After spending time at Bryce Canyon, Tom and I decided to check out Kodachrome Basin State Park.  Utah has spectacular state parks and several friends told us how much they enjoyed Kodachrome.  It is about 30 miles from Bryce.

In just about any other part of the United States, Kodachrome would be a park with a huge WOW factor.  After being at Bryce, however, Kodachrome did not impress us much.  We hiked the Grand Parade Trail which is two miles long with a detour for a box canyon.  After the up and down of Bryce, we were thankful that the Grand Parade Trail is fairly flat.  We admired the interesting rocks – some of them looked like they had melted and flowed into the stone below.  We shouted into the box canyons and listened to the echo.

The most interesting feature in Kodachrome Basin State Park is the sedimentary pipes.  These look like giant smokestacks made out of rock.  There are 67 pipes in Kodachrome.  No one is sure how the pipes formed but all the theories involve water and erosion of stone.  Having so many of the pipes in one place makes Kodachrome unique.

After hiking the Grand Parade Trail we drove by the nice campground – with big bathouse and laundromat – and then walked the Nature Trail.  This is a short trail that has interesting waysides to explain the geology and biology of the area.  A portion of the Nature Trail is paved.

We enjoyed our visit to Kodachrome Basin State Park but still prefer Bryce.  Kodachrome is a good place to stay if you want to avoid crowds.  We didn’t see any other people until we were at the end of the Grand Parade Trail.  And, like most state parks, you can explore pretty much wherever you want to go.  The entry fee is $5 per vehicle, payable at self-service stations.