This past fall my husband and I went on an 8 day road trip through Utah and Arizona. We hit up all of the “must see” places, camped under the stars, showered irregularly, and did plenty of exploring.

Our first stop was Zion National Park, where we met up with family and camped for 3 nights. We stayed in Watchman Campground and had what I believe is one of the best spots. This was the view from our campsite after all:

There were 10 of us total, so we had two campsites side by side. Jon and I drove from San Diego on Thursday and got there mid-afternoon. The rest of our family came later in the day. We spent the first day setting up camp, making dinner, and relaxing. Followed by, of course, some night time shooting at our campsite. When I’m in a national park, I can’t resist.

Friday morning we headed out to the West Rim trail. This trail may look familiar, from my post here, because it’s the trail that also leads to Angels Landing. Our plan wasn’t to do the full Angels Landing hike though. Instead of heading right after all the switchbacks, with literally everyoooone else, we went left and continued on up the West Rim. We had a wide variety of hiking experience in our group, and I wouldn’t recommend Angels Landing to anyone who’s not feeling totally comfortable about it. Also not advised on the hike, faulty shoes.

After the first looong set of switch backs, one of the soles on my boots completely blew out! Luckily as we stopped to assess the damage and see how it could be fixed, someone we passed mentioned that it had happened to them the previous day as well. They offered advice on how they fixed it, and we moved ahead with that! For anyone else in this situation: we tied the shoelaces a couple times around the sole to try to keep it in place. It was still attached a little at the front, so that helped. It didn’t necessarily make the hike easy though!

We continued on up along the West Rim, and not long after, my second boot lost it’s sole too. I’m not one to quit or bail out early on a hike though, and I’m glad I didn’t. We scrambled off the ‘official’ trail a bit, to Refrigerator Peak, and had some gorgeous views.

This trail is a million times better when you are able to escape the crowds!

It was an interesting walk back (for me anyway), which in the end resulted in both of my soles coming completely off, and me giving up on them entirely. Great way to start day 1 of an 8 day road trip right?!

After our hike, we headed back to our campground and then right outside of the park to rent some equipment for our hike into the narrows the next day. The rest of the afternoon and evening was so relaxing! We had drinks, prepped dinner, and sat around the campfire. I’m all for an adventure filled trip, especially when there’s hikes involved, but it’s also so nice to take the time to sit in the afternoon and soak up just being outdoors.

Pro tip: don’t let camping be a reason to miss a fizzy friday! Pop the bubbly.

And ok, my cousin and I may have also gone out to take a couple more pictures at night. Always looking for practice with this!

The next day we pilled on our gear and headed to the narrows! I’ve been to the narrows before, and it still remains one of my favorites. I love the difference in the type of trail, and once you get out past the people (it may seem unlikely, but it is actually possible without going too far) it’s so peaceful. Highly recommend this hike! Also beneficial to get the right shoes, and a walking stick helps. I didn’t bring my camera this time around, however last time we went in the Narrows I did. I was able to rent a waterproof bag, which helped me feel better about the decision to hike in water with my camera. I will say, it was kind of freeing to not have it this time around though!

On the way back to our campground after the Narrows, the light was so gorgeous in the park. My cousin and I decided to head back out and take a couple pictures during the dreamy golden hour.

The next day was our last day in Zion with the family, and we headed through the tunnel and to the other side of the park to do some ‘unofficial’ trails (my favorite part about hiking with my Aunt & Uncle, they know how to find the less crowded trails) before everyone went their separate ways.

My Uncle was interested in heading to the base of a rock climb that he had done previously, and Jon and I decided to join him. We wanted to do more exploring and some more ‘technical’ hiking, which it was. It was a lot of scrambling, and a lot steeper than I realized it was going to be! I have to say, I was a little freaked out as we were going and I seriously thought about turning around pretty early on. But Jon and my Uncle are great support systems and helped me feel comfortable as we kept climbing. And it was soo worth it. The landscape was unlike anything I’d seen before, and there wasn’t a single person in sight. The views were gorgeous! And in case you’re wondering how I hiked with those faulty boots, my mom was the sweetest and lent me her hiking shoes for the rest of the trip. Such a trip saver!