From A to Z

During Labor Day weekend (I know it was some time ago), Pei Ying, Keng Yang, Wei Ping, Jason and I decided to go for hiking and camping at Utah. It was a short but fun trip and the scenery was just breathtaking.

After the trip, I dove right back into my studies for Exam 6 (I'm so glad that it's over) and didn't have the mood to upload my pictures until now. Since it was a while ago, I could not remember some detail about the places that we have been to. However, I still have some pictures that I would like to share.

Arches National Park


At the park, we spent a night in the car before we hike to see the Delicate Arch. At night, there were not as many stars as I expected; however, there were more mosquitoes than anticipated and I had a tonne of mosquito bites from that night :(

Leaving that aside, the wait and hike were definitely worth it because the view was remarkable.

The Delicate Arch

Sunrise at Arches

Another view of the Delicate Arch

The usual "jump shot"

The Double Arch

Bryce's National Park

Bryce Canyon

Zion National Park

We spent most of our time at Zion National Park. We shared a campsite in the park with Wei Ping's friends. Although camping tent is not the most comfortable place to sleep, I still enjoyed sleeping out in the park and waking up to see the surrounding tan-colored sandstone.

Sandstone that can be seen everywhere in the park

Our biggest challenge in the trip was to hike the 2.5 miles Angel's Landing Trail. The trail begins with a paved path before we started to climb up the steep path of the canyon.

Looking up

Looking down

After a long hike, we finally reached the most thrilling part of the hike. About 1000 feet above the canyon floor, we will be walking along a steep and narrow ridge with only chains on the side to hold onto. Every now and then, I could look down from both side of the path to see the scenery below.

The last 1/2 mile

PY: "help!!!"

KY: (pretend not to hear anything)

View at the summit...doesn't look that impressive here...you need to experience it yourself

Spot the lizard

Another cute guy at the summit

After having lunch at the summit, we headed back. The hike down was not as tiring as going up and thus I took more pictures.

Layers and layers of rock

Another view

More random stuff that I spotted on the way down

After the hike, we were all exhausted and decided to pick some mini trail to hike. We trail up to the Emerald Pool and also took the Riverside walk.

A small waterfall on the way to the Emerald Pool

Before we knew it, it was time to go home. There are still some things that I wanted to do here in Zion (rock climbing, hike the Narrows...) but we didn't have enough time (or energy left). I guess I'll come back in the future.

On our way out, we stopped to take a picture of Mesa in Zion that reminds KY of excel spreadsheet

On the way to the airport, we stopped by a few places.

Sand dune (I can't remember the name)

The Valley of Fire

This trip was definitely a good break from studying. It brought up fond hiking and camping memories. I would definitely like to have more camping trips and also one day, go back to Zion.