Mighty Trip 2026 - Part 2

Rocky Mountain and the Utah's Mighty 5

Week 2

If you thought Week 1 was interesting, get ready—Week 2 has even more surprises waiting for you!

We woke on the 13th of June to the sound of my dad using the restroom and brushing his teeth. Once we were fully awake, we hopped out of bed and started getting ready. While my brothers and I were still getting ready, my dad announced that we would not be camping at Rocky Mountain National Park that day after all. It turned out he had accidentally misread the schedule and thought our reservation was for today, but it was actually for the next day. With that surprise in mind, we finished getting ready and walked to breakfast. For breakfast, I just got cereal and orange juice. When my family and I finished eating, we went to the front desk and asked if we could stay in the hotel for another day. They said yes, but we would have to pay for it. Since our plans were fixed for the day, we all jumped into the car and started driving to Rocky Mountain National Park. Not long after, we arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park.

My dad said that today we would do a small hike in the Alpines, then come back down for smaller hikes. So we drove all the way up to the Alpine’s and went to the Alpine’s Visitor Center. At the Alpine Visitor Center, we bought hats (because it was freezing cold), a magnet, and a Christmas tree ornament. We also got our passports stamped before we left the Alpines Visitor Center. Then we used the restrooms because we did not want to have to go in the middle of the trail. So after we used the restrooms, we drove to the trail, Tundra Closed Trail.

We walked .5 miles until we reached this really huge rock that you could climb. Deva didn’t want to climb because he was so cold. So my dad pulled out an emergency blanket that he had kept in his hiking bag.

My mom offered to stay with Deva while my dad, Surya, and I climbed the rock.

Soon after, we finished climbing the rock and started hiking again. Again we hiked for another .5 miles and reached the end of the trail, where the last rock was placed.

This time my family and I climbed it together. Then we started walking back to our car. We hopped into the car and drove to the Alpine Cafe for lunch. I got a pretzel and shared it with Deva. My dad got a “bison” hot dog, and once again he asked me to try it. And once again I didn’t want to try it, but Surya said it just tastes like a normal hot dog. So I tried it … and it was actually pretty good. Once we finished our lunch, my dad said we could buy some gummy bears. So my brothers and I got some gummy bears and bought them all by ourselves. After that, we went back to our parents, and my dad said we were going back down to do a few short trails down there. So we all got in the car and headed down. We first did a short restroom break. Then we found this Junior Ranger thing, and they said we could complete this booklet to be an official Junior Ranger.

After we got our booklets. We did a trail called Hidden Valley.

That hike was very short, so we finished it very quickly. After that, we did another short hike called Alluvial Fan Trail. It was a trail that led to a small creek, and you were able to play in it.

Then after we finished that, we drove back to the hotel and jumped into the pool. We played in the pool for about an hour.

Then we showered, ate dinner, which was Jimmy John’s, and then slept.

The next day I woke up because Deva was jumping on the bed and was playing with Surya. Once I was awake and ready, my dad said that we would not be camping today because there was a high chance of rain. So we ate breakfast, asked for one more day in the hotel, and drove to Rocky Mountain National Park. Today we had a timed entry for Bear Lake and were able to get in. So we walked the Bear Lake Trail, which was .7 miles, but it did take an hour to finish with all the breaks Deva needed and photos.

By the time we finished, it seemed the people that had started after us finished before us. After we finished Bear Lake Trail, we started a new trail called Alberta Falls. Now Alberta Falls was a bit tricky because it had elevation. It was uphill and downhill, but in the end it really paid off. The falls were just gorgeous to look at.

Once we came back to the trailhead, we walked back to our car and chilled out. My dad said since we were not going to camp, we might as well just see the campsite, eat our lunch there, and make s’mores. So we drove to our campsite and checked it out. We saw that we were at the campsite that had the water pump, and we were really close to the restrooms. We ate our lunch, which was a chicken salad sandwich. Then we played for a bit, and at 5:00 p.m. we went to buy wood, a lighter, and the liquid thingy. So we put the fire and roasted marshmallows.

Then we went back to the hotel, showered, ate dinner, and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up, got ready, ate breakfast at the hotel, and checked out. We soon learned that we were beginning our drive to Moab, Utah, that day. We drove for about 3 hours until we all got out of the car to eat lunch. Lunch was in Colorado. It was this place called Qdoba. I got a kids’ taco. It was so delicious. Then we got back in the car and drove for another 2 hours. I was sleeping while we were driving for those 2 hours. When I woke up, we were in Moab, Utah. We went to check in at the hotel and get our keys. After we got all of that, we went to our room. Our room was a casita. It had 2 rooms, a kitchen, a living room, and even a balcony! Well, that was because we were on the 2nd floor. After we got all our luggage and changed into our swimsuits, we jumped into the pool and played there for about an hour until our parents told us we had to leave.

When we got back to our room, we showered and ate our dinner, a tuna salad sandwich. We packed our hiking bags for the next day and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up at 4:00 a.m. in the morning to go to Arches National Park. I quickly brushed my teeth and changed my clothes. For breakfast, I had a granola bar and milk. After my entire family and I were ready to go, we walked to our car and started driving towards Arches National Park.

We arrived there in time to see the sunrise at the Windows Arch.

It was a very short trail to get there. After we finished that, we drove to the Delicate Arch trailhead and started walking to Delicate Arch. With all the breaks, our slow walking, and the elevation, it took us about 2 hours to get all the way up to the Delicate Arch itself.

When we got all the way up, we ate our PB & J sandwiches that we had packed last night. The sandwiches were our breakfast and lunch, a brunch. While coming down, it was really easy, but Deva’s legs started hurting, so my mom carried him down. I have to admit, even though Deva is small, he still walks big hikes. The Delicate Arch trail was 3.1 miles with a lot of elevation, and he still made it to the top. So after we finished the Delicate Arch trail, we returned to our car and celebrated us hiking that really big hike, especially Deva. After that, we went to the Sand Dunes at Arches National Park.

At the Sand Dunes, Surya and I got in trouble, so our dad said our punishment was to walk with him to the Broken Arch. At first I was sad, but then I realized I got to see an extra arch. So we walked the Broken Arch trail, it was really short, and took pictures when we got to it.

Then we came back to our car and rested for a while.

After a bit of rest, we started driving back to our hotel. Once we reached our hotel room/casita, we ate our lunch, which was a tuna salad sandwich, got changed into our swim dress, and jumped into the pool. We played in the pool for a while, and then our dad joined us. Then we went to the hot tub. Then not long after we left because we were really tired. We showered and ate our dinner, which was Thai. My dad had picked it up while we were showering. After we ate, we watched a few episodes of Wild Babies on Netflix. Soon we fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up, got ready, packed our luggage, and started driving to Torrey, Utah. But we first went to Canyonlands National Park.

At Canyonlands, I got my National Parks pass.

That meant that all the National Parks were free for me. When we arrived, we went to the Visitor Center, got our passports stamped, bought magnets, a book for Deva and a notebook and pen for me and Surya. After that we drove to a hike named Mesa Arch.

Mesa Arch, at the trailhead it said it was .6 miles; it also said that it was a loop. So we walked about .3 miles until we reached the Mesa Arch itself. We took pictures there and then we left. After we finished the Mesa Arch trail, we drove to another trailhead, called the Upheaval Dome. It was a long hike, but it was split up into sections. You could either see the First Overlook or the First Overlook and Second Overlook. My family and I only walked until the First Overlook.

When we reached the First Overlook, we saw a crater. Apparently, scientists are debating whether it was created by a meteorite impact or ancient underground salt deposits. Anyways, after we finished that First Overlook, we turned around and headed for the car. Then we started driving towards the switchback drive.

I slept during it because I was tired. My dad said he had gone a little bit into it, but then he turned back. Then I woke up. My dad said we were going to take a small pit stop at a gas station. Then we drove for another 2 hours, but it felt like forever, until we arrived at the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, we realized that we would be staying in the Contestoga wagon.

It had a king bed and bunk beds for the kids. And then we jumped into the indoor pool. We played for half an hour, then went to shower. Our bathrooms were across from our Contestoga wagon. I showered first, then played in the wagon until my brothers finished showering.

Once my brothers finished showering, we went to the restaurant that was connected to the hotel.

I shared some salad and lamb racks with my mom. In my opinion, those lamb racks were the juiciest lamb racks I had ever tasted. After we finished our dinner and paid our money for it, we went to the fireplace and sat there for a while, while looking at the stars in the sky. Then we got changed into our nightdress and went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of crying “I want milk, milk, milk…”. Once I woke up, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and change my clothes. After I got ready, I waited for my brothers to get changed so we could go eat breakfast at the same place I had dinner last night. After my brothers got ready, we went to the breakfast place and ate our breakfast. At the breakfast buffet, there was cereal. I knew eating cereal would be ideal for me because then I would not throw up. So after we ate breakfast, we packed our stuff into the car and drove towards Capitol Reef National Park.

Instead of going to the Capitol Reef Visitor Center, we went to a trailhead. We did a trail named the Hickman Bridge Trail. The trail was 1.8 miles, but the elevation made it a bit hard, especially in the hot sun.

After we finished that trail, we went to the Capitol Reef Visitor Center and bought a magnet. After that, we watched a small movie they had a bout Capitol Reef in the Capitol Reef Visitor Center. Then we drove until we reached a nice picnic area (Fruita District) in the Capitol Reef National Park and ate our lunch, a tuna salad sandwich.

Then we bought ice cream from the Capitol Reef National Park Gifford Homestead. The ice cream was really good, and it was homemade. After that, we started driving towards Bryce Canyon National Park. We drove for 2 hours until we reached Bryce Canyon National Park.

For Bryce Canyon, my parents were able to book a campsite, so we got to camp in Bryce Canyon.

When we first arrived, we just fixed our hair, then went to the Bryce Canyon Lodge to eat dinner.

For dinner, I got some butter pasta. It was really…buttery. We also got hot chocolate. After we finished dinner, we went to Sunset Point to see the sunset.

Then we did a very small hike, and then we went back to our campsite. We roasted some marshmallows and made s’mores before going to sleep.

The next morning we woke up, got ready, and ate our breakfast, which was cereal. After we ate our cereal, we got ready to do a very big and extreme hike. We packed up our tent and drove to Sunrise Point. My dad said we were going to go down into Bryce Canyon from Sunrise Point and walk until we reached Sunset Point. This trail was named Navajo Loop and Queens Garden Trail. So we went all the way down to the hoodoos and took a break and some pictures.

Now, while going all the way back up, we struggled a bit and had to take lots of breaks, especially at the switchback part.

But when we finished the trail, we felt so proud of ourselves.

We celebrated by going to a picnic area near our car and eating our lunch. Our lunch was once again a tuna salad sandwich.

After we ate, we bought tokens to wash our feet in the campsite shower because they were so dirty from that long hike. Then we started driving towards the hotel that we were going to stay in for Zion National Park

When we arrived, we first went to the Zion Visitor Center to get our passports stamped, and we bought a magnet. Then we asked the Park Ranger some questions about the Narrows hike. After that, we drove to our hotel, showered, then ate our dinner, which was Thai. After we ate our dinner, we went to sleep because we were really tired.

When we woke up the next day, we got ready and headed to the breakfast area at the hotel.

After we ate our breakfast, we started driving towards a parking lot to park our car before we went to the Springdale shuttle. We took the Springdale shuttle to the Zion Visitor Center to take the shuttle from there to the Narrows. But we had to wait in a really long line to get on one of the shuttles. When we finally got on a shuttle, we realized that the Narrows was the last stop. So when we finally arrived, we all went to the restrooms and started walking the Virgin River Walk, which was the paved path you must walk to get to the Narrows.

When we got to the Narrows, Deva said the water was cold, so he and my mom stayed at the beginning while my dad, Surya, and I walked 1 mile.

Then we took a small break while I made stone art.

Then we walked 1 mile back to where my mom and Deva were. After that we all walked the Virgin River Walk back to the shuttles. We took the shuttle to the Zion Lodge and ate lunch there; I got a hamburger.

Then we played a little bit in a picnic area.

Then we took a shuttle back to the Zion Visitor Center. After that, we took the Springdale shuttle back to where we had parked our car. Near our parking lot there was an ice cream shop, so we ate some ice cream before returning to our car. When we got back to our hotel, we got to go to the pool for a while. Then we went back to our room and showered. Then we ate our dinner, which was leftover Thai from yesterday. Then we went to sleep after a tiring day.

In Part 3, we will put an end to our one-month road trip. Stay tuned for Part 3!