UPDATED TRIP REPORT - very long but will answer questions if you actually read through it.

Qualifiers and background:
Not campers, it was just the War Department and myself, she is hotel only
No itinerary, no kids, just wanted to blow and go and be able to change if we wanted to modify
We have been to Yellowstone before, Breckinridge, Costa Rica, etc, but with kids and in-laws. First hiking trip where we can just go and go, day hiking.
We didn't get into the parks uber early, but we did stay late into the day, we could have eeked out more time if we got rolling early, but that's an argument for another day.

Initial Plan:
Fly to Vegas, rent mid-size SUV, drive and drive, drop off in ABQ and fly out. Checked out the Salt Lake Loop as a potential route and that could work, but would be a beat down on flying in and getting to the first area of interest, but definitely something to consider. One way drop off fee is pretty steep $200+ for most rentals, but driving back to Vegas was at least 8-10 hours, not worth the drop off fee considering flight options. Went from Friday, 9/29 to Saturday, 10/7.

9/29, arrived in Vegas late afternoon, got in the rental, had to sit in some traffic, but found a spot just outside Hurricane UT for the night, 20ish miles from Zion NP. Slot canyon south of St George was incredible for first foray into the territory. Would have liked to have been there about an hour earlier because it was just getting dark. You think, holy crap this is awesome and is hard to top and then look back to see it was just something else to marvel about.

9/30, Zion NP Free entrance that day. Talked to Ranger Lady at the entrance booth and based on our trip, we bought an annual pass for $80 at Bryce on 10/1 and that would come out ahead for all the parks we would likely visit on our trip if we waited and bought day passes instead. Parked and rode shuttle to the second to last stop. Considered doing the Narrows, but weren't prepared for dealing with potential waist deep water. Heard from others at the park if you want to do it, go to where it forks and anything after that is repetitive or over your waist in cold water potentially.

Did the quick trip up Weeping Rock, easy and something different. Started up Angels Landing thinking we would go and check it out. We gutted it out to the first set of chains and got past those. Climb is about 1400 foot in elevation, we stopped at about 1200 feet. It was very crowded and there was a lot of waiting at the chains for people to move past coming down as we were going up. You could see the last 200 feet in elevation, about a half mile in horizontal distance (a lot more chains and congested trails) and see that it would have been a couple of hours at least to get there and come back. If you go this route be prepared. It has sheer faces and not a lot of room in spots. Not for the faint of heart for heights.

We went to the Emerald pools next. Should have stopped for food, but poor planning took us into the trail. Made it up to middle pool and it was OK. I made it all the way to upper pool while War Dept stayed on the trail back aways to rest. Upper pool, meh. It was OK, but at that point, not worth what I went through. Hiked down to lower pool (very nice) and then to Zion lodge. Dumb move by eating a good breakfast, but not following it up with enough snacks or lunch. We had plenty of water, but the energy of the first trip was overcome by the fatigue of Angel's Landing. We do walk a lot but the elevations are killers unless you are used to that kind of thing.

Overall, liked Zion, shuttles were good to move around to all the spots. More of a hiking park and not so much drive in and see things. We left Zion and drove through a portion of the park (tunnel was very cool) and then to Bryce Canyon area. We stopped in Red Canyon on the way in to Bryce, very cool for a short stop on Hwy 12. All along Hwy 12 is very good viewing. Just when you think you have seen it all, something else comes up.

10/1 Bryce Canyon. Got the annual pass, rode shuttle to the end of the park and went out to Bryce point. Hiked the rim trail to Inspiration point, talked with a guy from LA who was nothing like you would expect from LA, conservative and outspoken. Like to talk with people in the park and share stories, always good to meet people. Night before a couple told us about the lower trail that was nice, but all down to the bottom and then back up after you were down in the canyon. After Angel's Landing we were getting more seasoned in picking our elevation changes. Went to Sunset point and went down Navajo Loop Trail which is about 700 foot elevation change, all down to the bottom and then up. Walked over to Sunrise Point along the rim and then got something to eat and rest for a bit. Finished up by driving over to Fairyland and doing some of the rim, then down the trail some. It gets into more a native setting and up on the rim is pretty representative. Fairyland trail is a grind, would be most of the day hike and remote.

Loved Bryce. Can be either pretty easy rim walking or some really good climbs to see some amazing formations. Also some good shorter hikes with not a lot of elevation change. Left Bryce and went through Tropic and Cannonville (stopped at the Ranger Station to ask for advice) and headed to Escalante.

10/2 Escalante Area Hiked Lower Calf Creek Falls trail. Six mile roundtrip, relatively flat, finishing at 140 foot waterfall. Saw pictographs on opposite valley wall along the way. Not a lot of people on this hike, a little more isolated. After hike, drove north along Hwy 12 and drove a 45 mile gravel road around Hell's backbone. Great scenery, aspens were about full yellow to compliment the scenery. Bridge on top of the backbone is single lane, great photo op. Ended up back in Escalante and then went to Petrified forest just west of town, smaller state park, shorter hike with huge petrified stumps that have been exposed, great if you are into rocks.

10/3 Escalante Area Drove out yet another gravel road (12 miles) to Devil's Garden. Very cool sandstone formations in a small area, only a mile or so to hike around and great pictures. Not a lot of people. Left going north on Hwy 12, thought about Burr Trail Road but wanted to get to Capitol Reef NP. Grabbed a sandwich on the way in and checked out the pictographs, hiked up to Hickman's Arch, then went out the Scenic Road to the end of the park. Hiked some through the slot canyon, used to be the old trail through the area. Some petroglyphs and some historical markings of old travelers through the canyon.

Left late afternoon and on the way dropped by Goblin Valley just at dusk on a full moon. Caught most of the lower formation, not enough time to walk through but more awesome photos at a great time of early evening. Very easy to see from the parking area or you can walk thru up close if you have the time. Would like to stop back by with more time, it would be worth it.

You know in Texas how there is a gas station at every junction of every major highway? Hitting I-70 on fumes expecting to get a fill up and seeing nothing was pretty disheartening at 8-ish at night, apparently UTAH doesn't put gas stations everywhere, keep that in mind on the trip, fuel is better to get when convenient and not potentially needed. Somehow nursed the Rogue into Green something and were able to hit the pumps, was a real nail biter for 12-15 miles. Cruised in to Moab for the night.

10/4 Moab and Arches National Park Became readily apparent that people do not know how to pull into a guard shack to pay and make it pretty difficult for the rangers to take your money or grab your card. Major angst going on in my head waiting in line and pondering this idiocy. Started at the back of the park and hiked to Landscape Arch, didn't go further to double O Arch due to terrain and schedule. Saw the others in the area, spent time at double Arch and only did the upper look at Delicate Arch, didn't want to invest the time and effort to hike to it directly, long roundtrip. Saw pretty much all of what was open in Arches, broken Arch area was just that, broken, trail was closed.

Left Arches and booked up to the northern section of Canyonlands NP (Island in the Sky). This area is predominantly driving, did no hiking, it was mostly overlooks into far reaching canyons. Nice drive if you have the time, but in hindsight, might choose something different, although the distances are spectacular. Stopped by Window Arch, it's a quick hike. Traveled south to stay in the Monticello area at a small cabin.
10/5 Started the day heading back north to the southern section of Canyonlands (Needles area). Specifically wanted to stop by Newspaper Rock on the way. Awesome stop, a must see. No hiking, pull-in, park, photos. Traveled on in to Canyonlands and drove around. Would have had some great, isolated longer hikes, but decided to bag it for another time and headed out to Monument Valley.

Nice drive to get there. Spectacular scenery and pretty cheap to get in. We drove the rental inside the area, it's doable (about a 12 mile loop if I remember right) but wouldn't want a standard rental car in there, they haven't box bladed the roads in a long time and there were definitely some good sized pot holes. Major word of advice, if you plan on doing the guided tour on an open truck to get the Navajo background on the area, plan on gaining 5 pounds during the trip. Blowing sand, more sand, and then dust on top of the sand. No way to avoid it and it's likely going to be windy, plenty of people had bandanas or wraps on and you will still be covered up in sand. Also be careful when you stop to take photos, sand blows in open car doors as others pass you. It was everything you remember from the old westerns.

Saw everything to see and headed to Colorado for the night.

10/6 Cortez CO and Mesa Verde Hit the park just outside of Cortez and drove in. Wanted to check out more petroglyphs and hiked a pretty spectacular trail to Petroglyph Point. Great hike, lots of info marked along the way. The hike in is along and below the cliff edge, good amount of grade change, but great views. Once you get to the Petroglyphs, you basically zig zag back up to the top of the mesa and hike back. You could do the hike backwards and just turn back to cut a lot of time but what fun is that.

Did all the overlooks and got good photos, made a reservation to go through Balcony House at 2:00 when we checked in at the Visitor Center in the morning. Most tours fill up early, so keep that in mind prior to your visit. We sort of lucked out to get into Balcony House. Specifically told the War Department to get to the front of the line through Balcony House, you have to crawl up a 35 foot ladder and end up crawling through a 12 foot tunnel and another ladder to leave the area. After eyeballing our random tour group, no way did I want to be at the back of the pack. Not sure if some of those tourists were going to make it out alive.

Near the end of the day, headed south to ABQ. Pretty nice scenery on the drive as usual. Got in about 8:30. Realized the Balloon Festival was going on in a pure scheduling coincidence, but didn't try to get up early to see them take off.

10/7 ABQ Left the hotel to drive by Walter White's house, then went to the northwest side of town to more petroglyphs, a lot of options near town for free if you have your park pass. Hiked a few trails prior to heading to Old Town on a drive by and then to the airport for the flight out. At that point, just wanted out of that freaking rental car. Realized we drove right past the hotel that Wendy the prostitute works at when we stopped near the airport for gas in the rental, more gratuitous BB gawking.

Good: Seemed a little light on crowds. Zion and Arches were pretty busy, Arches had a lot of road construction going on at night, all the road equipment was parked in some of the turnouts, had some areas closed off. Great weather, got some snow in upper elevations, not blistering hot. Highest heat we were in was Monument Valley, about 90. Escalante was about 32 one morning. Most every day was light jacket early, but shorts and shirt by noon. We sort of figured out times of day and photo ops. War Department is very good with photography, I'm a bigfoot photographer. Apparently angle of sun and light is very important so keep that in mind in where you are going and when if you are that into it. Even as bad as I am at photography, the shots are still amazing.

Bad: Should have done more advanced planning by printing out park brochures and picking out some more of the main attractions we wanted to see. Figured it out on the way, but some pre-planning would have helped for park visits. Moab hotels are expensive, most everything else was fairly reasonable given we didn't give ourselves a lot of pre-planning time. We had some misses that we wanted to see, but that can be the next trip. Can really cut down on travel times and convenience if you are a camper or do the RV thing and get much closer to the action in the early morning. But that takes advanced planning as those places fill up fast and way in advance.