Utah's Parks - there's more than just the Mighty 5

What do you do when your kid moves away to live and work in a National Park?  Plan a trip to visit them, of course!

Our youngest daughter spent the last 4 months living and working in Zion National Park (rough life, I know). Super exciting for us because we LOVE LOVE LOVE visiting Utah. It was nice having our own personal guide on the trails – even if we did slow her down a bit.  I guess if you live there long enough you start zipping through the trails like a seasoned mountain goat. Not calling my girl a goat - just a comparison, k?

We spent 8 days in Utah, visited 3 National Parks and 4 State Parks.  That’s a ton of stuff in 8 days, but we were relatively close to all but one National Park and one State Park.  

I love the National Parks but will save that topic for a future post. I think it’s time to give the State Parks some love. They are just as amazing and are worth a visit.

Here are the 4 State Parks we visited:

Sand Hollow State Park – blue water and red sandstone everywhere you look.  You can swim, boat, paddle board and even dune buggy here. This is a great place to take the fam for a picnic and cool off. Rock jumping anyone?

Snow Canyon State Park – Disclaimer: I did not visit this park, but my husband did, and he got some really cool drone footage while he was there.  I’ll let you know when it’s up for viewing on his youtube channel –jaybonemusic1. 

This park has a campground surrounded by red Navajo sandstone and ancient lava flow and trails and dunes for you to explore on foot, bike or horseback. Another great place to take in the desert landscape (one of my faves) and I’m a little bummed I didn’t take the time to visit.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park – Are we still in Utah?  I thought I was on another continent when we parked the car and took the short approach to begin our hike up the massive dunes to sled and sand board – think Sahara Desert.  Here you can rent sleds or sand boards and cruise down the huge sand dunes.  Warning – it’s a ton of fun, but also a ton of work getting back to the top of the dunes if you want to slide down more than once.  So worth the effort! If dune buggies are more your thing you can rent those here as well.

Kodachrome Basin State Park – Located near Grand Staircase Escalante we made a quick stop to do a short hike and we were not disappointed.  You’ll see spires (sedimentary pipes) and multi-hued sandstone layers here.  This park wasn’t very busy while we were there and we had the entire Angel’s Palace trail all to ourselves, which was a nice break from the crowds at the National Parks.

Fun fact: In 1948 this place was named Kodachrome, after the popular color film. Can you see why?

Have you visited any of Utah’s State Parks?  If so, comment below and tell me your favorite. I’d love to know!

Happy Travels!

Jen

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