Bucket List Destinations – June – US South West National Parks

The US might be best known for its cities but it has some of the most iconic national parks – think Yosemite, Yellowstone and, of course, the Grand Canyon. June is a fantastic month to visit before the crowds of summer – unsurprisingly thousands of Americans descend on the parks by car and it can become very difficult to get around. It’s relatively easy to visit several parks in one trip, especially around the south-west and this is helped by an annual national park pass.

A popular itinerary starts in either Las Vegas or Denver and can take in six superb and surprisingly different parks in a steady two weeks. Depending on your route you can circle round to start from or finish with the Daddy of them all – the Grand Canyon. Personally, my favourite view of the canyon itself is from Desert View Watchtower – out on the eastern entrance into the canyon. If you are tight on time a night at the canyon followed by a drive out to the watchtower gives you a glimpse into the sheer enormity created by the Colorado River. Speaking of which, if you’re up for a challenge then you might want to consider rafting the river itself! Back at the main visitor centre take note of rangers warning of the perils of walking into the canyon too late (i.e. after about 8am!) as there’s very little shade and what goes down must come up. It's not possible to reach the bottom and return in one day, so if you want to go to the bottom you need to have pre-booked an overnight stay at Phantom Ranch – around a year in advance!

Route dependent you might head up through Page where I’d recommend an overnight stop so you have a chance to enjoy the truly iconic view of Colorado River below you at Horseshoe Bend and some familiar looking wavy walls at Antelope Canyon – this is ideally visited in the morning to get the best light but be prepared for short notice cancellations as flash flooding has proved tragic in the past and so no risks are taken – this is also why you must go on a guided tour.

From here it’s just over a two-hour drive to Zion National Park – the park is most famous for ‘The Narrows’, a hike down the river which is usually undertaken over two days but you can just take a day hike. Not for the faint-hearted there’s also Angel’s Landing, a five-mile trail with a 6000ft summit – I have photos taken by my husband but I went horse-riding instead! From Zion it’s another couple of hours to Bryce Canyon – not actually a canyon but rather an amphitheatre of ‘hoodoos’ (if you want to show off pronounce them oo-doos in front of a ranger); these look like some kind of painted sugar confectionery steeples – in fact, Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona could well have been modelled on them. Good news if you have sore feet – you can actually see a huge amount of the main sites here without leaving your car! Having said that, taking the combined Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop three-mile trail is well worth it. And if you can make the sacrifice and get up early, the colours as the sun comes into the ‘Silent City’ amphitheatre will make up for it.

Head through park number four – Capitol Reef – to see the Waterpocket Fold, described as a geological wrinkle that extends for over 100 miles. While you’re here you should be in time for cherry-picking at one of the orchards originally planted by Mormons in the 1880’s and now managed as part of the park. Things are going to start getting more like the Westerns now – the last two parks; Canyonlands and Arches; are very close to each other and have the famous flat-top mesa rocks jutting out of the ground as well as (unsurprisingly) arches. Whilst there’s plenty to see in Arches from your car and a short hike out to the Windows Trail, you should also consider booking into a ranger-guided tour of the Fiery Furnace if you’re up for a bit of scrambling. One of the best ways of viewing both parks is to take a tour in a 4WD – best left to the experts – who will get you safely into (and out of) the back-country with useful information on the geology and archaeology of the area.

I know I have focussed on one fantastic itinerary but I can also vouch for this being the perfect time of year to visit Yosemite as the famous waterfalls should be in full flow and I have plenty of hints and tips for you to make the most of that trip. Yellowstone is also starting to open for the season in June and this is a great time to visit as it gets incredibly busy later in the summer and lots of calves (bighorn sheep, elks and mountain goats) are being born, plus good waterfalls! Finally, Alaska has a short season, pretty much from mid-May to early September (see my future August blog for more details).

If any of the parks mentioned are of interest or if you’d like to hear about other options in the US then please just get in touch and I would be very happy to help.