Breathtaking Views!
Utah
01 CHAPTER
UTAH
Utah National Parks and Canyons
In Utah, you can spend weeks in just one canyon, penetrating farther and deeper into the strange crevices and underground passages of a natural phenomenon. For you to begin contemplating this beauty, it is necessary to step up to the very edge of the cliff. This act will make you appreciate the magnetic power of very steep slopes and dizzying depths right under your feet. Then, it is worth walking down to the very bottom of the canyon and getting to know the whole drama of climbing back to the very top. And if an acrobatic jumping from rock to rock is not in your plans, it is better to look at the canyon from a distance.
Bryce Canyon
For me, Bryce Canyon has moved into the category of the most beautiful canyons on the west coast of the United States. This canyon is a collection of natural amphitheaters carved into the edge of a high plateau. Nature itself created this fabulous place. Over millions of years, erosion worked very hard, to design unique geological structures in the form of whimsical spires, natural bridges and irregularly shaped columns of rock, called “hoodoos".
On one of the jutted protrusions of rock, walking up to the edge of which dries up your throat, a man was sitting at its very tip and submissively meditated. He was sitting in a lotus position with his eyes closed, and it was scary even to approach him. How long was he sitting there? It remained a mystery to me! Such complete oblivion was overwhelming at that moment. My restless mind would've probably started wandering and tried in every possible way to move me from a dangerous spot. Then it finally dawned on me that maybe, when you reach the most extreme stress level, you can truly relax?
Arches National Park
Arches National Park is a fantastic place. It consists of a massive number of monolithic rocks of contrasting colors, landforms, and textures. The park has over 2,000 natural stone arches, in addition to hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive fins, and giant balanced rocks. The process of formation of natural arches is never stopping. Erosion is grinding down the soft sandstone forms, and new arches are arising everywhere, while the old ones collapse. Sometimes, people become witnesses of this process. I walked through the park with caution. You never know at what point the arches that are obsolete will fall on your head!
Despite the endless number of arches, the Double O Arches trek, perhaps the most frightening trek in this park, firmly embedded into my memory.
Double O Arch trail
Do you see the tiny figures of people on the ridge of those giant sandstone slabs? From there I descended to the final stretch of our path to the Double O Arch, the second largest arch within the Devils Garden area. Isn't the view impressive? The descent on these stones impressed me even more. To say more - I included this hike into my list of the scariest hikes in my lifetime. There was everything: steep rock climbing, heights without safety protection, jumping over crevices in rocks, and hiking through а sandy desert.
Monument Valley (located on the Utah – Arizona border)
Here you feel as if you are a character from Western movies, or you become Forrest Gump, who is about to start running on an empty highway along the deserted valley. I even secretly wished to repeat his accomplishment and run, run, run without thinking about anything for a long time. But instead of running, I chose to drive a car and very clearly saw myself as a local cowboy. For a second, it even seemed to me that instead of a straw hat, I was wearing a real leather cowboy hat…
The place is just amazing! Created from red sandstone by nature itself, the towering buttes resemble monumental architectural structures that very well fit into a red-sand desert region.
The Capital of Utah - Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City showed off itself from an unexpected angle. In this city, you begin to feel weird from the first minutes of your stay. I felt like our entire visit was under surveillance. I could not get rid of this feeling throughout the whole time I was in this city.
The city is the capital of Mormons, a religious group that, like Christians, believes in God the Father, as well as Jesus Christ, but does not recognize certain Christian teachings. I will not go into the details of their faith and will only try to describe my observations about the city itself and its inhabitants.
The first thing that catches your eye is a large churches numbers, built literally at every step of the way. Temple Square is the city’s main attraction, as well as the Mormon’s global headquarters. The followers of the Mormon Church do not let tourists take a closer look at their shrine. And thus, in every possible way, they divert your attention, directing onlookers to the tourist center located next door. There, you get immediately surrounded by a crowd of young Mormon women who begin to scout you with accuracy. The feeling is not pleasant, and very soon, I was ready to run away. While we were inside the tourist center, we had to listen to a whole lecture about Mormon’s teachings and even get the Holy Scripture of the Book of Mormons translated into Russian. After breaking free, we wandered around the city for a long time before we found a place to grab a bite to eat.
And then, another oddity happened. The restaurant we went to seemed very strange. While looking around, we noticed that all visitors were at least in their 70s. Apart from us, there was not a single young person, including the waitresses. We thought that maybe we accidentally stumbled upon the Retirement Home, but no, our suspicions were wrong. I immediately remembered an old movie called “The Parade of the Planets.” This movie narrates a fantasy story about a group of middle-aged men falling into mystical circumstances. Throughout the film, they strangely find themselves in a city either inhabited only by young women, or – older adults. Maybe we also were captured under the influence of some rare astronomical phenomenon that had a strange effect on us? The alcohol was not found anywhere on the menu. And when we asked the waitress about it, she expressed a complete surprise. They didn’t serve it in the restaurant. We thought it was due to the age restrictions of the visitors. But then it turned out that Mormons do not drink alcohol, and do not serve it in any restaurant in the city. They also never drink coffee. What a surprise!
Oddities continued to occur at the hotel. The fact that the breakfast was included in the price of our booking was a big plus, but the experience of communicating with the hotel’s kitchen-manager was something else! The masculine, gloomy lady in her mid-50s, horrified us from the very first time, as we saw her approaching us. This tall woman, without greeting our group, silently stood before us with a notepad and a pen. By observing her body language, we figured that we should order some breakfast. We mumbled our order in complete indecision, and then went silent. The “kitchen boss” just as calmly and most importantly, as silently, recorded everything, and at the end, she suddenly barked: “Is that all?” We quietly nodded, and she immediately departed to the kitchen. Soon, the smell of the fried, scrambled eggs reached the dining area. What frightened us the most was her precise knowledge of her clientele when she unmistakably listed our room number. Although at the hotel we were not the only visitors, she knew exactly who we were. Isn’t that odd?
Having suffered enough, we decided to run out of town, going trekking to the nearby mountains. Of course, the mountains here are stunning! And the city against their background looks just fabulous!
We wanted to see the famous Great Salt Lake, but it was not possible to reach it by foot, nor by public transportation. The locals do not like it too much, referring to the fact that it supposedly stinks! But we never found out. In general, the city stands out very much from all the places that we visited in Utah. The city lives by its own rules and is not fond of foreigners. The nonconformists are not welcome! Stunned by what we saw, we continued our travels.
