November in Utah - 10 things to experience
10 things we learned about Utah after living there for 1 month
Parks, Parks and more Parks: In Utah, there are so many national and state parks that it would be very hard to visit them all in 1 month. We were able to do two loops on two separate weekends and still didn't see it all:
1. Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park loop. We headed to Moab as our base. Arches is just next door. In Arches you'll find just that... sandstone arches and they are beautiful.
In Canyonlands there are incredible views of the canyon below that will take your breath away.
Dead Horse Point State Park has an awesome ride with amazing views. We rode our ebikes on the trails around the perimeter overlooking the canyon (14 miles).
All three of these parks are near Moab.
2. Zion National Park and Bryce National Park loop: On the southwest side of the state, near St. George, you'll find Zion National Park. Zion is majestic. You can bike the canyon and be surrounded by very tall red cliffs. In Zion, we also hiked the Narrows. The Narrows is a slot canyon with a river running through it. You can walk the river and admire the canyon beauty from within. In November, the water was cold so we rented the right gear to do the hike and stay dry. We hiked 8 miles round trip and it was an amazing experience.
We stopped by Bryce Canyon on our way back to Salt Lake City. Bryce is very unique with its many hoodoos. A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements.
3. Dinosaurs: Dinosaurs roamed this area more than 150 million years ago and at the Dinosaur National Monument you can view and touch the fossils of those amazing creatures. You can also see petroglyphs. It is definitely a jump in the past. This national park is located near the border of Utah and Colorado on Highway 40.
4. Antelope Island State Park: on the east side of the Great Salt Lake you'll find Antelope Island State Park. First you'll drive across a causeway for a few miles before reaching the island. This island is famous for its many buffalo roaming free. It is also a great spot to watch the sunset on the lake. Back in the day, during the time of year that the lake was dry near the island, the inhabitants were driving cars on the lake bed back and forth from the main land and the island.
5. Hot Springs: in Utah we visited 3 hot springs and they were all pretty unique. The first one was literally in the middle of nowhere. We asked a local and he gave us the direction on how to reach it. We got there just before sunset and the view was amazing.
The second hot springs we visited was Mystic Hot Springs. This one is super cool because it has bathtubs where you can lay and soak in hot natural water. There is a charge to enter this hot spring but if you are lucky and there is a clear sky at night, spotting shooting stars is assured.
The third and last one is called Homestead Crater. This one is special because it comes right out of a crater. This hot spring has been adopted by the nearby resort, which drilled a tunnel on the site for easy access. You need to book in advance your visit because only a few people at the time are allowed to enter. It is 60 feet deep and in the silt at the bottom have been found articrafts and remains that are 10,000 years old. This hot spring is used for scuba diving lessons and it is one of the few warm water scuba diving sites in the world.
6. Mormons: Salt Lake City and Utah, in general, is the land of the Mormons. People that belong to this religion are very hard to get to know... and there are a lot of them. The Mormons dictate lots of the state's laws that are very unique to Utah. For instance, you can't order a pitcher of margarita if you are only 2 people, or you can not even have a beer without buying food. Mormons are also against coffee, so it was a pretty sure bet to find non-Mormons in coffee shops. We went to watch the famous Tabernacle Choir practice. It is definitely an impressive choir to listen to.
7. Park City: Park City is only 30 minutes away from Salt Lake City but it feels a different world. The entire town is based on outdoor activities and it was here that in 1998 was held the Winter Olympics. It is a wonderland for winter sports and an amazing place for summer biking and hiking. This place felt a lot like Northen California, and the cost of living was similar too. We found a Banksy painting on the street of downtown Park City, that was cool!
8. Food: We found 2 very interesting restaurants that are apparently on the top list of restaurants in the US that you don't expect to be famous in Utah. The Red Iguana with its incredible variety of Mole, and Takashi, delicious and creative sushi.
9. Moad: Moad is a small town but considered the greatest adventure town in the southwest. The landscape is pretty much desert and high red cliffs. Here you can ride a motorcycle, atv, side-by-side, jeep, bicycle, ebike basically everywhere. The hikes are also amazing and for the most intrepid there are tons of climbs and base jumping! There is a little bit for everyone and it is definitely a destination for the outdoor enthusiast.
10. The State's nickname has nothing to do with bees. You may have heard of Utah being called the Beehive State but this is not in referral to bees. This nickname commemorates the industry of the people of Utah. The beehive was adopted, in 1847, as an official emblem and represents the qualities of industry, perseverance, thrift, stability, and self-reliance, all virtues respected by the region's settlers.
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