No strangers to travelling off the beaten track, dynamic duo Alex Wong and Allyson Yik in this issue of YES (propertY, peoplE, placeS) recount their journey to the scenic majesty of the national parks situated in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the US.
Leaving St George on a cold autumn morning, their first stop was at Springdale. Located nearby the Zion National Park, the route they opted for saw them travelling in a clockwise direction to Bryce Canyon, taking them along the Burr Trail and further on journeying past the Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Canyonland Needles National Park and the Monument Valley National Park.
In no time, they arrived at the Zion National Park where they were greeted by the most spectacular sight of golden autumnal colours with a sprinkling of ocassional wildlife seen darting to and fro as in squirrels seeking their treasures of acorns to store and see them through the harsh winter ahead.
The Canyonlands National Park which was a must-visit place for them was every bit a natural wonder with its spectacular “needles” looking mountains and sculptured rocks which the couple agreed was worth every effort in visiting this site for themselves.
Thereafter, the next essential place on their bucket list was the Arches National Park. They also got to witness the spectacular view of the towering Monument Valley as they left Utah State, crossing over into Arizona State.
Truly, it’s not everyday that one gets to partake of the beauty of some the top national parks in the US. What is facinating is the fact that some of them are as old as Father Time. Embedded in their memories in particular is the following visit to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This represents an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretch south from Bryce Canyon National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, cutting through the Zion National Park, and further into the Grand Canyon National Park.
Partly named after the Escalante River, which flows from Boulder Mountain to the Colorado River, the sight of Mother Nature in all her wonders took their breath away. Needless to say, canyons and gorges carved over eons of time reveal how much time has passed.
And, as the famous British poet John Keats once penned, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”, this lovely adventurous duo can now during lockdown, reach back into the recesses of their memories to relive golden days of freedom spent exploring untold physical boundaries of space and time despite the lockdown. So, in this case, there’s never a dull day even during the long lockdown.
