Tommy Brophy Photography - 2019 Road Trip

In the summer of 2019, I took a trip to the West to visit 9 National Parks with 2 of my friends over the course of 12 days. Below is a photo story which documents the trip.

May 26th:

After flying into Phoenix and prepping the car and our bodies for 12 days of travel, we headed out with full hearts early in the morning to Sedona, AZ. Visiting a famous church and taking a hike along a river. We ended the day near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, ready to head into the Canyon the next morning.

The beautiful orange hills of Sedona stood out among the barren landscape leading up to the city.

The church on the rock was an amazing stop I would recommend to anyone making the trip.

We had a friendly visitor at our campsite south of the Grand Canyon.

We took a trip to the Canyon just before sunset to see what we were getting ourselves into.

May 27th:

We trekked down into the Grand Canyon in the morning, experiencing rain, snow, and sleet all within a 6 hour period. Then we gunned it over to Monument Valley where we camped for the night.

The Bright Angel trail really lived up to its name on this particular day.

We posed for a few pictures when the weather cleared.

Channeled my inner Ansel Adams as we reached the turn-around point of our hike.

May 28th:

We had an action packed day, starting with a morning drive into Monument Valley (which I would highly recommend), followed by a drive and stop at the tourist trap Horseshoe Bend, and then finally ending up at our campsite just outside Zion National Park.

Our beautiful steed for this trip, we named it Clyde. Jake's grandparents were happy that Andre wasn't driving for this trip.

The unique formations looked good all across the scenic drive.

Quick stop to get the classic "legs over the edge" picture. The scale here was amazing though.

May 29th:

Our main day in Zion National Park, which we began with a hike up Angel's Landing and ended with a hike to Observation Point, where we got a view of the entire valley. We ended the day with a drive towards Bryce Canyon.

Chipmunks at the top of Angel's Landing!

The sun begins to hit the tops of the mountains as we hike the trail towards Angel's Landing. I would recommend hiking this in the morning before the tourists hit.

The views from the top.

The Watchman.

May 30th:

After camping outside Bryce Canyon, we drove into the park for a midday hike and couldn't believe the amazing colors of the rocks. We drove up to the highest point of a park at the end of the day for a view from above and camped outside the park again.

This park is beautiful in winter and in summer.

The hike through the rock formations left us very satisfied.

The view from the high point of the park.

May 31st:

After waking up outside the park, we drove into Bryce Canyon for one more photo-op. We then drove the loneliest road in America to my new home in Fallon, Nevada where we met my Dad.

Along Route 50, there were plenty cows to keep us entertained.

We drove through a storm at this point and it nearly killed us.

This was the storm before it erupted on us.

We got the opportunity to tour the flight line in Fallon and check out the jets against the mountain backdrop.

June 1st:
After spending the night at my Dad's BOQ, we drove to Lake Tahoe for the day, jumped in a freezing lake, and topped the night off with some pizza and stayed the night an hour outside Yosemite at an old friend of Jake's family.

June 2nd:

We arrived in Yosemite on a cloudy morning, but we were eventually able to walk around the park with Caleb and his friend Casey.

The iconic Tunnel View.

June 3rd:

We did our most hiking of the entire trip on this day, 17 miles total. We ended the day by going to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park.

Half Dome from the top of the valley.

A morning sunrise view from the bottom of the valley. I like this tree.

The same view as before just turned left a bit.

On the drive into the Sequoias, we just had to stop to take a picture of this sunset.

June 4th:
After camping just outside Sequoia and King's Canyon National Park, we drove into the Park for a day and did a hike to check out the trees.

Biiiiiiiiig tree.

June 5th:

Our last day was spent at Joshua Tree National Park. My first trip was not a disappointment. The massive rock formations were fun to climb and the trees were unlike anything else I had seen before. It was super hot at this time of year though, so we had to stay just outside the Park at a friend's house.

Although the area was super dry, it was not without its life.

We drove into the park at midnight to take a time-lapse of the stars and what we left with was incredible.

This trip was the most legendary of any I had ever taken before and I'd love to visit all of the parks again someday. I have no regrets from this trip and it really was one for the ages.

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