The young park ranger at Bryce Canyon asked whether we could walk three miles, and we assured her we could. We're not wimps. She said Queens Garden was the most popular hike in Bryce Canyon. She failed to mention that it was 1.8 miles down, then 1.3 miles up.

Did I already mention that she was young? Apparently too young to see that my friend and I were walkers, not hikers. Too young to realize it would have been an act of kindness to mention that it was a steep hike. It has a 550-foot descent, and what goes down must come up.

Our first clue should have been the panting people gasping for air as we started downward. We gave them cheery hellos. They wheezed civilities in response. Our second clue should have been that we were going down at a pretty steep rate and couldn't see where it was going to level off.

But we were in hoodoo heaven, so we kept walking, dwarfed by the sculptured hoodoos: eroded red sandstone spires jutting against a deep blue sky. We made it to Queens Garden, saw the Queen Victoria hoodoo, which looked just like the old gal, and decided that instead of going back the same way, we'd take the Navajo Loop and come up on another part of the Bryce Canyon rim.

This was the steeper side. The side where switchbacks were necessary to make it up or down. The side where we became professional panters. The side where you looked around to see whether everyone on the path was younger than you. (Sadly, they were not.)

This was the side where you made new friends as you stood in the shade together huffing and puffing, listening to your heart race and wondering whether you would stroke out before making it to the top. Unless someone was going to helicopter you out, walking out was your only option. Where's Jerry Airola when you really, really need him?

This was the side where we met a British couple and, between pants, realized that they had traveled more in Southern Utah than we had. In the past, they came to America to ski in our Western states. This time, they rented a car and were on a two-week tour of Western parks. Starting in Las Vegas, they headed toward the Grand Canyon, of course, and once in Utah visited Arches National Park, before arriving in Bryce. They were going to Zion next and perhaps Cedar Breaks. I not only had never been to Arches, near Moab, Utah, I hadn't heard of it. Nor have I visited Grand Staircase-Escalante or the oddly named Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Every time I visit Zion or the Grand Canyon, it seems there are more foreign visitors than there are Americans. You can't help but wonder whether Americans are missing out on some of the most unusual sites in the world while foreigners go to great effort and expense to see our national parks.

Even if you prefer pulling into a scenic overlook and don't need to hike, take trail rides or rent ATVs, there are so many breathtaking places to visit within a five-hour drive. (And I mean breathtaking in the best possible way, not the way we experienced it in Bryce Canyon.)

One overlooked jewel is Kolob Canyons, in the northern part of Zion National Park. It's an easy stop on the way back from the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City. (I can give a thumbs-up to all three fall productions, although the last performance is Oct. 28.)

Amazingly undeterred from our first hike, on the way home Sunday we found a hike at Kolob Canyons more suitable for our skills. Kolob Canyons isn't as well known as some of the other parks, so we didn't hear any foreign languages or accents along the Timber Creek Overlook trail. But it was well worth the stop, and for nonhikers the five-mile drive off Interstate 15 is quick and easy.

Southern Utah's parks are so accessible to Southern Nevadans, but how many of us make the effort? The British couple had flown thousands of miles to enjoy what we can experience in a long weekend. Somehow it's embarrassing that they've seen more of our area treasures than I have. That's going to change.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.