I left Moab to cross the state of Utah to Cedar City to reach the parks on that side. The drive was impressive and there were lots of ups and downs and my poor car couldn't quite handle all the ups without slowing down. For a while I passed by the side of a storm and could see lightning hitting the flat plain area to my left. Then I went through some heavy rain on the storm's edge and that's when I decided that they really need to put cat's eyes onto the roads. A quick internet search tells me they were invented by an Englishman - hooray! - but aren't that popular in the US, where they prefer Botts' dots. The road I was on, I-70, had painted lane markings but in heavy rain they are impossible to see more than a few feet ahead.

I did the drive in one go, taking four hours to pass the 290 miles. I got to my hotel exactly on the check-in time and, after a little rest, I went out to Bryce Canyon National Park. This shows up one aspect of my trip - the part where I just wing it. I hadn't realised it would take 1h40m to get to the park from Cedar City, so I only got to the park at 4:30pm. Luckily it turned out to be a park where you really only need to drive to the various viewpoints to see everything. The only thing on top of that would be a long hike down into the canyon and back out again, but there's nothing in between those two levels so I was happy just to be driving.

I was especially happy to be in my car because, as I approached the park, it started raining. I figured it for a short shower but didn't know that they get very regular showers in the summer. All the same I wasn't going to take the voluntary free shuttle around the park. It was still 82 degrees outside so it didn't feel bad to walk to and from the visitor's centre in the light rain. Likewise at my first viewpoint, Sunrise Point, it didn't matter that there was a light rain. I, as well as everybody else, was ignoring the big sign saying "when lightning is striking remain inside your car". This is especially important at this park because it's on a high plateau so it gets a lot of strikes. I even went so far as to walk up to higher ground for a better view over to the storm cloud.

That was my downfall. Obviously I wasn't struck by lightning but as I walked the hundred metres back to my car the rain started getting heavier and I started walking faster as people around me started running to their cars. Then the rain reached a torrential level and I gave in and ran to my car and leaped in. It was pouring down now and I drove to the next viewpoint, by which time the rain had calmed. The temperature had also dropped from 82 to 66 degrees, according to my car, in a matter of several minutes as the storm came in.

The rest of my time in the park it seemed like I was always driving a few miles ahead of the rain, getting out and then getting back into my car as the rain caught up with me. Only one more time did I get caught out again like at the first viewpoint and had to run to avoid getting soaked.

During the dry respites the views were amazing. The canyon is full of what are called hoodoos - pillars of rock of a soft rock capped with a harder rock, thus preventing downward erosion and protecting the column for longer than the surrounding rock which erodes away leaving the hoodoos standing proud. For me it was the colours that were the most beautiful aspect - such bright red-orange colours. But after halfway I'd seen what I felt was the best view and so everything after that was just average.

I'm glad I didn't use the free shuttle bus around the park because there was plenty of parking at each viewpoint and I would have waited ages at each viewpoint for the bus to the next one where really it only takes a minute or two to have a look and then move on, especially when it's raining on me!

The second day in Cedar City I set out for Zion National Park, which I had been looking forward to because I'd heard about it before and it was supposed to be amazing. The drive to this park was beautiful with some great views as the road wound up and around. When I got to the town of Springdale on the park boundary a sign said the park's parking was full. I had been expecting this. I parked on a designated side street and walked down to the free shuttle stop. Just as the shuttle was approaching I realised I didn't have my walking boots on so I had to walk all the way back to the car, put them on and walk back again. I was annoyed at myself but at least I realised before I got into the park.

I was actually very close to the park and it was only a few minutes before the bus got me to the park and I went inside. It was hot at Zion. My car had said it was 102 degrees when I got out of it. So when I asked at the visitor information centre about the Angel's Landing trail, which is a strenuous 5-mile, 4-hour hike climbing about 1300 feet to a great viewpoint the park ranger said it was unadvisable to do it in the afternoon (it was then 2pm) because it was so hot. I was disappointed but thought I would be very stupid to ignore the advise of a professional park ranger. She pointed me to some easier trails.

This park had a compulsory free shuttle inside the park and I could see why. This park was a lot busier than Bryce Canyon. But because cars were banned from the scenic drive and everybody was forced to ride the shuttle it meant that they were very regular, unlike Bryce Canyon. The bus was packed but very few people were getting off. I got off at the trailhead for my first walk. It was busy there at Zion Lodge with people sitting in the shade on the grass and in the cafe. But once I got onto the trail there were far fewer people. To their credit quite a few people were taking the easy trail but I did the one with more elevation gain.

I started off saying hello to people coming the other way, as you do, but people were not good at returning it so I gave up. About three quarters of the people I passed were foreigners. When I got to the top of the trail to the upper pool it was at least shaded and I could rest and cool off a lot. Otherwise I was not very excited by this walk. The park is basically a road (the scenic drive) going up and down a fairly deep canyon - Zion Canyon. So as I climbed up on my walk I got some better elevated views of the canyon, but nothing that I felt was spectacular.

I continued on to the second walk recommended to me, which was at the very end of the scenic drive. This one was at least very popular because it was an easy one mile, partly paved, trail up the river where the canyon starts to narrow. At the end people were stopping to splash about in the river. I had hoped to continue up the canyon but it would mean at least wading across the river to the dry land on the far side and at some point just hiking up the river. I didn't have the proper gear to stay dry and I didn't want my feet getting soaked as I had so far to go back to my car. So I turned around and walked back. I thought it was funny to see people with big walking sticks branded with Zion Adventure Co. as they walked an easy two mile round-trip.

I was still feeling like I was missing out on some excitement so I scoured the trail guide hoping to find something a bit more interesting. One appealed to me, a strenuous 2-mile, 3-hour round-trip to a high viewpoint. On balance I decided I would rather get back and have a more rested evening as it was already 5pm.

In my rested evening I have to confess I went to Wal-Mart again. This time to buy a cable to connect my MP3 player directly to the car's stereo rather than having to use the FM transmitter. Then I did the very American thing of driving to the next door parking lot of Applebee's for dinner. The barmaid flattered me by asking if I was 21. I said "no, not really" as she checked my ID. Then her manager had to check it, which apparently is standard practice, maybe because it's foreign. This lead to him comparing my ID with the guy next to me who was German. They are both EU style driving licenses so they do look similar. He was out on business overseeing the refurbishing of a copper plant in town.

So overall I was impressed with Bryce Canyon, despite the rain, and disappointed by Zion. I think I'm just being a snob but my problem with Zion was that it felt like a conveyor belt park - people come in, get on the bus, listen to the commentary up to the end, get out and do the easy riverside walk, get back on the bus, buy a souvenir from the visitor's centre and go home. Also I think it is because I had already seen so much more geologically impressive scenery before and Zion is 'just a canyon'. I would like to go back some day in the wintertime and do the hike I had been unable to do that day and then maybe I will enjoy it more. But even so, one park out of five that I didn't like is a pretty good hit rate.

This concludes my Utah national parks adventure. My next stop is to return the car to Flagstaff, Arizona and carry on by bus to Las Vegas.