top and others , with a permit, can hike from the bottom.
We got to the trailhead at around 7 AM and were one of the first few cars there. We started early with plans to finish up at a good time and explore a little more before leaving Zion.
You must have a permit to hike this.
SQUAD
We walked the trail until we began our steep descent down the mountain.
Anytime there were trails, they would be rocky or sandy.
These are the conditions throughout the whole hike.
The steep descent down is tough.
We have a few that are afraid of heights and this is definitely the toughest part for them.
It was scary looking down! I would say I'm fairly ok with heights but this had my heart racing.
Made it down the mountains and entering the Zion Wilderness.
This entire hike is through the streams, over rocks, on sand, on rocky paths, up waterfalls, through pools of water and so much more.
Hiking through mini waterfalls and pools.
Hiking over rocks.
We stopped often, took lots of pictures, enjoyed our surroundings,
and truly had a good time navigating the obstacles of this hike.
And finally, we made it to the subway!
In awe of the beauty of this magical place.
We explored, ate lunch, dipped in the water, and hung out until we decided to trek back out.
We reached the subway at 11:30 AM after stopping to take lots of pictures.
The whole entire world at our fingertips.
Here's where things get interesting.
On our return, we were moving fairly quickly and expected to be back in half the time that it
took us to get there because we didn't have to stop so often. We had about 3.5-4 miles to go to make it back to the trail head. Shortly after we started our hike back, my bestie slipped on one of these mini waterfalls and was in a huge amount of pain. We were all extremely concerned because we weren't sure if she broke anything, if it was just a sprain, if she could continue to walk, etc. There were a lot of unknown, worries, and we knew we needed to figure out a game plan and fast. I always carry a small first aid kit with pain relievers, band-aids, neosporin, etc. and I always recommend every hiker to bring some form of first aid with them at every hike because you just never know what may happen. We were at the very bottom of the canyon, we had no cell service, it was such a rare hike that we barely came across anyone, and we knew that we needed to make it out before sunset. Also, we were running low on water which can quickly become dangerous considering how hot it was.
We took a break and came up with a plan. We wrapped Tina's injured foot, had her take some pain relievers, and we knew we had to keep on moving no matter what. We took turns carrying her on our backs, her using her own strength to hop when possible, and took every means possible to get us out of the canyon through all those obstacles we encountered earlier on. Every single one of us made the best of the situation, supported each other, carried each other, and knew that it took team work to make it out. THANKFULLY, my boyfriend brought a water filter (against my words - the only time I will say THANK YOU FOR NOT LISTENING TO ME). We filtered water from the creeks and hydrated up after we completely dried out our Camelbaks. When we finally encountered hikers heading back, they were kind enough to help us let the rangers back at the park know of our situation. Regardless, we knew that we would need to try and make it back ourselves and that's what we did. We ran through creeks, sand, grass, over rocks, up those crazy steep mountains we came down from and made it up. Let me tell you about my best friend, she had just injured her foot, (we did not find out the magnitude of this injury until 2 days after her fall) and she was upset. She wasn't upset about her pain but she was upset at disappointing us and feeling like she failed us. SHE DID NOT FAIL US. Under the circumstances, Tina worked just as hard if not harder than all of us to help us HELP HER get back up to safety. She ended up breaking her fibula which we did not know at the time. She hopped up and down mountains on a broken fibula, used her upper body strength to help pull herself up the mountains with our support, and did everything she could to make things easier on us. That takes strength. Let me tell you, when you choose to go on an adventure, that comes with the good and the bad and everyone that is in for the journey must understand that because when it comes to scary situations like this, it is all hands on deck and everyone is needed for survival. Together as a team, we got our girl back up and we all made it out safe. Park rangers met us as we made it up the mountains and helped us back towards the last leg of our hike out. They told us we did the right thing but trying to get up by any means possible. After 7 hours of hiking back out, we finally made it to the car. Look at those smiles in the picture below. Together, we conquered a scary situation and kept on trekking. Thank god for water filtration, first aid preparedness, team work, and the strength and humor within each of us to guide us back to safety. That in the moment scary situation now lives a memory that we all cherish and reflect on often. It strengthened a bond between us that is indescribable.
The hike at The Subway is something so special and due to our very own crazy journey, that much more meaningful for us.
I definitely learned that you can plan as much as you want but you HAVE to be ready and prepared for the unexpected.
For all of us, this was the very best part of our four day journey despite VERY sucky circumstances.
We can't wait to meet again, Zion Subway.
It was around 7:30 PM when we finally left The Subway Trail head. We went to grab a bite to eat in Springdale before driving to Arizona. The next day, we had plans to see Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon so we knew that we needed to hit the road and get to our hotel. At around 10 PM, we drove 3 hours to Page, Arizona. We made it to our hotel, around 12:30 AM, Arizona time, showered, and knocked out because we were due to get up at 4:30 AM the next morning to try and catch the sunrise at Horseshoe Bend.
Horseshoe Bend!
Getting here is fairly easy.
You will see a bunch of cars in a huge parking lot out of no where and know that you are at the right place.
Our hotel was only down the road near gas stations and food.
It's about 1.3 miles to hike there and back from the parking lot.
Let me just say, sunrise is the best.
I've gone on another occasion at sunset, and although also magical, sunrise wins.
Here's why:
- Less crowded. There are crowds but WAY less.
- You will not struggle for parking.
- You beat the scorching heat.
- The sunrise is magical in a way that just cannot be put into words.
I'm not sure what lies around the bend, but i'm going to believe that the best does.
Tim drove all night from Utah to Arizona so he sat this one out :)
Nature is so amazing.
Thank you Horseshoe Bend for your magic.
Yes, my Tina hopped up to Horseshoe Bend on a broken fibula cause she's boss like that :)
Next up, Antelope Canyon!
I booked a reservation for lower Antelope Canyon after doing some research through Ken's Tours.
It was $125 for 5 people plus an $8 per person Navajo Entrance fee and Cash only.
I didn't really have a reason for picking lower Antelope Canyon over Upper.
I had actually wanted to try to do both but chose to explore Lake Powell instead.
Once you book the tour, you will get a confirmation email with the coordinates of the location which is easy to find.
Keep in mind, this is a very touristy destination so there will be plenty others looking for the same place. Although we booked our tour for 8:20 AM, we were there earlier so we were able to join an earlier tour just a bit before ours was scheduled.
After you check-in, you're assigned a tour guide that will lead you to where the canyons are.
You wait in line and make your way into the canyons.
There were steps throughout this tour which proved to be a little difficult for Tina but she powered through.
Antelope Canyon is magic.
After we finished up at Antelope Canyon, we drove by Lake Powell and quickly stopped at the
Glen Canyon Visitor Center to check out the area.
Some day, I hope to come back and spend more time at Lake Powell. Just beautiful.
Next stop, a quick drive through the Grand Canyon National Park.
We started at the South Rim Entrance and drove through the park and exited out at the other end to head back to Vegas.
We chose a select few stop areas, got out, and walked around but at this point in our trip, we were all exhausted!
Desert View was one of our stops and it was magnificent. Very busy with tourists but great views!
Last stop. You can tell we're all trying very hard to smile despite the exhaustion.
After that, we headed back out for the final leg of our road trip.
Back in Vegas, walked around the strip, and
ate delicious Korean BBQ (BFF still didn't know she had a broken fibula at this point).
Some takeaways:
Yes, this trip was exhausting but I would do it all over again minus the injury.
Yes, it's alot of driving but take turns, stock up the car with snacks, and keep on trekking.
Start with Grand Canyon. Although it's beautiful, the park didn't get as much of our attention because it dulled in comparison to Bryce. We also didn't get to spend much time there so that could have been a factor as well.
Keep an open mind. There is SO much to see.
Never ever ever go on Memorial day weekend. Busiest time of the year for the national parks.
Do your best to leave no trace. With the huge amount of tourists, if people don't help take care of the parks, the magic will fade away.
Soak in the moment, take lots of pics, and remember, we weren't born to just pay bills and die. Go out and explore. It will change your world.
5 friends, 4 days, 3 states, 3 national parks, 17 hours of driving, 993 miles in the car, one scary emergency situation, injured ankle, a lot of laughs, and a crazy amount of adventure later...we completed our crazy road trip. Thankful for these awesome people who were down for all my outrageous ideas, planning, crazy itinerary, and stepped up when we ran into scary and unprecedented situations. From sleeping only about 12 hours in four days to running through all kinds of terrain on our return trip from the Subway with the injured on our back, we all learned that we were much stronger than we thought. This journey will forever be a special one in my mind and heart. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, it will change your life.
Until the next adventure!
Comments