Utah

Utah is a state of vibrant colours – azure blue skies, rich green forests and rocks that change colour with thesunlight. The north of the state boasts excellent recreation including boating, sailing and fi shing. South Utah’s‘Famous Five’ National Parks are incredible and recognisable from many feature fi lms. Their unique, fiery landscapes and irridescent colours are an amazing spectacle and are scattered with twisted natural sculptures.

Salt Lake City is surrounded by 10,000ft mountains with fantastic shopping and a vibrant nightlife comprising hundreds of restaurants and brewpubs. Visit Temple Square, a huge tourist draw due to the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Home to the Sundance Film Festival and host of the Winter Olympics in 2002 there are many attractions within the vicinity of the city itself.

Logan is located in the beautiful Cache Valley where you can visit the American West Heritage Center, a living history museum dedicated to the life of early pioneers.  Explore nearby Bear Lake known as the ‘Caribbean of the Rockies’ due to its turquoise waters and there are fantastic opportunities for sailing, boating and fi shing. Visit Ashley National Forest showcasing woodlands and meadows that contrasts with the aptly named ‘Flaming Gorge’ and its colourful red canyons.

The South of Utah has fi ve National Parks and all are breathtaking. Moab provided the ‘hide out’ of the infamous Butch Cassidy and his gang. It is the perfect base to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and has been the setting for  Thelma and Louise and other Hollywood fi lms. Arches National Park has 2,000 named arches set amongst a backdrop of fiery red desert. The most famous monument is ‘Delicate Arch’ which has been described as ‘a sandstone fi n’ and a ‘giant engagement ring’ – depending on your point of view!

Canyonlands National Park is the largest in Utah with three distinctive districts. The ‘Island in The Sky’ district surveys hundreds of miles of terrain, the needles has red rock spires towering over landscapes and the maze provides a myriad of tall  standing rocks and fi ns of vibrant sandstone.

Bryce Canyon National Park is a collection of weather beaten sculptures that change colours with the sun due to their mineral content. Sunset and sunrise provide dancing lights of scarlet, pink and gold and Native Indian legend tells of evil spirits frozen in stone, their faces still etched in the rocks.

If you gaze down onto Bryce you gaze upwards at Zion National Park. The soaring peaks of the Watchman and West Temple loom over the horizon. Canyon walls and cliffs soar 2,000 to 3,000ft high and are some of the highest in the world. The best views are on Zion Canyon’s floor where sky high sandstone formations rise into azure skies and the vivid mineral colours of red, pink, purple and orange are visible all day.

The town of Torrey is the gateway to Capitol Reef National Park which Native Indians named ‘Land of the Sleeping Rainbows’ due to the huge white sandstone  formations. Their legacy also prevails in the ancient drawings etched into the walls depicting hunting and daily life.

On the border of Arizona and Utah you will feel a sense of ‘deja vu’. Monument Valley is a fi lm star in its own right after featuring in the dozens of classic Western movies fi lmed here. Barren landscapes are dotted with 1,000ft high mesas buttes and pillars that provide a unique and hauntingly beautiful landscape that the Navajo Indians claim is sacred.