Every year, my wife and I try to take hiking-centered spring vacation. This year, we detoured to Utah on the way to a family gathering in Denver.

Every few years, we make our way down to the national parks and other public lands in the southern part of the state. This time, we stuck pretty close to Moab, visiting both Arches and Canyonlands national parks. We’ve been to both may times before, but still found trails we hadn’t explored.

In Canyonlands, a park ranger suggested we try the Neck Spring trail, noting that its moisture produced an abundance of plant life. Sure enough, we saw plenty of flowers, including the Utah penstemon above.

Here are more photos from Canyonlands, as well as pictures from Arches and the trail to Corona Arch outside of Moab.

Perhaps the best part of the trip was hiking 10 miles in one day. It’s the most I’ve hiked in recovering from an Achilles injury over the winter, and bodes well for spring and summer.