11/4-5 Saturday, we headed north on our loop through the towns of Blanding and Monticello before a brief stop at Newspaper Rock and an early afternoon arrival in the southern part of Canyonlands National Park, an area known as the Needles district for its unique rock spires. Again, we stopped at many viewpoints along the way and hiked through incredible wind along an overlook trail before making our way to Moab for the final two nights of our journey. ...

Thursday began with our goodbye to Capitol Reef after a stop for some roadside petroglyphs and a nice hike up to Hickman's Natural Bridge which afforded excellent views of the Capitol Reef Rock. Then, heading southwest through some major open country, we crossed the Colorado at the Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area before stopping at Natural Bridges National Monument. There, the Loop Drive leads to three bridges as well as an overlook of ancient cliff dwell...

11/1 Wednesday was primarily a driving day as we set off to explore some of the immense Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Utah route 12 is considered one of the more scenic roads in America, and we were not disappointed. On the drive from Torrey to Escalante, a cute little town with outfitters and restaurants, we traveled the Million Dollar Road over Hog's Back, stopped at several overlooks, and walked a few small side trails to get better view...

We arrived into Grand Junction after the best connection ever in Denver—adjacent gates with a Starbucks in between them—picked up the rental, and headed west, arriving at Capitol Reef National Park early in the afternoon. Following a brief stop at the visitors' center, we drove the 11-mile Scenic Drive to the end of the road, hiking the Capitol Gorge trail. Returning up the Scenic Drive, we detoured to the Grand Wash trail and hiked into the narrows. Th...