Best Road Trip: Rocky Mountain Region, USA

Summer 2017

Phoenix, Arizona to Rapid City, South Dakota; first northward, then eastward...that was the route. We (our mom, Timmy, and I) settled on this pilgrimage of sorts to visit the place in Wyoming where my brother worked one summer. He was a "ranch hand" on a farm that mined bentonite (stuff that makes kitty litter) and had a driveway that was 18 miles long. The neighbors would "pop" over to their friends' properties via small, private airplanes because this is the type of rural you only read about in "Little House on the Prairie."

When we flew into Phoenix, we picked up our rental car and explored this hot, dry town for just a couple of days, even catching a Phoenix Diamondbacks game before heading north toward the beautifully-famous red rocks of Sedona. We told ourselves we'd pull over whenever something caught the eye throughout this road trip... but that was before we knew it'd happen at every turn.

After passing through Sedona, we trekked onward and arrived to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. We stayed in an adorable little motel in northern Arizona, and prepped ourselves for the next day of hiking and adventuring around the world-famous Grand Canyon.

Because my mom's gripping fear of heights prevented us from being able to do one of the mule tours, where their hooves slip on every rock and their sunken eyes sag from the workload, we hiked the main trail on foot (down then back out) , where we couldn't help but revel in the breathtaking beauty that is the Canyon. It's truly hard to capture just how humbling this world wonder is, knowing how expansive this Earth of ours can be, and how small we are as individuals compared to Her.

Much to my mom's chagrin, we learned that many of the National Parks in the States are scarcely monitored security-wise so it's up to you to avoid the edges (or do handstands near them, depending on your prerogative, and I'll let you guess mine). But my favorite memory from the Canyon surprisingly was not the park itself, but our adventure the night after hiking it: we had signed up for "glamping" via Airbnb, but it was more of the "camping" aspect than "glamour" which we found out the hard way.

The address online wasn't technically an address, but a location, so we carefully followed the instructions, turning onto a dirt road from the main highway, before driving along a bumpy, rock-laden "road" for so long we became exceptionally lost. We even encountered a few farm dogs on our accidental detour, who excitedly jumped all over our rental car (sorry Hertz!) at the sight of visitors.

As we drove in what felt like circles and pretzels, the sun was sinking over the horizon and temperature was dropping; once we finally spotted our triangular tents after a couple of hours of driving around, we sped up over the ridge and bottomed out at every bump (again, our bad Hertz!), eager to park and get settled in at our "glampsite."

We were quickly greeted by the hosts who showed us to our tent that had one mattress carefully perched on a plank of wood, and a huge animal blanket laid across the floor. It was predicted to be 28 degrees that night, so the host threw in an extra mattress for my brother, who had insisted on this trip being a rugged and rustic one.

Shortly after layering up, we joined the other campers for dinner in the hosts' RV, where we exchanged travel stories and contact info, before toasting our buns by the fire in hopes the lingering heat would keep us warm through the night. Mom and I slept with two pairs of socks, multiple layers of clothing, beanies, and boots on as we braved the bone-chilling temps.

We awoke when the sun did, of course, shivering, chattering about hitting the road (to seek refuge in the heated car anyway). From the Grand Canyon, we trekked northward towards Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce Canyon is one of the most unique places I've ever seen, famous for its hoodoos, which are red-clay rocks that naturally stack on top of one another to form these geological structures that resemble sand-drip-towers we built at the beach as kids. We hiked all around Bryce Canyon, which was fairly manageable in a day!

There, we encountered a badass biker gang, the leader of whom had a velcro Chihuahua that joined them on every ride, outing, and adventure. It was precious, and cracked us up during the whole ride from Bryce Canyon to Zion National Park.

These parks are only about 40 minutes apart, so we stayed in a camper in between that had a fishing pond and TONS of rowdy peacocks on property. The only other campers were a dad-daughter duo from France, and let me tell you...this French man was the epitome of style, elegance, and class - so you can imagine our confusion about why they opted to stay in a run-down camper park in rural Utah.

BUT...the plot only thickened when, after my brother fished for our dinner for hours, this man casted the fishing rod one time, wrangled in a huge fish, grabbed it with his bare hands, sliced it open on the picnic table, and ate the caviar right from its belly. We cheered him on so loudly that the peacocks stirred up all throughout the campground.

From our camper, we headed to Zion National Park the next day, but there were road closures from falling rocks (very common at the National Parks, by the way) and navigated around to the other entrance. By this time, we were somewhat stretched on time, and this became our only regret from this trip: to have allotted more time to explore Zion because this park, and its variety of trails - from the Narrows to Angels Landing to the Emerald Pools - definitely deserve a couple of days time.

Once inside though, we hiked the Emerald Pools Trail which wove us through some of the most incredible landscapes I've ever seen. I mean seriously, this must be where every preloaded computer backdrop originates from.

We eventually arrived to an opening in the trail, where massive rock formations erected out of the earth like jagged teeth, waterfalls trickled down into a shallow, reflective pool, and frogs croaked like worn-down street bands. Pretty sure the three of us were silent, just staring, mouths agape for almost an hour. But the sun was disappearing again, so we made our way back towards the car, full of a newfound appreciation for Zion, already resolved that we'd come back to do some of its other trails someday.

Our Utah portion of the voyage continued... to Salt Lake City we headed! In Utah apparently there are two groups of people: Mormons and Heathens. I'll give ya two guesses, but we got categorized expeditiously by the locals.

Since we had a reputation to upload, we stayed in a retro camper van in downtown Salt Lake in our host's backyard before hitting the local bar for Trivia Night. Another day we were in SLC, we went zip-lining at Deer Park State Park and explored Salt Lake State Park, both of which provide a picturesque air of blue and green beauty.

We also ventured over to Park City and swang by the 2002 Olympic Games Complex, where the ski jump and bobsledding setups have been transformed for use by the average tourist.

Keeping on track with roughly two days at each location, we headed next to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. On our way to Wyoming from Utah, though, we swang the scenic route, making a pit stop in Idaho at Bear Lake, a sprawling and blue oasis that straddles the border of Utah and Idaho.

When we finally arrived to our motel in Jackson Hole, we quickly headed into town to a market that featured local artisans. We tried our hands at axe-throwing (pun intended), under the guidance of Cowboy Mike, clad in gorgeous Native American stones. The next day in Jackson Hole, we went white water rafting down the ferociously powerful Snake River; thankfully no one popped off the raft into the frigid waters, but we walked away with sore cheeks (both sets) and new friends.

After that, we headed to Grand Teton National Park, which may have been my favorite one of all. This place appeared like a mirage, sculpted by God himself. This is the only stop where we opted to stay at the in-park lodge as opposed to a more rustic accommodation, and it was breathtaking. Our balcony overlooked the snowcapped mountains of Grand Teton Mountain Range, and we sipped champagne during the evening of our arrival as the sun disappeared beyond the mountains. The next day we hiked out towards Lake Jenny, where the only creature we encountered was Ranger Rick (and thank goodness because, of course, we were not prepared with bear spray).

The Tetons are remarkable to say the least, and I kept thinking it'd be impossible for each place to top the previous one, but that was until... we visited Yellowstone the next day. Yellowstone National Park is genuinely one of the most bizarre and unique little corners of Earth that I've ever experienced. It was the first place protected as a U.S. National Park for a reason. One moment, you're watching a grizzly bear with her cubs in an open grassy knoll, the next you're dodging Old Faithful Geyser, the next you're passing by 15 foot snowbanks.

The park's main roads make a Figure 8 shape, which is brilliant because the drive exposes you to all of these unbelievable views. We drove the entire route, popping out of the car at every stop for short hikes to waterfalls, rumbly geyser fields, and animal spottings. We spotted herds of buffalos, black bears, grizzly bears, and even a lone wolf at dusk. My jaw dropped at every turn. After a full and thrilling day in the park, we exited up towards the Northwest corner near Gardener, Montana, and settled into our motel there. Feet exhausted, hands frozen, and hearts overflowing with gratitude and appreciation for this gorgeous planet of ours.

From Yellowstone/Gardener, MT, the journey continued, finally eastward this time...we headed to the ranch where my brother had worked, driving across Wyoming, with all its rolling hills and buttercup fields that seemed to stretch into eternity. I'll say: Wyoming is underrated, but after a nearly full day of driving, we'd finally arrived at the end of the very long driveway, which alone took 30 minutes to traverse.

We were greeted by the farm dogs, the family, and their newest ranch hand. The patriarch and matriarch of the family live on the ranch with their three sons and their families. This was revealed later on, but apparently when they saw Timmy's sister and mom roll up, lugging huge suitcases and sporting layered jewelry and makeup, they didn't think we'd last the night there. But little did they know, we were set to thrive.

Over the next few days on the ranch, we toured all around the expansive property, climbed the quarter-million-dollar mining machines, played in the mud bog, and swung from rope-swings that landed in mounds of kitty litter. We watched them conduct artificial insemination of their cattle, observed a newborn calf stand up, and helped herd some of the cattle into different pastures using ATVs to separate the herd based on which cow was receiving which treatment (whether branding, immunization and shots, or castration).

For about 72 hours, the family continuously harassed Timmy about how he'd refused to eat a rocky mountain oyster (which, for those who don't know, is a cow's testicle), all the while teasing him that perhaps his mom and sister would be tougher and braver than him.

And so on that final day, when we were conducting the young male castrations, it was my time to rise to the challenge. The cowboys and various ranch hands pinned the small calf, pressed the iron branding into his flesh, administered his vaccinations, and prepared his privates for castration.

Bev, the matriarch, swaddled that ball like she'd done it a thousand times, and likely she had (because you don't get dubbed the "Cow Whisperer" for nothin'). They sterilized the area and handed me my fresh order of rocky mountain oyster, which I begrudgingly choked down, opening wide to solidify once and for all that the would-be diva sister was in fact tougher than her older brother. The hollering and laughter that erupted from our group surely could be heard for hundreds of acres, and I'm positive that Timmy'll never live that one down.

All that said, visiting the ranch was one of the coolest experiences of my life for all the intangible treasures we'd accumulated there. We truly learned how kids can be happy with very few materialistic things. Otto, the main businessman and Timmy's old boss, had six kids and one of the way, and man were they the happiest little bunch I've ever seen--covered in dirt from head to toe (from playing in the muddy mining quarry), barefoot (seemingly perpetually), and nonstop beaming from ear to ear. They probably didn't realize it at the time, but this property, this family, and their lifestyle taught me more about life and myself in a few short days than I ever imagined was possible.

After the ranch, we continued east for the final leg of our journey, but not without a few memorable stops. During our time traversing South Dakota, we saw Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Devil's Tower National Monument, and even explored Wind Cave National Park, honestly by pure happenstance... The story goes that we had a few hours to spare in the area before we could check into our Airbnb, so I researched things to do, and Wind Cave popped up.

It's one of the older parks so the entrance is not anything that'd draw your eye, but then you descend almost a mile down, where the dark, damp Earth cloaks you like a raincloud. We joked about how we'd randomly found this park, but it ended up being a great addition, and one in which we really enjoyed the stalagmites and stalactites of this claustrophobia inducing park!

Lastly, on our final day, we drove through the Black Hills Region of South Dakota, where Badlands National Park, with its grayish dirt mounds and striped sediment towers pop up out of nowhere. We had a couple of hours, basically to ourselves, as the sun set over the park. We romped all over the mounds of dirt, grimacing at every "Watch for Rattlesnakes" sign, and just enjoying this nearly private experience at a fascinating but low-key national park.

As we were literally exiting the park, we encountered a herd of mountain goats that were teaching the little ones how to navigate the rocks and mounds. As the babies fumbled atop the uneven Earth, the elders looked on, providing gentle corrections or loving nudges, where necessary; behind this picturesque scene, the sky lit up orange and pink and yellow and lavender. Mom, Timmy, and I in that moment just marveled at these views -- and nestled in close together, overwhelmed with joy, amazement, and gratitude.

From Badlands National Park, we made our way to Rapid City, South Dakota, for our final night of the trip before flying out from there the next day. As I looked back over my pictures from this trip, I couldn't help but feel this fire burning inside me to tell people how incredible this part of my home country is. As someone who has always valued traveling, I realized that traveling does not always have to mean foreign countries. Sometimes the most incredible scenes and unforgettable memories are just waiting to be discovered, right under your nose.

Gallery

To Do or Not To Do?

Absolutely. 1000% yes. ASAP. Pack your hiking boots, a water bottle, comfy clothes, sunscreen, and a spirit for adventure. This is such an incredible corner of Earth, and I truly think everyone would be humbled and amazed by viewing these sights with their own eyes.

#LoAroundTheGlobo #Travel #TravelBlog #WesternUSA #Arizona #Utah #Idaho #Wyoming #SouthDakota #GrandCanyon #Sedona #BryceCanyon #Zion #SaltLake #JacksonHole #GrandTetons #Yellowstone #BlackForrest #WindCave #MountRushmore #BadLands #DevilsTower #BigHorn