A Look Back at 2023

Another year is over! We blogged about a lot of things this year, and covered a lot of topics. This past year was a big one, so let’s take a look back at the some of the more memorable posts that we wrote in 2023.

This is the Blog at Red River Ranch: Year in Review.

Photo by Annie Spratt via unsplash.com

We Wrote About Film and Television

One of the big tent-pole cultural shows this year was season three of The Mandalorian. We watched it, you watched it, everybody watched it. But besides seeing the always-adorable Baby Yoda again, what we loved most about this season was seeing Lake Powell as the backdrop of the the Mandalorian hide-out. We wrote about it here in The Mandalorian Visits Lake Powell.

We also gave a shoutout to the 2002 DreamWorks animated film Spirit, which is set in the American West and Southern Utah. We detailed all the real-life locations used in the film, which you can read in our post Spirit: Film Locations.

Photo by the Walt Disney Company via disneyplus.com

We Covered the Big Events

There were two really big events at the Southern Utah national parks this year. And we wrote and posted about both. The first was the hundredth anniversary of Bryce Canyon National Park. (Happy birthday, again, Bryce!) The park had a big Centennial Celebration with live music and a birthday ceremony, and we wrote about it – as well as the history of Bryce Canyon – here in our post Happy 100th, Bryce Canyon!

The second big event the year was the annular solar eclipse. Most of Southern Utah had great views of the phenomenon, but Capitol Reef National Park was right in the path, and had was the best place to observe it. So we kept everyone updated on all the celestial happenings and the ways Capitol Reef was celebrating in our post 2023 Annular Eclipse. In Capitol Reef!

Photo by Mark Basarab via unsplash.com

We Talked About Hidden Locations

One of our favorite things is to write about the places that non-locals just don’t know about, and aren’t likely to discover without a little help. We did that this year too. In our post Sunglow Canyon we wrote about a little canyon tucked away from the main road, and located only a few minutes from us at the Lodge at Red River Ranch. Most people drive right by it, but we encouraged you to stop and check it out.

We also wrote about what is possibly the best place to bike in all of Southern Utah in our post Ride Gooseberry Mesa! Gooseberry Mesa has the best views of Zion National Park, with the best mix of slickrock and singletrack, and the best routes that we know about.

Photo by Tim Foster unsplash.com

We Hiked. A Lot.

Obviously we like to write about hiking. It’s kinda our number one thing. And this year we wrote about the 5 Best Spring Hikes in Capitol Reef, some of favorite trails in Arches National Park, short Labor Day Hikes, and the best hikes for autumn and winter.

And speaking of hiking, we made a public service announcement about how Google Maps finally made hiking in the national parks a priority with some much-needed improvements. Those changes should help us all hike better in 2024 and beyond.

Photo by Alex Holt via unsplash.com

We’re Excited About the New Year

Next year, we’ll be writing even more about the best things to see and do in Southern Utah. We’ll see you then! Happy New Year! And thanks for making 2023 a great year for us at the Lodge at Red River Ranch.