Great things come in some of the most inhospitable locations. In fact, most of my favorite places are remote and sparsely populated. I am a bit of a recluse, however. I am certain other people love cities, for example. This list may pique your interest (hopefully)! We started our trip in Utah coming from the north, which can be read about in our post Utah’s Beautiful Golden Hues in all of its Glory.
There are a lot of really great things to see and do in Utah. It can be an amazing state. We have been through Utah on a few occasions, so decided to eschew the large tourists destinations and focus on more off the beaten path type of spots. It turned out to be a fantastic choice.
1st of the Great Things
Open your eyes. Seriously, and this applies to anywhere you go, look around. There are so many great things to see that are most likely outside the scope of “average” that it is awe-inspiring. Mountainside streams and waterfalls, random lakes, incredible views and living history are but a few things to notice.
The views are stunning. Just driving south from Salt Lake City, we saw so many incredible views.
2nd, Camping!
Camping is great in Utah. Most of the small towns have private local campgrounds and there are State Campgrounds everywhere, as well some really amazing National Parks. We spent a lot of our time at Kodachrome Basin State Park during this adventure. If you recall from Top of the World, we made it!, we have been to Bryce Canyon – Kodachrome is literally next door. It is a third of the cost and a 25 minute drive to the front gate!
We set our campsite up, always priority number 1.
Then we availed ourselves of a few of the great things to do at Kodachrome outside of (technically) hiking. We played the disc golf course. That was brutal. 110 degrees or so outside and the course really does not have a trail, just eyeball the map to the next basket search for it by eye and let fly! Then straight down and back up loose sand dunes covered in sage, pokey plants and cactus (and snakes). Sierra enjoyed showing off her archery skills on the 3D archery course (again, not much of a trail, so that was exciting), and we got ice cream at the ranger station!
3rd of the great things, Hiking!
Then we started our hiking. There are five main trails, with three extensions that branch out. The views are absolutely stunning. Similar in shape to Hoodoos, there are chimneys everywhere, sometimes tucked into a canyon!
4th, Explore!
Just within the 50 miles surrounding us while we camped, there were National Parks, State Parks, great little scenic trails directly off the road and so much more! Get out and take a look outside!
We stumbled on a great trail directly between Kodachrome and Bryce that was awesome! It is called Mossy Cave Trail and is technically part of Bryce Canyon National Park although it is actually Northeast of the park proper.
5th, Incredible BLM Land!
BLM land actually surrounds Kodachrome, so we had our pick of adventure areas. We chose a little dirt road (that connect to highway about 30 miles later, of all things) that led to a famous arch call Grosvenor Arch. No I did not mispell that, look it up. I’ll wait. See? Grosvenor Arch. Another great location and hike in the books.
6th of the great things, centrally located for friends and family!
Well, that’s not even remotely true. (See what I did there, remotely I crack myself up) However, we did get to hang out with some great friends who happened to be in the area and one of daughters made the long drive to spend a few days hiking with us!
7th, Really cool mom and pop shops
Food is always better when cooked in an unregulated kitchens. Art is always better at a roadside stands. Fight me on it.
8th of the Great Things, Interesting History!
Kodachrome Basin State Park was named when National Geographic came out to photograph it in 1948 using the new color film from Kodak. It really captured the differing hues so well that felt it just had to be named for it!
National Geographic was not done there. Once the area was explored more and photographed more, they stumbled up some sheer cliffs with a double arch in them. This was named after the National Geographic Society President…Gilbert Grosvenor in 1949.
Bryce Canyon was home to Native Americans for approximately 10,000 years.
The Mormons transformed the landscape to create the town of Tropic by cutting (by hand) a 10 mile canal through the mountains. 40 men completed it in 3 years, again, by hand…
These are just some examples for the area directly surrounding Kodachrome!
Finally, our 9th – wildlife
Deserts are teeming with life. You just have be patient, and careful, to spot it. While in this part of Utah we saw and heard numerous birds, snakes, lizards, tourists, coyotes and a lot of insects.
We had a fantastic time in Utah, but it is time to move on. Check in next week to see where we go next! Keep up with us by subscribing on our front page here, check out our archives here and join the adventure!
