Thinking about taking the family on a Utah National Park tour over Spring Break. We've done Grand Canyon and Smoky Mountains recently with great success. We had planned to do Yellowstone/Glacier next, but the logistics aren't working out for this year.

I don't think I can effectively hit all 5 in that week time frame, would 3 be a good number? Was thinking of Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef given their proximity. Then we'll go back someday to hit Arches and Canyonlands. Or shall I reverse this and/or group it differently? I guess I'd like to see a little variety if any of the parks look the same.

I guess I need to hotel hop for each park? Any place make a good home base to at least hit two? Any hotel/resort recommendations?

Family includes to children (age 10 and 11) and a wife who isn't really into strenuous activity. So we're not looking to do any monster hikes. 5 miles round trip, moderate difficulty at most, is probably our limit and that is probably pushing it. Mostly looking for great photo ops and cool things to see/do that are easy to get to. No plans to ski. Do have interest in other destinations though, such as state parks, if they are worthwhile.

Is Vegas the best place to fly into? Was thinking of SLC before I looked at a map and realized the parks look mostly southern. Maybe SLC I guess if we hit the latter two instead (Arches/CL)? We just did Vegas sights/experience on the Grand Canyon trip, so it in itself offers no appeal.

This a good time to go weather wise? Friend of mine says it was, but maybe he was lucky. But summer seems like it could be awfully hot and Christmas/Tgiving (two other possibilities) cold. I think I rather have cold than hot unless it is just frigid/snowy. He also mentioned crowds weren't terrible since most of the west coast won't be on spring break (?).

Any other advice/thoughts appreciated! Thanks!

Zion will be 2 days, but could be done in one if you cut out a lot. Do the Overlook Trail and Narrows. The problem...Zion is amazing and worth 2 days.
Bryce - Easily one day, if not shorter.
Captal is surprisingly fantastic. We did it in one day. Not as close to Bryce as it looks. Driving over Escalante is impressive.
I stayed at an AirBNB in Kanab for the Zion part. I stayed at another near Bryce, in Cannonville

We did not do Arches or Canyonlands on this trip. I regret it since I now have to take a side-trip over there this summer, on our way to Glacier Park.

I suggest going to Kanab and stay there for 2-3 nights. Hit Zion for 2 days. On the 3rd morning, leave early, hit Bryce for 1/2 day, continue and hit Capital in the late evening. Stay near Capital. This will be tricky...not much near Capital. Stay in Moab the other 2 days for Canyonlands and Arches. Last day will be a long trip back to Vegas.

Bryce will be the most strenuous hike since you "should" go to the bottom and then back up.

Arches and Canyonlands can easily be done together out of Moab, and I would recommend Driving in from Montrose Colorado. You can get flights there through Denver on United or Southwest and it is a shorter drive over than from Salt Lake City. It is also very easy to go over to Black Canyon of the Gunnison on the way out or the way back.

Weather...I went during the summer. It is very hot. Bryce is the only cooler location. Was about 60 for us, in June. All the other locations will get into the 90s

caleblyn said:

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Weather...I went during the summer. It is very hot. Bryce is the only cooler location. Was about 60 for us, in June. All the other locations will get into the 90s

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We went to Arches and Canyonlands in June 2021 and it was in the mid 100s in the afternoons. We did a lot of very early morning and late afternoon hiking. Definitely not the best time to be in those parks. We also did a 1/2 day river float trip and that was nice to be able to take a dip nice cool water from the river or bake in the sun.

Did all of these a few years ago.
I would do the following:
Fly into Salt Lake City, rent a car drive to Moab.
Spend 2-3 days exploring Arches.
Spend an afternoon at Dead Horse Canyon. (Amazing)
Canyonlands is absolutely enormous... we just did a couple of short hikes there in an afternoon.

Absolutely do Goblin Valley State Park. My kids were the same age as yours when we went and this was one of their favorites. It's on the way to Capitol Reef.

Capitol Reef has quite a few nice short hikes & is very remote. Wasn't crowded at all when I was there in early June.

Expect it to be cold during Spring Break. Lows will probably been in the teens/20's for sure but warming up to the 50's/60's. Dress in layers for sure!

The drive from Bryce to Capitol Reef along HW 12 is one of our favorites in the country.

It'll still be chilly - we've done spring break in Utah a couple of times.

In Moab, you definitley want to save time for Dead Horse Point State Park.....it's beautiful and the hike around the rim would be good for your family.

I would also HIGHLY recommend trying to get a permit to hike Fiery Furnace in Arches - its our favorite family hike ever. Its very difficult to get - so do the research on when they go live for purchase well in advance.

Another excellent hike in Arches is Devil's Garden....I wish we did it before we did Fiery Furnace because it was hard to follow that but it was still great.

In Capitol Reef, Grand Wash is a good hike for your family.

And you'll want to check the river flow for the Narrows in Zion....if the snow melt is still keeping it high you may not be able to hike them.

Enjoy!

Try to get lodging in the Parks.

At Zion, if you are staying at the Lodge you can drive your car to the Lodge. Makes getting around the Park much easier. One of the quietest and prettiest spots in Zion is the Overlook in the Northern end. You have to drive out of the park and back in to get to it, but it is beautiful and serene.

Bryce is like a step back in time. The on site lodge reminded us of forty years ago when we first discovered the park. But very clean and neat. Food at the restaurant is very good, even though we were last there during the pandemic and everything was takeout only.

The horseback riding at Bryce is some of the best we have done in national parks. You get up close and personal with bristlecone pines, hoodoos and will ride through some of the same slot canyons that Butch Cassidy used to avoid the law. Some passageways were so tight we scraped our boots on the sides passing through them. The park is also are very dark sky centric and there were stargazing classes at night at the visitor center. Spend a little time here and I doubt you will regret it.

caleblyn said:

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Weather...I went during the summer. It is very hot. Bryce is the only cooler location. Was about 60 for us, in June. All the other locations will get into the 90s

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We had to skip our Zion stay and go straight from Denver to Vegas during our Summer of '21 road trip. 105+ and the rental RV a/c was struggling to keep it at 90

Boiling Denim said:

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caleblyn said:

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Weather...I went during the summer. It is very hot. Bryce is the only cooler location. Was about 60 for us, in June. All the other locations will get into the 90s

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We had to skip our Zion stay and go straight from Denver to Vegas during our Summer of '21 road trip. 105+ and the rental RV a/c was struggling to keep it at 90

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We did a lot of hiking between 6am and 11am, afternoon naps, and hiking after 6pm when we were at Arches and Canyonlands when it as 105+. One of the coolest things we did was get dinner and head out to Arches after dark. We walked around at the Windows and Turret Arch taking long exposure photos using moonlight. It was very quiet, very comfortable and the stargazing was amazing.

Did this for spring break in college. Maybe 2006? We did Canyonland, Arches, and Capitol Reef.

Looking at pictures, I think we started at Canyonlands. First night though was on the side of the road. Most of the land of BLM, so you can camp wherever.



Main point, you can get snow then.

I flew into to SLC. Driving down hit a snow storm. Had snow most of the time there.

Don't remember where all we stayed, but my captions say we spent a night in Elephant Canyon and hiked something called the notch. But there are pictographs you may want to check out.




Newspaper Rock is pretty cool

I didn't take any pictures of Arches, so I guess I didn't find it impressive, but Capitol Reef also has an arch.



It was my favorite park. We hiked and camped in spring canyon.



It'll be too early for Fruita.

So all this to say, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef totally do able in a week. Just be mindful of snow.

I loved arches personally, it was just starting to snow when I got there. Some of them that you can basically drive up to are just alright I suppose, but I enjoyed going back further to stuff like the Double O Arch. It wasn't that impressive visually, but I thought the journey was fun, we were the only ones on the trail. As others said canyon lands is easy to knock out too.

I didn't really like Bryce all that much personally.

Zion was very cool. One day rented suits and did the Narrows at 33 degrees water temp according to someone that was there. The next day put on some ice trekkers and was one of a handful of people on angels landing and then up and down to observation point all by noon. It was a grind to pull that off but needed to get on the road.

If you decide to do Bryce Canyon NP, know that in March there is a very good chance of snow and/or extremely cold weather. BCNP sits at around 9k feet in elevation, so it gets *very* cold there.

If you can't get a room in the park, then stay at the Best Western Ruby's Inn, just outside the park entrance. As a hotel it is nothing special, but there are several restaurants, a general store, a gift shop, and gas station, so very convenient.

If you decide to do Arches/Canyonlands, then you will base out of Moab. The lines to get into the gate at Arches can be so long that they are sometimes forced to close the park for a short time. The park service did use a reservation-type of system for a while, but I don't know if they are still doing that. If you want to avoid long lines, get there *very* early.

In Moab - Moab diner on the east side of 191 is pretty good, if you can get there before the crowds. Don't eat at Pasta Jay's.

If you make it all the way down 191 to Blanding, the visitor's center at the small state park there is a nice place to get out of the car for a while. Also, we like to eat at Yak's Cafe when we are in the area. It is on the west side of 191. Doesn't look like much from the outside, and not much more when inside. However, the food is good and reasonably priced, and the staff is great.

C

Thanks all for the replies! Keep them comin'

Will be drawing up a rough itinerary soon and will run it by yall.

Goblin Valley state park!

Apache said:

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Goblin Valley state park!

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I think I read somewhere that some scenes from the movie "Galaxy Quest" was filmed there.

Caladan said:

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Apache said:

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Goblin Valley state park!

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I think I read somewhere that some scenes from the movie "Galaxy Quest" was filmed there.

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That is true. You can find the scene on YouTube- where they land the ship on the alien planet. Goblin Valley is an incredible site to see! We were just there in November- cold, but we rented a yurt (has heater) for 2 nights. Kids will have a great time running around and scrambling on the "goblins" (rock formations). Little Wild Horse Canyon is an incredible hike and also there. Only downside is that Goblin Valley a bit off the beater path- but that's also what makes it awesome. Much less crowded than many of the other parks, but definitely very unique!

Thanks! Will definitely put the park on the bucket list now.......

If you go to Arches/Canyonlands then get this book and seriously consider taking some of the "green" trails if you have a high clearance SUV or truck (most of the easier green trails are 2wd doable if the weather is good). Or rent a Jeep for a day or two. Some of the sights from these trails are spectacular that you won't get any other way.

This also details some of the main routes around/through Canyonlands.

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Moab-Backroads-4-Wheel-Drive-Trails/dp/1934838292/

Hey all,

Got a basic itinerary for review.

Day 1 - Arrive in LV around 10a. Drive to Zion/Springdale. Probably do a quick excursion or two in the mid/late afternoon (advice?)
Day 2 - Zion
Day 3 - Zion
Day 4 - Leave Zion first thing. Go to Bryce in AM. Go to Capitol Reef in the PM realizing we'll just hit certain spots (advice?). Stay in some town in the general area...any more ideas at a best hotel stop around here?
Day 5 - Finish Capitol early if necessary. Hit road towards Moab. Stop at any scenic areas/state parks (Goblin). If we arrive early enough, do something in Arches or the surrounding area.
Day 6 - Arches
Day 7 - Leave Moab, maybe drive through Canyonlands. Head to Monument Valley and check it out. Advice to stay in this area? Looks like its in the middle of nowhere.
Day 8 - Leave and drive back towards Vegas, maybe on a different route than how we came stopping for any quick scenic excursions (advice?). Leaving LV on a red-eye that night.

Thoughts? We were strongly considering cutting a day due to school/work schedules. In that case, either cut a Zion day or really just charge through the parks/sites after Zion and get to Moab, skipping the overnight stay in the middle.

Canyonlands we don't plan to spend a lot of time in, given its huge and we just did the Grand Canyon a few months ago and it appears like a lesser version of that.

Restaurant advice in each town? Probably just dinners as we probably plan to just pack lunches. Kid friendly and not too much $...American, Italian, etc. We don't plan to stay inside any parks.

Thanks for any advice!

Quote:

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Leave Zion first thing. Go to Bryce in AM. Go to Capitol Reef in the PM realizing we'll just hit certain spots (advice?). Stay in some town in the general area...any more ideas at a best hotel stop around here?
Day 5 - Finish Capitol early if necessary. Hit road towards Moab. Stop at any scenic areas/state parks (Goblin). If we arrive early enough, do something in Arches or the surrounding area.
Day 6 - Arches
Day 7 - Leave Moab, maybe drive through Canyonlands.

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IMO:
Leave Zion, hit Bryce and just skip Capitol Reef other than maybe a stop for a quick look around & leg stretch. You could hike to Hickman Natural Bridge which is pretty cool and would take 2-3 hours at most.
Stay in a small town hotel somewhere on the east side of the park. Not much in that area. We drove straight through from Moab so no help here.

Day 5 - Hit Goblin Valley early, it's a cool place & worth 3-4 hours. Continue to Moab, go to Arches at the end of the day & maybe catch a sunset at Double Arch & just drive around.

Day 6 - Get up early do Delicate Arch in the AM & then Landscape Arch. Drive to Deadhorse Point state park for sunset. (No hiking, just views and they are amazing)

Day 7 - Leave Moab, skip Canyonlands as it's not on the way to Monument Valley. Canyonlands is a big, hot, dry desolate park. Everything is spread out & hard to get to with lots of driving or long hiking. Anything worth doing will take some time other than maybe checking out Mesa Arch.

txags92 said:

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You can get flights there through Denver on United or Southwest and it is a shorter drive over than from Salt Lake City.

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No it's not.
SLC is 3.75 hours, DEN is 5.75 to Moab. The other 3 UT parks are even further from DEN.

But yes, flying through denver you can add black canyon and/or RMNP

We've done arches and canyon lands, separate trips actually. You can easily kill 4-5 days in that area. Do a jeep tour, hike the delicate arch, if you have a new moon, go stargaze, dead horse state park and see thelma and louise point, or have a real adventure and drive the shafer trail. But don't get a flat tire on a switchback like I did.


This area is 100+ in summer though. We were at a campground with a pool the first time, so that helped. The second time we went we did October and it was perfect.

62strat said:

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txags92 said:

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You can get flights there through Denver on United or Southwest and it is a shorter drive over than from Salt Lake City.

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No it's not.
SLC is 3.75 hours, DEN is 5.75 to Moab. The other 3 UT parks are even further from DEN.

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Except you cut off the part from my previous post where I said to drive from Montrose, not from Denver. Last I checked, both united and southwest fly to Montrose, and Montrose is about 2:45 from Moab, which IS shorter than the drive from SLC. And Black Canyon of the Gunnison is less than 30 minutes from Montrose and RMNP is on the way from Montrose to Moab.

ahh.. 'through' denver.

Yes so maybe an hour closer, but only to 2 of the 5 in utah. SLC is closer to the others, and probably cheaper to fly into.

SJEAg said:

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Day 7 - Leave Moab, maybe drive through Canyonlands. Head to Monument Valley and check it out. Advice to stay in this area? Looks like its in the middle of nowhere.

Restaurant advice in each town? Probably just dinners as we probably plan to just pack lunches. Kid friendly and not too much $...American, Italian, etc. We don't plan to stay inside any parks.

Thanks for any advice!

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Stay at the View Hotel if possible. It is literally *in* Monument Valley. If you can't stay there, then stay just outside the park at Goulding's. Don't buy anything at their gift shop though, as they are terribly over-priced. Goulding's does have a restaurant, although we haven't tried it.

If you can't get a room at The View or Goulding's, then consider staying at the hotel that sits right on the San Juan River crossing in Mexican Hat. I think it is called San Juan Inn, but don't quote me on that. They have a small trading post and decent restaurant there too. Once you cross over the river, you are now on Navajo land.

If you can't get a room at the above, then the next closest place to MV would be a hotel in the northern part of Kayenta called Wetherill Inn. Nothing special about the place other than it has been there a long time and is therefore well-known, and that it is fairly close to MV.

As you head south away from MV, be on the lookout for remnants of ancient volcanoes. They are easy to spot because of their color.

Places to eat between Moab and MV I have already listed in my previous post.

For day 8 and your drive from MV to Las Vegas - it is a good idea to make sure the car is full of gas before you leave Kayenta. There are very few services between MV and Page. There is a gas station at the junction of 160 and 98 (where you turn towards Page), but you can't always count on getting gas at a Reservation gas station. Also, try not to drive on the Reservation at night. Keeping livestock and dogs penned up is an extremely low priority for the Navajo, and I'm sure you can imagine what it might be like to slam into a horse at 60mph......

C

Since you're in Utah a highly recommend hiking a slot canyon if you can squeeze it in. Willis Creek slot is just outside of Bryce, we stayed in a log cabin in Tropic. We loved it, very easy hike, we had the whole place to ourselves.

Thanks all!

View hotel is definitely the plan in Monument Valley. On our final day drive back, Monument to Vegas, we plan to check out the Page, AZ are and then Coyote Butte/Wave areas. Long day but our flight isn't until like midnight.

Willis Creek Slot canyon looks great. Will add it to our agenda.

Food in Moab

The beat burger I've ever eaten was at The Brewery....Tri-tip, bacon, onion ring, cheese, Jack Daniels BBQ sauce

We also enjoy eating at The Broken Spoke