Utah
What happens in Las Vegas… comes with you to Utah
Make a road trip through Utah truly unforgettable. Photo / Supplied
Explore exhilarating landscapes, ancient civilisations and boundless outdoor activities. With national and state parks, Navajo cliffs and famous monuments, this Utah roadie is definitely a joyride, writes Ivy Carruth.
We’re in Las Vegas for one night only before we hightail it to Utah’s vermillion-hued topography. There are four of us, each ready to command our own separate and unique vehicle. “My word! Look at the size of that BEAST!” I blurt as we pass Cruise America, where a not-so-tiny army of RVs gleam in the omnipresent sun-glare of Sin City. Like soldiers, they rest in a formation that speaks of readiness. Thankfully, we booked ahead through DriveNow, because campervans are in hot demand.
Our plan is to meet at 9.30 at a petrol station by the interstate, where we can easily begin our campervan convoy up I-15N. Except it takes longer than anticipated – much, much longer – as there is all manner of [very important] minutiae to take note of while collecting our ride. We learn how to hook up to power, how to use the water pump and how long our showers should be (three minutes). We learn how to empty our sewage and use the generator. Hot tips here: Record the walk-through on video; use your phone. When you’re out in no man’s land, you don’t want to be mixing up which end of the hose connects to the sewer and which one connects to the tank. Also, you can pay in advance not to have to empty your own muckety-muck if that’s something that you might find a worthwhile expense – like me.
A few hours behind schedule, we meet up. The first few things in the itinerary are shot, but that’s the beauty of making our own way; it really doesn’t matter. We take some more time to compare our respective rides. Maree’s is sleek and urbane; it wouldn’t be out of place ferrying around the Prime Minister. Shelley’s is more in the style of Euro-backpacker-chic; its agility and nimbleness winning out over comfort and good looks. Mine is the one I called “the beast”. At almost eight metres long, it’s as big as a sizeable New York City apartment (and fitted out as nicely as one) and sleeps six. Jocelyn’s is similar to mine if a few years older and with a smart interior layout and TV. We settle on our place in the convoy with nimble Shelley up front, the Prime Minister next, my Manhattan sublet third and bringing up the rear, Jocelyn’s comfy caboose.
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Snaking our way into Utah is a breeze, and the scenery gives way to scrubby grey brush before turning to amber, mandarin and rust. Utah is home to five national parks and 43 state parks, so even if you’re not in one, you’re near one. We’ve only got a week, so we’ll get to far fewer than that, but not for lack of trying.
Our first stop is Snow Canyon State Park, only two hours from the Vegas strip. We’ve booked e-bikes to explore. Having never been on an e-bike, I’m secretly lacking some enthusiasm, but when we actually hop on these two-wheeled magic carpets, they practically propel themselves. We tear through the beauty of carmine escarpments, wind in our hair and smiles that won’t stop. It’s hot, around 32C, but the breeze is a liberation. We see rattlesnakes coiled, their cautioning clatter an auditory reminder when we inadvertently get too close. We also happen upon a dinner-plate-sized Mohave Desert Tortoise, which leaves even the ranger a bit open-mouthed since they’re critically endangered. The desert is thrumming with neon wildflowers and insouciant welcome; this is a must-see and will become my favourite stop on the journey. Don’t miss the trail markers that point out prehistoric petroglyph sites.
After a solid night’s sleep and a quick brekkie at “Jocelyn’s dinette”, we journey an hour further up I-15N to one of America’s most beloved National Parks, the mighty Zion. Visited by more than five million people annually, the queue for entry was still unexpected, especially after the ease of Snow Canyon’s admittance. If you want to conquer the infamous Angel’s Landing, you’ll need to apply for a coveted permit via lottery on the day prior to your aspirational trek. Last year, about 200,000 were issued. The closest you can get to Angel’s Landing without a permit is Scout’s Lookout, which is still quite arduous. We chose the supremely accessible Pa’rus Trail (5.6km return) instead and make our way down to the historic Zion Lodge for icecream.
Two hours northeast of Zion, Bryce Canyon National Park is much less slick and produced than Zion, Bryce is laid back and has a more Western Americana feel to it. We’re feeling excited because we’ve booked into a two-hour guided horse riding tour that will take us 300 metres into the canyon’s pristine alpine forest and out again. Our guide is quite obviously not a morning person, and some of the horses are mules, but we have a terrific time, and I’d recommend it as the easiest way to appreciate the majesty of the canyon. Bryce marks one end of Utah’s Scenic Byway 12, which was named second in the world’s 10 most beautiful highways. Number one? Milford Road, New Zealand, of course.
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The next day we amble slowly along the Twelve and make our way up toward Capitol Reef National Park; it bookends the other end of the Byway. We stop for photos, bakeries and hikes. The panorama changes dramatically from the reds of the canyons and mushroom-esque hoodoos to fields of Pinyon Pine and patches of snow. It looks like a Christmas movie here; we rug up. When night falls, its velvet void is blacker than a raven’s feathers. Capitol Reef was designated an International Dark Sky Park in 2015.
We have only a few more days left on our trip before we make the drive back to Vegas, so we hurry to make the most of them. At Natural Bridges National Monument (200km drive from Capitol Reef), a 15-kilometre loop is self-guided. Owachomo Bridge is the most accessible, and the oldest of the three landmarks, and the hike to the bottom takes just 20 minutes for some stunning up-close angles. Edge of the Cedars State Park, on a prehistoric Puebloan (Anasazi) architectural site, is a scant hour away and uniquely impressive. Examples of archaeoastronomy hint at a culture well aware of celestial influences, though they lived in stone huts and underground kivas – visitors are encouraged to explore the ruins.
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park (3 hours southwest) is like travelling to Mars, and it’s fitting that this is our last day. The setting for countless John Wayne movies, Monument Valley crosses the Utah/Arizona state lines and is managed by the Navajo Nation on whose land it sits. The (seemingly) desolate landscape of flat desert is punctuated with sudden monoliths that seem to spring from nowhere. There are 11 numbered stops, but don’t miss the Mitten buttes and John Ford’s Point. You can enter and drive yourself, but a guided tour is the better choice so you’ll know what you’re seeing and its geological and cultural significance. This is one of the most photographed and visited sites in Utah, so there may be a wait. Bring water, a hat and most definitely your patience.
And just like that, it’s finished. A six-hour drive back to Vegas is at the other end of breakfast, but I’m not even dreading it. Far from being an arduous slog, the driving was the highlight of many highlights on this trip. The cab was a front-row seat to a spectacle of scenery. Mule deer. Slot canyons. Sublime spans of stone like a ribbon curving skyward. Utah, I’ll be back, and I’m bringing a beast.
For more to do, see visitutah.com
Utah
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Utah Hockey Club – Game #21 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info
The depth continues to be tested as the bodies keep dropping out of the lineup up front. Tonight, a resilient Maple Leafs team is seeking its fourth consecutive win as Alex Nylander debuts on an all-Marlies line against a tired 8-9-2 Utah Hockey Club (7:00 p.m. EST, TSN4).
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs vs. Utah
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Utah holds the advantage in three out of five offensive categories and three out of five defensive categories.
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on what he learned from the pre-scout of Utah’s 6-1 win over Pittsburgh last night:
The power play was good. They got three. They’re fast, and they have a lot of skill. They make a lot of plays — a lot of west-west plays — and get up the ice really well. Their D are involved.
We have to check well tonight. We have to stay out of the penalty box. Our PK is going to be important.
Overall, we need to take time and space away from this team right out of the offensive zone. Be hard on them breaking plays up. That will be very important tonight.
Berube on the decision to start Joseph Woll over Anthony Stolarz tonight:
[Woll] had a really good game against Vegas. We are just thinking ahead here. Stolly has played a lot. We have some time here. He is working in practice and doing a lot of good things.
That’s really it. We just talk about things and make decisions on what we think is best for the goalies and the team.
I talked earlier about how both goalies are going to see more net than they have in the past. It is important that we manage it to the best of our abilities.
Woll is coming off a real solid game against a real good team. We wanted to go back with him.
Berube on what improvements he is looking for from his team offensively after a week of practice:
Attacking more than we are. There are times when we tend to just control the play a little bit too much on the outside. We could attack more with more shots to the net, get pucks low to high, and do more on-and-off shooting while getting people to the net with numbers around there.
Resets to the back of the net, making quick plays out of there, doing things a little bit quicker, moving it quicker, supporting it quicker, and getting more pucks to the net than we are.
Berube on why Fraser Minten is so trustworthy despite his lack of experience:
It goes back to a great draft pick, finding a player who is so responsible at a young age. You guys aren’t on the bench, but just hearing him talk on the bench and how he sees the game, he says all the right things.
You don’t see young guys do that very often. He is already doing it at a very young age with very little experience. It is great to see. It’s refreshing. It really is.
Minten on the keys to success for his line with Nikita Grebenkin and Alex Nylander:
We just have to be simple with pucks and forecheck, using our speed to get pucks back on the forecheck. From there, let the skill make things happen. Those guys are really good when they get it back, so we have to make sure we are forechecking hard to retrieve pucks, and we’ll go from there.
Minten on the keys to success in the net-front role on the top power-play unit:
Try not to overcomplicate it too much. Get the goalie’s eyes, get in sight lines, try to get pucks back, get some tips, get some screens, and cause a little chaos. You can draw a defender with you. If you’re going backdoor, you give them a little more space. Be ready for anything coming to you. They are great players, so just try to read off of them, and hopefully, it goes well.
Minten on his experience level in front of the net on the power play:
In junior, I was mostly a flank guy with the puck more, but last year, I kind of got into it more at the end of the year, and I have been playing that role with the Marlies every game so far this year.
Minten on Morgan Rielly’s guidance at the NHL level:
He has been amazing. We have a lot in common, being from the same place. He took me under his wing a little bit and has been super nice. It makes it easy when you are coming in at 18 or 19 and there is a guy who comes to talk to you and is a really nice, supportive guy and friend. He has been awesome.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#74 Bobby McMann — #91 John Tavares — #16 Mitch Marner
#89 Nick Robertson— #29 Pontus Holmberg — #88 William Nylander
#71 Nikita Grebenkin — #39 Fraser Minten — #92 Alex Nylander
#46 Alex Steeves — #24 Connor Dewar — #18 Steven Lorentz
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#2 Simon Benoit — #25 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: Jani Hakanpää, Philippe Myers
Suspended: Ryan Reaves (four games remaining)
Injured (IR): Auston Matthews, Max Domi, Matthew Knies
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, Dakota Mermis, Max Pacioretty, David Kampf
Utah Hockey Club Projected Lines
Forwards
#9 Clayton Keller — #27 Barrett Hayton — #8 Nick Schmaltz
#22 Jack McBain — #92 Logan Cooley — #11 Dylan Guenther
#63 Matias Maccelli — #17 Nick Bjugstad — #67 Lawson Course
#15 Alex Kerfoot — #82 Kevin Stenlund — #53 Michael Carcone
Defensemen
#98 Mikhail Sergachev — #2 Olli Maata
#28 Ian Cole — #10 Maveric Lamoureux
#7 Michael Kesselring — #41 Robert Bortuzzo
Goaltenders
Starter: #70 Karel Vejmelka
Jayson Stauber
Injured: Sean Durzi, John Marino, Connor Ingram
Utah
NHL On Tap: Maple Leafs host Utah, seek 4th straight win without Matthews | NHL.com
Welcome to the NHL On Tap, a daily look at the games on the NHL schedule. There is one game on the schedule for Sunday, which will be televised nationally in the United States and Canada.
Game of the day
Utah Hockey Club at Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN4, NHLN, Utah16)
Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares have all stepped up for the Maple Leafs (12-6-2) in the absence of captain Auston Matthews and look to continue the trend against Utah (8-9-3) at Scotiabank Arena. Marner has 12 points (four goals, eight assists), Nylander nine points (four goals, five assists) and Tavares eight points (four goals, four assists) in the seven games without Matthews, who is out with an upper-body injury. Toronto has won three in a row and is 6-1-0 without Matthews, who skated prior to practice Saturday and said he could return from an upper-body injury this upcoming week. Marner leads Toronto with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 20 games and has points in six of the seven games Matthews has missed. Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Wall made 31 saves in a 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday for his first shutout of the season and second in the NHL. Utah is playing the second game of a back-to-back for the first time in team history and will look to build on a 6-1 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Dylan Guenther had two goals and an assist, and Clayton Keller had three assists, helping Utah end a three-game losing streak. Goalie Jaxson Stauber could make his Utah debut after being recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League on Wednesday; the 25-year-old has not played an NHL game since Feb. 22, 2023, with the Chicago Blackhawks. No. 1 goalie Connor Ingram has missed the past two games with an upper-body injury.
Utah
Iowa State football: Three stars in win for Cyclones over Utah in Big 12 action
It takes a complete football team to win a championship. Iowa State is finding that out with each passing week.
Seemingly left for dead in the heated Big 12 Conference race, the Cyclones now find themselves one win away from competing for the league title following a thrilling 31-28 victory over Utah Saturday night.
Iowa State (9-2, 7-2) reached the nine-win mark before a bowl game for the first time in program history, and could end one of the longest droughts in NCAA history by reaching 10 wins. The Cyclones and Vanderbilt are the only remaining Power 5 programs to never reach 10 wins, as Indiana did earlier this year.
After taking a 24-13 lead on Utah midway through the third quarter, the Cyclones needed a rally, scoring the game-winning touchdown with 91 seconds to go. The defense forced a missed field goal to seal the win.
Here are three stars from Iowa State’s win over Utah:
Known for his power running, Carson Hansen showed off his arm on a key third-down trick play that led to his second rushing touchdown. Hansen, a sophomore, took a halfback pass and found Gabe Burkle for a 26-yard completion.
That put the ball at the Utah 3 and Hansen would plow his way into the end zone on the next play for the game-winning points. He finished the night with a team-high 57 yards on 14 carries to go along with the 26-yard pass while also catching two balls for another 28 yards.
At 6-2 and over 220 pounds, Hansen is the thunder to Abu Sama’s lightning. He now has 11 rushing touchdowns on the year to go along with 560 yards after rushing for just 67 last season as a freshman.
Anytime Rocco Becht needed to make a big play in the passing game, he looked in the direction of Jayden Higgins. And Higgins stepped up for his quarterback, who was not quite as sharp as he typically has been.
Higgins finished with nine receptions for 155 yards and a touchdown, surpassing 1,000 yards for the season. The 6-foot-4 senior out of South Miami became just the seventh different Cyclone to reach the number after missing out last year with 983 yards.
With at least two, and maybe more, games to go, Higgins sits sixth on the school’s single-season list for yards with 1,015. Hakeem Butler is first with 1,318. Higgins and teammate Jaylin Noel, who has 976 yards, are set to become the first Cyclone teammates to eclipse 1,000 yards in the same season in school history.
Higgins is also just two yards away from becoming just the 10th Iowa State receiver to reach 2,000 career yards, joining the likes of Allen Lazard, Xavier Hutchinson and Charlie Kolar, along with Noel.
It’s been a difficult season in regards to injuries on both sides of the ball for Iowa State. But the defense has really been hurt with Malik Verdon out.
Verdon, a junior, recorded a team-leading 12 tackles including a sack, as the Cyclones held Utah to just 99 yards of total offense through three quarters.
And while the Utes were able to finally put together sustained drives in the fourth, when they needed to make a play, Iowa State did. Verdon went out for a short time after appearing to reinjure his arm that has a cast due to a hairline fracture, but would return to the field later in the fourth.
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