Friday Favorites: The Mighty Five

Which Utah National Park Is Right for You?

Utah might be a medium-sized state, but it punches above its weight class when it comes to space for epic outdoor adventures. Within its relatively small area, Utah is home to five different national parks, a figure topped only by massive Alaska and California. Together, these parks are known as the Mighty 5. They’re a key part of Utah’s identity as a state, and one reason why this underdog exceeds expectations when it comes to fun in the wilderness. Join a Backroads trip in Utah and discover what makes the Mighty 5 so special.

ZION

Where nature’s beauty is so intense it verges on spiritual. Mormon pioneers, arriving to the site in the 1860s, were so struck by the landscape that they named the area Zion, after the Old Testament name for the city of Jerusalem. Zion Canyon is the park’s central feature, a deep ravine of verdant high-altitude forest hemmed in by towering rust-colored cliffs. You can lose yourself in the crisscrossing trails at the canyon floor or climb to Angels Landing and enjoy a panoramic view from 1,500 feet up.

BRYCE CANYON

Due to its remote location, Bryce gets fewer visitors than its big brother Zion, but for those who make the trek, it doesn’t disappoint. The park’s most well-known feature is the Bryce Amphitheater, which showcases the dramatic rock formations that made the area famous: red-rock cliffs, hoodoos and castles. This place was a magical site for the indigenous people who first visited it.

CAPITOL REEF

Early settlers thought the park’s white-stone domes resembled the Capitol building, and that its massive sandstone cliffs, an obstacle for anyone traveling through the desert, were like an enormous reef. In this dry wilderness, the imagery might be unexpected, but Capitol Reef is full of surprises: fruit orchards, beavers and marmots, all supported by the Fremont River. It’s a desert, yes, but it’s like none you’ve ever seen before.

CANYONLANDS

Utah’s largest national park and its most diverse, carved into unique districts by the Green and Colorado Rivers. Flat-top mesas, the maze of gorges like a spider’s web, the red-rock spires piercing the desert sky, ancient petroglyphs waiting to be discovered. Canyonlands has a little bit of everything, and you can explore it all with Backroads.

ARCHES

An otherworldly landscape populated with bizarre rock formations like monuments to an ancient civilization. Hundred-foot sandstone pillars, stones the size of school buses balanced on their corners, and of course the massive arches, freestanding and joined in combinations, that give the park its name. Miles of trails for hiking and exploring, wide-open skies for stargazing, and landscapes that will surprise at every corner.