When we first started thinking of these travels to some of the mid west national parks we thought that included Arches National Park along with Yellowstone and Glacier. However, when people asked us where we were going and we mentioned Arches they always said what about Zion and then Bryce Canyon. So some research followed and now we intend to visit each of the five national parks in the State of Utah. Firstly we visited Zion National Park which is in the South West corner of Utah. We entered from the south through the trendy town of Springdale which provides hotels, restaurants and outdoor specialist services to the park. We stayed in one of the two campgrounds situated within the park. Our campground was typical of the national park facilities in that there was no electricity or water to the sites however flush toilets were available. We had a great site, with plenty of shade, and the customary outdoor table and fire pit. We can manage three days very well with our water (fresh, grey and black) storage and battery capacity. The campground does not have showers but we have one in the caravan. Zion is apparently some of the most scenic canyon country in the US. During summer no vehicles are allowed to drive the six mile scenic drive but a free shuttle bus service operates. This shuttle is a hop on and hop off servicing all of the scenic stops and trail heads. The daily temperatures hovered around the 100 degree F mark during the day and at night we slept with the caravan door open, no bed covers and our fan going all night. Fortunately some of the hiking trails are quite shaded and we limited our walking to the shorter trails. However, we walked the Riverside trail which includes walking up the muddy Virgin River, the Pa'rus Trail, the Grotto Tail and also the Weeping Rock Trail. These were all trails considered in the easy category but varied in time from half an hour to two hours. Because the canyon is relatively narrow you are completely surrounded by the coloured, mainly red, walls. It really has to be seen to be appreciated. Peter soon decided that Zion was his favourite National Park. After three nights it was time to move on. Our route took us out the eastern section of the park up a series of switchbacks taking us to about 8000 feet and through a tunnel. The tunnel is narrow and because of this is controlled by a ranger. As we were towing a caravan, and the tunnel is narrow, we had to pay an additional $US15 fee and the traffic was stopped entering the tunnel so that we could drive down the centre of the 1.1 mile tunnel with no oncoming traffic. A new experience for us for sure. Once through the tunnel the scenery changed somewhat to lower level yellow sandstone and even a checkerboard Mesa. Zion is certainly impressive. We had another short driving day at just 85 miles to Bryce Canyon National Park. Although we had no reservation we had no problems getting a site - again an impressive campground facility within the park. This national park has amazing pinnacles, steeples and spires and even hoo-doo formations which are totem pole shaped. I think many of the formations look like chess figures! We are at a much higher altitude than when we were at Zion, yet only 85 miles away. Here the temperatures are cooler by about 20 degrees. We stayed two nights so the first day we took the free shuttle (cars are allowed in the park but the 18 mile shuttle service is excellent) to Inspiration Point and walked from here uphill on the trailhead to the highest lookout point. It is certainly impressive. From here we decided to walk down and around the rim of the canyon - the walk goes on for many miles and each mile gives awesome views. We walked about two to three miles of the trail downhill but with thunder and lightning around us it was time to head back to the safety of the caravan. We didn't get any rain with the storm so we were still able to enjoy our dinner cooked over the fire - Pete's fire making skills have definitely improved. It was amazingly cold overnight and in the early morning and so, so different from Zion. However with a beautiful day forecast it was time to walk again. This time we took the shuttle to Sunset Point and decided to combine two hiking trails so that we could go down into the canyon. Of course this meant a quite steep and continuous descent down into the base of the canyon where it was quite narrow. From here we continued walking through the base of the canyon, walking a good length of the canyon in relatively flat ground before commencing the long and steep walk back to the rim and the walk along the rim to the shuttle. I am so pleased that I had the second surgery on my knee two years ago. Without that I would never have been able to do these walks. Yes, I do take longer than the advertised time for the walks, and I do get breathless and have breaks, but I am able to complete them which is great albeit that they are the shorter trails. We have found that without walking the trails the enjoyment of the parks is very limited and the best views need to be accessed. The walk today took us about three hours. I think I have found my favourite National Park - Bryce Canyon. It is so different from anything else I have seen. Next stop was Capitol Reef National Park which was reached following a scenic highway crossing Utah from west to east. The drive was very interesting. From 8000 feet we dropped to around 4000 and then quite swiftly made our way to 9600. Our car is far from a new model and the rear differential is starting to make a noise so this road was hard work for it towing. However, the scenery was very different again. There were a few ranches and a couple of small settlements, the Dixie National Forest and huge rocks and rock hills going for miles in all directions. Adventure sporting with all terrain vehicles is very popular. Capitol Reef National Park is different again to Zion and Bryce. Much of the park can be seen from the road but we booked into the campground, no queuing this time fortunately. The temperature variation is huge - we are back in very warm dry temperatures with balmy nights. It is so good and quite hard to believe that Bryce is so cool in comparison. Capitol Reef is named as the very early settlers believed that the red canyons were in fact a reef from when this part of North America was covered by sea. The canyon appearance changes significantly along the ten mile scenic road that runs the length of the park from north to south. As we have limited time here we decided to drive from one end to the other and only walked a very short trail. It was very, very hot and with the slipperiness if the rocky trails I wasn't confident of avoiding an injury. There is plenty that can be seen from the road however. This park is nowhere near as crowded but definitely worth stopping off to see when in the area. We attended a ranger talk in the evening however somehow geology over the last few million years really didn't hold my attention so we quietly wandered off! Early settlers in this area were Mormons. About ten families settled here and planted orchards and gardens to support themselves. Today there is no settlement, the school closed down in 1941, one of the original homes is a gift shop however some 3000 fruit trees are still producing. The different orchards are managed using the original methods and during certain times of the year the fruit is available to the public to eat whilst walking in the orchard. Beside the campground is a large apple and walnut orchard that in the late afternoon and evening a group of about ten deer wandered. The fruit from the trees, besides being available to the public, is used to make pies which are sold in the gift shop. They were all sold out when we visited but apparently a fresh batch arrives at 8 am Saturday so guess who will be in the queue. Next stop Moab. Now after all the small settlements around the entrance to national parks we expected Moab to be very small. We were wrong. It is called the City of Moab but has a population of just over 5000 but this must swell considerably with tourists. The city centre has many hotels, motels, camping grounds, restaurants, and outdoor pursuit companies. We stayed in a lovely camping ground so that we could visit the two national parks within 15 miles of Moab. Arches National Park is the closest to Moab so we visited first. The is high on the red rocks with a long steepish entrance road. The park has the greatest concentration of sandstone arches, apparently more than 2000, ranging from 3 feet to 300 feet. The red rock formations are huge however we were a little disappointed that more of these 2000 arches were not soon visible. We drove the full 18 mile length of the park and commenced our first trail. With temperatures in the high 90's it really wasn't conducive to walking on sand amongst the rocks! We completed two short trails and saw Pinetree Arch and Tunnel Arch. We commenced the walk to Landscape Arch which is often pictured but about half way we decided that we were tempting fate to continue so turned back. After a picnic lunch we decided to wait until later in the day to walk any more trails. So around 7 pm we headed back into the park and enjoyed walking two further trails - one to see Sundance Trail and Broken Arch and the second to the lower and upper viewpoints to see Delicate Arch. These were much more pleasant walks even though the light had really faded and it was almost dark by the time we returned to the car from the upper viewpoint for Delicate Arch. We will return to Arches to see some more in a couple of days. There is much to see in the area so we will stay here for four days at least. We still have park number five to visit - Canyonlands National Park, which is close to Moab too.