🚗 Road Trip on the Grand Circle: Moab to Bryce Canyon

💗 Feb 4 – Explored Arches National Park 🏞️, then drove about 250 miles to Bryce Canyon City. (Didn’t hike all the way to Delicate Arch due to time and weather, but borrowed a nice photo 😉 Thanks!) 💗 Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah, covers 309 km² and is home to over 2,000 natural stone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch. The park sits on a salt bed that was once an ocean 300 million years ago. Over time, debris covered the salt, forming rock layers. Uplift and erosion eventually sculpted these magnificent arches. The longest, Landscape Arch, spans 306 feet! The contrasting textures and colors of the rock are simply stunning 🧡. 💗 Woke up to cloudy skies ☁️, so we had to keep our visit relatively short. Even by car, many arches require hiking several miles to see up close. We skipped the 5 km (round trip) hike to Delicate Arch and opted for a shorter ~1 km round-trip overlook instead. Still, we made it to Landscape Arch, Balanced Rock ⚖️, and Double Arch 👁️ – and walked over 16,000 steps today! 💪 💗 In the afternoon, we detoured through Capitol Reef National Park 🏜️, located in central Utah, covering nearly 500 km². The park is known for its Waterpocket Fold – a 100-mile long warp in the Earth's crust. The landscape tells a story 56 million years in the making. 💗 Drove along Scenic Byway 24 and Scenic Byway 12 🛣️ – two of Utah’s most spectacular roads. Felt like I was on another planet 🌎✨! The views were both strange and breathtaking. 💗 Arrived in Bryce Canyon City at 7 PM for a Western-style dinner 🍽️. #GrandCircleRoadTrip #SpringFestivalRoadTrip #ArchesNationalPark #ScenicByway24 #ScenicByway12 #UtahTravel #BryceCanyon