An Afternoon in Kolob Canyons, the surprisingly accessible yet rarely visited corner of Zion National Park

Everyone knows Zion National Park. Even if you've never been there, you've probably seen photos of the towering red-granite cliffs and domes, standing like giant sentinels above the green valley floor, thousands of feet below. You've probably seen dramatic photos of people hiking The Narrows, an iconic slot canyon trail requiring miles of walking and wading through cold water. You might have heard of, or even tackled, the hair-raising heights and amazing views of the Angel's Landing Trail.

But, I bet you haven't seen Kolob Canyons.

And you wouldn't be the only one. When I visited Zion National Park a few years back, I skipped Kolob, too. Nearly everyone does. But this time, I was driving...

“Seek Adventure.”

It’s an idea which seems to permeate western culture today. We see this sentiment - with some variation of the words “explore” and “adventure” - all around us, from ambiguous Instagram captions on photos of Icelandic fjords, to t-shirts, to the advertising campaigns of major recreational brands. At its most basic definition, to “seek adventure” means to try something new, something where the outcome is uncertain. This might entail great risk or small, a lot of uncertainty, or just a little. So whether you're going on a month-long road trip in a foreign country where you don’t speak the local language, or trying out a brand of art pens that you've never used before, you're seeking adventure.

Whenever we embark upon an adventure, there is always an element of risk, a possibility of failure or of something going wrong. In fact, there's even a saying that takes this thought to the next level, stating that "it's not an adventure until something goes wrong."

Val and I were firmly reminded of this truth on a recent trip to Joshua Tree National Park...

The dramatic Guadalupe Mountains of rise up out of the Chihuahuan Desert in West Texas, harboring a surprising oasis of greenery in its valleys despite having virtually no water source. But the contrast between what these mountains are today and their beginning, eons ago, is a bit ironic. These rocky peaks were once a massive coral reef, teeming with marine life and cutting across a prehistoric inland sea. Even today, Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a favorite spot for geologists to study the limestone layers of this reef that once was.

Hiking in Guadalupe Mountains National Park

My husband and I just moved from Arkansas to California, so we wanted to break up the long drive by stopping at a national park or two, and we decided to head to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We hadn’t even heard of...