I tend to travel around the world to cheaper places that can be viewed as backpacking destinations. I prefer to go and stay places long-term where it is possible to get by on $20 a day and thrive on $30-40. Unfortunately this simply isn't possible for a vast majority of the United States and this is why there is a lot of it that I would like to see, but just haven't been able to do so because of finances.
I do think that the United States has some stunning scenery though and on a recent RV trip with family I was able to see some of it.
This place
is called the Bryce Canyon National Park and it is located in southern Utah. While it is a very unique place with tons of hiking and outdoor adventure, simply getting here is a pain in the ass. This is true with most lovely places in nature in USA. With such a huge country, it seems like almost anything is hours and hours away in a car. Also, due to our general lack of public transport, you are going to need your own car to get there. I suppose you could hire a driver but this is going to cost an astronomical amount of money. This is one thing I do not like about travel in the United States: Almost none of it is affordable and therefore, most people don't ever get to see it.
There was a bunch of information placards that explained how this very unusual rock formation occurred over the course of thousands of years or something, but I didn't bother to read it well enough to remember it. I suppose it doesn't really matter, I am just really happy that I got to see it thanks to the generosity of my family members.
I mean just look at that, it is absolutely stunning! Another benefit of this area is that even though it is the middle of summer, it was quite cool in almost all of the areas. Of course standing in direct sunlight eventually gets you a bit sweaty but I am accustomed to areas much closer to the equator than Utah is, so I found myself barely breaking a sweat despite being on a multi-mile trek. This is a very unusual experience for me!
This picture kind of represents something else that I don't particularly care for about most of the truly beautiful things that exist in the USA: There were tons of other people there. I realize it is unrealistic of me to expect to have the place to myself but it seemed like everywhere we went inside of this majestically huge park, we were close to bumping into other people at all times.
I will say this much though: The park was exceptionally well-maintained and I can't say that this is true of any of the parks I have been to in the developing countries that I normally call home. I suppose that is one benefit of things being so expensive, they have fantastic facilities and plenty of trash bins all over the place that are regularly emptied. There is also a big focus on recycling and at the entrance they offer to sell you an environmentally friendly water bottle for $5. There are also bottle filling stations located throughout the park that you can fill your bottle up with clean drinking water for free. To make things even better, if you want you can sell your bottle back when you leave the park for $4. They will then sterilize it and pass it on to someone else.
This is a very good policy and definitely cuts down on waste all over the park. Not to be judgmental of poorer countries, but most of the national parks I have been to in developing countries there was normally plastic bottles all over the place and this kind of takes away from the allure of a place being a "national park" in my opinion.
Unfortunately it is $35 to get into the park but if you are like us and plan to visit many national parks on a longer journey, you can get an all access pass that is usable at all US national parks for a reduced fee. I don't remember how much it was but it was something around $100 and it is valid for 4 months.
This imagine is something else I dislike about travel in the United States. There are lots of places to stay nearby but of course, they are all expensive as hell. Thankfully we are in an RV so we were able to park at an RV park for $10, which honestly, considering the amenities, is still a ripoff.