The sprawling western state of Utah boasts not one but five unforgettable national parks--and on this far-ranging episode host Arthur St. Antoine visits them all in the latest edition of one of the most popular pickup trucks on the planet. Mars-like terrain
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00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 If you told me, "Arthur, right now you're driving on Mars,"
00:06 I'd have almost no reason to doubt you.
00:09 This terrain is mountainous, full of huge boulders,
00:12 and it's almost entirely red.
00:14 But this isn't Mars, it's Utah,
00:17 and Utah has no fewer than five amazing national parks,
00:21 each one full of great roads, off-road trails,
00:24 and spectacular natural wonders.
00:27 On this episode, I'm gonna visit them all.
00:30 And to do it, I've got the perfect Rover,
00:32 the all-new 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road Edition,
00:37 the third generation of one of the most popular
00:40 pickup trucks in the universe.
00:42 I don't just write about adventure, I live it,
00:50 especially winging out the coolest cars on the planet.
00:54 Let's see just how far these incredible machines
00:57 can take us.
00:58 Strap in for epic drives.
01:01 Yeah, this new Tacoma bears a strong family resemblance
01:11 to the outgoing model, but underneath, a ton has changed.
01:15 This TRD Off-Road Edition is beefed up with Crawl Control,
01:20 a multi-terrain select system with five different modes
01:23 for optimum traction in varying conditions,
01:25 an electronic locking rear differential,
01:27 and a suspension specially tuned for off-road running
01:30 and outfitted with stout Bilstein shocks.
01:34 Oh, and the cockpit is all new too, a huge improvement.
01:37 So far, I'm liking the cushy ride, the solid structure,
01:41 and the abundant creature comforts,
01:43 but mostly, I'm looking forward to seeing
01:46 what this brute can do in the gnarly stuff.
01:51 Before I venture out into my first national park,
01:54 I've got an opportunity I just can't pass up.
01:57 I'm gonna meet up with two expert mountain bikers
01:59 preparing to compete in the annual Red Bull Rampage
02:03 Big Mountain Freeriding Competition.
02:05 Paul Basagodia is a seasoned riding pro,
02:08 while his pal Nick Prosetto is helping Paul
02:10 carve the wicked downhill trail he'll ride
02:13 in the Rampage Competition.
02:14 (upbeat music)
02:17 - All right, what is happening?
02:23 - How you doing?
02:24 - Good, man.
02:25 - I'm trying to find some place
02:26 where anybody could ride a bike around here,
02:27 and you're telling me you're gonna go down that thing.
02:30 - All right, I think our only option
02:31 is to ride down that steep chute right there,
02:34 which is called the King Kong.
02:36 - Aptly named, apparently.
02:37 We gotta check it out from the top, right?
02:39 And I've got the perfect rig to do it,
02:41 so how about we put your bikes in back and saddle up?
02:43 - Sounds good to me.
02:44 - Let's do it.
02:44 - Let's check it out.
02:45 - Awesome.
02:46 - After saying hello, Paul and Nick stole
02:48 their multi-thousand dollar bikes in the Tacoma's bed,
02:51 and we head up the mountain
02:52 to check out their practice trail.
02:54 (whistles)
03:01 Guys, just standing here is doing
03:04 uncomfortable things to my anatomy.
03:07 You're gonna ride this?
03:08 - All right, that's the game plan.
03:10 Here we are on top of King Kong,
03:11 and this is one of the most famous trails here in Utah.
03:15 - Insane.
03:16 Trust me, what these guys do out here,
03:19 flying along these narrow, jagged cliffs,
03:22 diving down towering drops, it's just mind-blowing.
03:26 (upbeat music)
03:28 (whistles)
03:31 I'm okay with driving a Lamborghini at speed
03:47 on a closed road, but a mountain bike out here?
03:50 I don't know how they do it.
03:51 Really unbelievable.
03:54 It's been a privilege meeting such gutsy and talented guys.
03:58 (wind blowing)
04:01 Well, I'm in the first of Utah's big five national parks.
04:06 This is Zion.
04:08 And already I'm thinking, how am I gonna top this one?
04:14 Suddenly, I'm kinda wishing I were driving a convertible.
04:23 I'm looking out at red pillars of stone
04:26 going up 1,000, 2,000 feet into a perfectly blue sky.
04:31 It's absolutely incredible here.
04:33 - Founded in 1909, Zion is the oldest
04:36 and most popular national park in Utah.
04:39 Humans have inhabited this dazzling panorama
04:41 of soaring peaks, thick forests,
04:44 and narrow canyons for about 8,000 years.
04:47 - This is pretty special.
04:55 - Jim Franson is the general manager of Zion Outfitters.
04:58 As we head into Zion Canyon,
05:00 Jim points out a group of roped climbers
05:02 halfway up a sheer rock face.
05:04 - This is a world-class rock climb right there
05:06 where those two spots are going up.
05:08 If you can look right up there,
05:09 about a third of the way up,
05:10 there's some rock climbers actually
05:12 on the wall up there right now.
05:14 - Wow, look at that.
05:15 - Typically, unless they're the best climbers in the world,
05:18 they're probably gonna spend the night up there.
05:20 They have a portal ledge that they bivvy on.
05:23 - Really, that's so cool.
05:24 Where are you guys taking off today?
05:26 - We're climbing a climb right up here called Prodigal Sun.
05:30 It's just right up here on this wall.
05:31 - Are you gonna stop halfway for the night
05:33 or are you gonna go all the way up?
05:33 - Yep, we're gonna stop and bivvy halfway up.
05:36 Sleep on the wall.
05:37 - We'll just see how far we can get today
05:38 and however we stop, we stop and keep going.
05:42 Hopefully, we get to the top tomorrow.
05:43 - What's it like to hang out there at night
05:45 halfway up on a rock?
05:47 - Just, Jim, you peek your head off the edge
05:49 and you're looking down 500, 600 feet.
05:51 It's exciting.
05:52 - The canyon narrows as we hike further in.
05:54 At one point, we stop in front of a large,
05:56 weeping wall of water.
05:58 This H2O, Jim says, is more than 1,200 years old,
06:03 absorbed centuries ago by the porous sandstone
06:06 towering above.
06:08 This is awesome.
06:09 - Yeah, it's pretty neat, Larry.
06:10 - I love it.
06:12 - Go up right around this bend up here.
06:14 - Over here?
06:15 - It gets a little more narrow, yeah.
06:16 - So, Jim, this is pretty much where you enter
06:19 the Zion Narrows, right about here?
06:20 - Yeah, you see people starting their four-mile trek
06:24 up to where they need to turn around.
06:25 It's, you're hiking in the water at this point
06:28 probably about 60% of the time.
06:31 And as you can see, it's not just flat under the water.
06:36 It's these bowling ball-sized river rock.
06:38 You're gonna be knee-deep or less.
06:39 There's gonna be a couple spots up in here.
06:42 We'll get up to our waist.
06:43 - Well, I would like to see it for myself,
06:45 but my crack-the-whip producers have somewhere else
06:47 for me to go, so this is as far as we get to go today.
06:50 - Next time.
06:51 - All right, I'll hold you to it.
06:52 The name Zion means heavenly city.
06:55 And while the park may not be much of a metropolis,
06:58 it's got the heavenly part down cold.
07:01 150 million years of history
07:04 speaking to you from the stony faces.
07:07 No wonder more than three million people
07:09 come here every year.
07:10 This is what it feels like to experience grandeur.
07:18 As I exit Zion, I leave the paved roads
07:21 to the bus-riding types.
07:23 After all, I've got a Tacoma TRD pickup
07:26 with off-road in its name.
07:28 Of the five national parks I'm visiting
07:37 on this epic drive, only three allow off-roading.
07:40 Zion, where I was today, and Bryce Canyon,
07:43 where I'm going tomorrow, don't.
07:44 But the road I'm driving right now between them
07:46 is the best dirt road I could find in the area.
07:48 Cottonwood Road is actually wearing a sign right now
07:51 saying not recommended for travel, but come on.
07:54 This rig is way better than that.
07:56 As night falls, I regularly come across
07:59 washed out stretches of the trail.
08:01 But they're no match for the Tacoma's four-wheel drive system
08:03 and 9.4 inches of ground clearance.
08:07 I'm hoping, though, that some of these parks coming up
08:09 have some real challenges,
08:10 'cause this truck has a lot of capability
08:12 and I wanna test it out.
08:13 Still, it's a long drive.
08:15 And with the sun gone, I can't see
08:17 more than a few feet off the road.
08:20 Watch out for deer.
08:21 Watch out for gaps in the road.
08:23 But keep up a decent pace.
08:25 The pizza joint somewhere up ahead
08:27 is the only eatery in town.
08:29 And it closes in 45 minutes.
08:31 Arriving before dawn at Bryce Canyon National Park,
08:45 just 50 miles or so northeast of Zion,
08:48 our team got to witness this.
08:51 These rocket-like pinnacles,
08:54 formed by eons of erosion, are called hoodoos.
08:58 And while formations like these
09:00 can be found in many other countries,
09:02 Bryce has the largest collection of hoodoos in the world.
09:14 That's what geologists call a (beep) ton of erosion.
09:17 You come up here in Bryce Canyon,
09:23 past 8,000 feet, for these monolithic rock formations.
09:27 Yeah, you can hike around here a little bit,
09:29 but mostly you just look and admire
09:33 and let your jaw drop straight to the ground.
09:35 Well, you won't see this very often.
09:43 Federal land with no triple safety warnings,
09:46 no guardrails, one false step,
09:49 and nobody will ever see you again.
09:51 Leaving Bryce, I aimed Tacoma Northwest
09:57 toward Park Number Three, Capitol Reef.
09:59 Call time this morning, 3.30 a.m.
10:04 For more than two hours, our team winds through
10:08 a tight, twisting two-lane trail in the pitch dark.
10:12 Sometime during the night,
10:13 we cross into Capitol Reef National Park.
10:16 Signs of civilization?
10:18 Forget it.
10:20 Then, as we round a turn, the horizon ahead brightens
10:23 with a faint whisper of orange.
10:26 Above it, the slenderest crescent of a moon,
10:29 like an old science fiction painting of a distant planet.
10:32 We reach our destination with less than 20 minutes to spare,
10:36 just enough time to set up our cameras.
10:39 Quite suddenly, the dawn breaks over the horizon,
10:42 and the so-named Temple of the Sun
10:45 alights in a brilliant orange-red glow.
10:47 So part of the deal here at Epic Drives is,
11:08 if you get to drive the Hero Car,
11:10 you also have to cook the team breakfast.
11:13 It's a fair trade.
11:15 For the Temple of the Sun,
11:18 unbelievable, well worth getting up at 3.45 a.m.
11:23 Besides, I actually enjoy frying up the eggs and bacon
11:26 on the tailgate amid surroundings like these.
11:29 As we drive on through Capitol Reef,
11:34 I get a chance to play with the Tacoma a bit.
11:36 Sliding through turns, powering along the trail
11:39 in clouds of dust.
11:41 The Tacoma looks and feels right at home here.
11:57 That coating of mud even sort of matches
11:59 the quicksand color.
12:05 You know, prior to coming here,
12:06 I'd never even heard of Capitol Reef.
12:09 And in fact, this 100-mile-long, narrow wrinkle
12:12 at Ridges and Buttes only became a national park in 1971.
12:17 But let me tell you, the place is epic.
12:20 The formations here, the jut out of the landscape,
12:24 were created 65 million years ago,
12:26 the same geologic forces that created the Colorado Plateau.
12:29 And so you have the Temple of the Sun
12:31 and these other spires of rock
12:33 that are just breathtaking to behold.
12:35 This is the third of the five parks we're visiting.
12:38 And Capitol Reef doesn't get the attention
12:40 of some of the parks like Zion that everybody's heard of.
12:43 As you're making your way around Utah,
12:45 make sure Capitol Reef is on your list
12:47 'cause I'm telling you, it's not to be missed.
12:50 Your only fellow traveler is likely to be a golden eagle
12:53 or a bighorn sheep.
12:55 To escape like this, I'd get up at zero dark 30 anytime.
12:59 (dramatic music)
13:02 All right, this is Arches National Park,
13:10 number four in our Big Five Tour,
13:12 and probably the second most popular park in Utah.
13:15 And I finally reached a few rocks
13:17 where I can try out some of the systems on this Tacoma.
13:20 They're pretty mild.
13:21 I don't really need to be at four low here,
13:23 but I wanted to play with the system anyway, so I am.
13:26 So easy, just creepy crawls up this stuff.
13:28 (engine revving)
13:31 Come out to a little bit of a stone wall here.
13:39 Ah, some tire slip.
13:41 Let's just lock our rear differential.
13:45 And look at there, up it goes, piece of cake.
13:48 (upbeat music)
13:51 (upbeat music)
13:54 Within its 120,000 square miles,
14:04 Arches boasts some of the most bizarre
14:06 and head-scratching natural formations on earth.
14:08 This is Balanced Rock,
14:11 one of the highlights here at Arches National Park.
14:14 Now don't ask me how the local chamber of commerce
14:16 managed to get a 3,500 ton boulder
14:19 on top of a tiny little perch of mudstone, but they did.
14:22 I'm gonna meet up with a local geologist later
14:24 who may be able to explain the mystery.
14:26 Meantime, that's pretty mind-blowing.
14:29 Standing here right under the monster,
14:32 I kind of feel like the name should be changed
14:34 to I hope it's Balanced Rock.
14:36 Out here, actually anywhere in Utah's national parks,
14:42 you want to bring along water, lots and lots of water.
14:46 Our team has already gone through enough
14:48 to fill a swimming pool, and this is October,
14:51 when the temperatures are relatively mild.
14:53 The locals tell me this time of year it can sometimes rain,
14:56 but for us, the skies have been nothing but perfect.
14:59 Oh, that is awesome.
15:06 It's so worth the climb up here.
15:08 I'm genuinely impressed.
15:10 I didn't think it would look that cool.
15:12 Yeah, I've seen the so-called delicate arch in pictures,
15:16 and it's on Utah's license plate, too,
15:19 but nothing can prepare you for seeing this 65-foot-tall
15:22 petrified donut jutting up by itself
15:25 on the edge of a sandstone bowl
15:27 with the LaSalle Mountains in the far distance.
15:30 It's so much bigger than I thought.
15:31 I mean, it's so much more impressive.
15:33 I meet up with Lee Shenton, a retired organic chemist,
15:37 self-described amateur geologist,
15:40 and the president of the Utah Friends of Paleontology.
15:44 Yeah, he's a dinosaur freak.
15:46 Lee, behind us is what everybody would call
15:48 the most famous natural attraction in all of Utah,
15:51 delicate arch.
15:52 This part of the country was under oceans
15:54 29 different times,
15:56 and every time there were sand dunes by the beach.
16:00 So over the 200 million years or so,
16:03 the sand dunes have gradually eroded away
16:06 until we see what we have here today.
16:08 Now, as I understand it,
16:09 I mean, these are naturally eroding structures.
16:11 Some of them fall down.
16:12 Is this one doomed to fall down anytime soon?
16:14 Yeah, not in my lifetime.
16:17 It will fall down.
16:18 There's no question about that.
16:20 Could be 100,000 years, could be a million years.
16:23 We don't know.
16:23 The good news is on that scale,
16:26 as some fall down, others are formed.
16:29 Well, you told me this is one of your favorite places
16:31 to come.
16:32 I can see why now.
16:33 Yeah, this is terrific.
16:34 I never get tired of this.
16:36 So this looks a little dicey right above.
16:38 It's kind of cracked.
16:39 Yeah.
16:41 Probably going to hang up there for at least another minute.
16:44 If we hear a loud noise like a shotgun going off,
16:48 run, only run that way, not that way.
16:51 I don't think we're gonna have much choice.
16:52 No.
16:53 Yeah, this is a spectacular place.
16:57 As I make my way down the Slickrock Trail
17:01 back to the Tacoma,
17:03 I realize this whole trip so far
17:05 has been nothing but rocks and dust.
17:07 Tomorrow, I'm gonna change that.
17:10 Time to get wet, jet boat style.
17:12 In Moab, along the banks of the Colorado River,
17:17 I meet up with Cassidy Blank, co-owner of Moab Jet,
17:21 and a seasoned veteran applying these waters
17:23 in all sorts of craft.
17:25 Today, we'll be venturing out
17:27 in one of Cassidy's two blue scream machines,
17:30 a jet boat powered by a small block V8,
17:33 making well over 400 horsepower.
17:35 Welcome to the Colorado River.
17:37 Thank you.
17:38 Yeah.
17:39 I've been wanting to try this for a long time.
17:40 This has got a pretty shallow draft, this boat.
17:43 It does.
17:43 We can get over four inches of water
17:46 with the fully loaded boat, 10 people in here.
17:48 Wow.
17:48 Yeah.
17:49 You gotta be going fast though.
17:51 Really great boat.
17:51 Really fun, fun boat to drive.
17:53 And what does it top out at on the water here?
17:55 I've got the boat right around 60 miles per hour.
17:59 All right, Cassidy, I'm ready to see
18:00 what this thing can do.
18:01 Okay.
18:02 Hit it.
18:02 (upbeat music)
18:05 (jet boat engine roaring)
18:09 This is definitely my kind of way
18:19 to see the Colorado River,
18:21 blasting over the water in a 420 horsepower jet boat.
18:25 Well, I can't see it,
18:27 but I'm being pelted with bugs right now.
18:29 They're all over the place.
18:30 I feel like I'm a jeep going down the highway.
18:32 It is so worth it.
18:34 (jet boat engine roaring)
18:37 (upbeat music)
18:40 (jet boat engine roaring)
18:43 You care if you get drenched?
19:09 Cassidy asks, "Hell no," I reply.
19:13 So Cassidy guns the boat toward the waves,
19:15 and with a combo of steering and throttle,
19:17 he dives the bow underwater.
19:19 (jet boat engine roaring)
19:21 (upbeat music)
19:23 Hey, just being out here on the Colorado
19:38 on a day like this is a gas.
19:40 But add a thundering V8 and bugs in the face,
19:44 and well, I highly recommend it.
19:46 The Tacoma TRD Off-Road is built for serious duty,
19:53 but so far, I haven't really pushed it very hard.
19:56 So before I head off to my final destination,
19:59 National Park number five,
20:01 I meet up with veteran off-roading guide, Kevin Hawking,
20:04 to sample the Moab Rim Route.
20:06 I'm in Moab now, and this is definitely
20:08 the toughest challenge this Tacoma's faced yet.
20:11 This is the Moab Rim Trail,
20:12 and I see some serious challenges ahead.
20:14 Already in four-wheel drive, low, of course,
20:17 but I've got some other goodies to play with.
20:18 I'm gonna try the Multi-Terrain Select System.
20:21 Push that and go into rock mode.
20:25 Down into first gear, and I'm gonna lock the rear diff.
20:30 Let's give it a shot.
20:31 (upbeat music)
20:33 (upbeat music)
20:36 Now, this is so steep that I cannot see anything of the road.
20:49 Just see my spotter signal, and I'm following him.
20:52 I don't even have to look.
20:53 I've now reached a pretty decent obstacle,
21:02 a three or four foot wall of rock,
21:04 apparently called the Devil's Crack.
21:06 Oh, yeah, it is.
21:08 Let's see what we can do.
21:09 (upbeat music)
21:12 (tires screeching)
21:20 (upbeat music)
21:31 (upbeat music)
21:34 So let me just repeat, an unmodified factory pickup
21:43 full of luxury amenities just took on the Devil's Crack
21:47 and spanked it.
21:49 Nice.
21:50 This Tacoma has tamed everything I've thrown at it.
21:59 As I approach the last destination on my five park tour,
22:02 I'm thinking, after everything I've seen and done so far,
22:06 this is going to be a disappointment.
22:08 But as I enter Canyonlands National Park
22:11 in southeastern Utah, I quickly realize
22:14 maybe I ain't seen nothing yet.
22:16 Just off my left shoulder here, the view.
22:27 Oh, the canyon drops down a couple hundred feet
22:31 just straight off the edge here.
22:32 And then if you look miles and miles into the distance,
22:35 you see this ridge of red mountain
22:37 with these towering little spires all by themselves.
22:41 And best of all, I can just place all of myself.
22:54 By now, the Tacoma is an old and trusted friend.
22:57 So I feel no concerns whatsoever
23:00 about venturing deep into such remote territory.
23:03 It'll get me wherever I want to go.
23:09 So I'm free to relax and enjoy soaking up
23:12 my own personal red planet.
23:14 Yeah, right now I really could be on Mars.
23:18 Well, I got here just in time.
23:21 This is the Canyonlands National Park
23:24 where I've been driving all day.
23:25 And just before sunset, I found this private plateau,
23:28 got my tent set up.
23:29 I'm going to cook up a great dinner.
23:31 Time to enjoy my own little private slice of heaven.
23:34 You know, it's funny.
23:35 When I went to Zion, I thought nothing's going to top this.
23:38 Then I went to Bryce, maybe top that.
23:41 Then we went to Capitol Reef, which I love
23:44 because it was so empty and so amazing looking.
23:46 And now look at this, and it's all to myself.
23:49 So Utah, it just keeps getting better and better.
23:53 (wind blowing)
23:55 There aren't a lot of places left
23:57 where someone can roam this free
23:59 and unchallenged and absorbed.
24:01 My hometown of Los Angeles is famous for its stars.
24:06 But me, I far prefer these.
24:09 (gentle music)
24:12 The Tacoma TRD Off-Road has proven
24:18 to be the perfect companion for Utah's challenging terrain
24:21 and the hundreds of miles I've racked up,
24:23 bashing over un-groomed trails and rocky slopes.
24:27 This is one sweet and impressive rig.
24:31 This may be my first extended exploration of Utah,
24:34 but for sure, I'm coming back.
24:37 (upbeat music)
24:39 (wind blowing)
24:42 (upbeat music)
24:44 (wind blowing)
24:47 Just enough time for our shot.
25:14 - Yeah.
25:15 - And we're out of here.
25:15 - That's right.
25:16 - Pancakes time.
25:17 - Then they can say, you remember Art and Lee, don't you?
25:19 They were the ones standing under the arch when it let go.
25:22 (upbeat music)
25:25 (upbeat music)
25:27 (upbeat music)
25:30 (upbeat music)
25:33 (upbeat music)
25:35 [music]