Utah Mighty 5+ Itinerary and Photos

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713nervy
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4:46p, 10/22/24
AG
About us: I'm a 38 year old sedentary female who loves to read books on her couch. My cardio health is lacking. Traveled with my 50 year old female cousin who is young for her age and does what she likes to call "sexy walks" around her flat neighborhood.

Travel direction / stops: Vegas > Torrey, UT for Capital Reef NP > Moab, UT for Arches & Canyonlands NPs and DHP State Park > Page, AZ > Zion NP > Vegas.

Total spend: ~$2,800 per person for 11 days traveling.

References: I used a Lonely Planet guidebook. Did I NEED it? No, but it made things a lot easier for me. I recommend it if you know little to nothing about these spots.



DAY 1: Tues, October 1 [Vegas]
Travel to Las Vegas on Tuesday, 10/1, pick up rental car, stay the night.
Hotel: Golden Nugget


DAY 2: Wed, October 2 [Capitol Reef NP]
Get up at 6-7:00 AM and drive 5 hrs to Capitol Reef National Park and spend the night.
Hotel: Capitol Reef Resort
  • Visitor's Center
  • Petroglyphs (short drive east of visitors center on Hwy 24, pull into a parking lot and stroll along wooden boardwalks)
  • 7.9mi scenic drive (Unfortunately this was closed and we weren't able to do it, but it was highly recommended!)
  • Hike: Hickman Bridge
  • Sunset at Goosenecks Overlook






DAY 3: Thurs, October 3 [Moab]
Get up to get pie. Then drive 2.5 hours to Moab. Spend Thurs and Fri exploring Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.
  • Be at Gifford House by 8:30 AM to stand in line to get pies.

Arches NP
Hotel: Comfort Suites Moab near Arches National Park
  • 12:45 PM MT - Navtec Expeditions 4x4 Sunset tour at Arches NP. (Great tour - company founded by the grandson of the man who gifted the land for Arches to become a national park. We got to meet him and his oxygen tank )
  • Visitor's Center
  • Delicate Arch Viewing Point
  • Park Avenue Viewpoint Trailhead (My only regret is not fitting in this hike.)






DAY 4: Fri, October 4 [Moab]
Hotel: Comfort Suites Moab near Arches National Park
Canyonlands NP
  • Island in the Sky Visitor's Center
  • Do the drive on p.150 in the guide book to hit all the overlook spots.
  • White Rim Overlook hike (1.8mi RT hike)
  • Green River Overlook




Dead Horse Point State Park
  • Dead Horse Point State Park viewpoints for sunset - This was the most beautiful thing I've seen; at least in the last ten years. Incredible.






DAY 5: Sat, October 5 [Page]
Get up early. Drive through Monument Valley National Monument before continuing on to Page, AZ by mid-day. Spend the evening and the following morning in Page before driving to Zion on 10/6.
Hotel: Lake Powell Resort
Monument Valley National Monument - (3 hr)
  • Twin Rocks Cafe for fry bread
  • Scenic drive / drive through

Page, AZ - (2.5 hr)
  • Horseshoe Bend for sunset (go early to make sure you get admission)




DAY 6: Sun, October 6 [Page]
Drive to Zion after tour. Make a couple of stops along the way for hikes / sightseeing.
Hotel: Zion Ponderosa Resort
  • 9:10 PM Upper Antelope Canyon tour
  • Toadstool Hoodoos (1.5 mi RT)
  • Belly of the Dragon






DAY 7: Mon, October 7 [Zion]
Get up and drive to Bryce Canyon National Park.
Hotel: Zion Ponderosa Resort

Bryce Canyon National Park - (1.5 hr)
  • Visitor's Center
  • Scenic drive for lookout points
  • Inspiration Point
  • Fairyland hike - as much as we were able. Unfortunately it rained when we tried for Navajo Garden Loop and my cousin was not feeling it. It stopped on our way out and this was a random turnoff that we found to salvage some hiking for the day.




DAY 8: Tues, October 8 [Zion]
Spend the next two full days exploring Zion National Park.
Hotel: Zion Ponderosa Resort
  • 8:30 AM at Zion Mountain Ranch for East Zion Adventure's Top of the World Jeep Tour (Do not recommend.)
  • Canyon Overlook (1 mi RT with good views) - East side of park.
  • Scenic drive for East Zion




DAY 9: Wed, October 9 [Zion]
Hotel: Zion Ponderosa Resort
  • 8:00 AM - Horseback riding with East Zion Adventure. (Loved this!)
  • Zion Scenic Drive (via shuttle - much better than I thought it was going to be)
  • Riverside Walk trail
  • Kayenta to Lower Emerald Pool trail - In total this was an ~8 mi hiking day. Was tired. Probably not the brightest idea before tackling The Narrows the next day.
  • Rent equipment for The Narrows
  • 8:00 PM Stargazing Tour @ East Zion Adventure office.



DAY 10: Thurs, October 10 [Vegas]
Get up early to get to The Narrows. Drive back to Las Vegas to stay the night.
Hotel: Hampton Inn & Suites Las Vegas-Red Rock/Summerlin
  • The Narrows trail (Virgin River) - we made it to the split at Orderville before turning around, about 7.5 miles RT.





DAY 11: Fri, October 11 [Home]
Return rental car and fly home.
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Fins Up!
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6:41p, 10/22/24
AG
Those are really cool! Thanks for sharing.
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CDub06
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8:56a, 10/23/24
AG
Killer writeup! I enjoyed it.
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Wicked Good Ag
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10:30a, 10/23/24
Excellent trip report

Planning possibly two four day trips to Utah and or Yosemite in April

Can you give a genral breakdown of costs and any money saving tips

If i go I am likely solo both trips and could sleep in car a night or two if necessary
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BSD
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1:38p, 10/23/24
AG
Very cool. Southern Utah is probably my favorite place in the US. I'll be going back to the Moab/Hanksville in the spring for climbing and canyoneering. Someday I may get a place out there. We'll see.

I'm glad you liked Navtech. We used them on a 4x4 tour of the Chessler Park area in the Needles of Canyonlands and had a great time.

I'm also glad you got to hike the Narrows. It's one of the best hikes out there. That's said, it's really hard to go wrong out there, as you now know. One tip for next time: get some canyoneering in the plans for outside of Zion and/or Hanksville. It's an interesting way to see the slot canyons.
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BSD
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In reply to Wicked Good Ag • 1:40p, 10/23/24
AG
Wicked Good Ag said:

If i go I am likely solo both trips and could sleep in car a night or two if necessary


Good news: There's plenty of BLM land all over Utah on which to camp.
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Matsui
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2:59p, 10/23/24
AG
Awesome!
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713nervy
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In reply to Wicked Good Ag • 3:43p, 10/23/24
AG
Cost breakdown for 2 people for 10 nights / 10 days. This won't include EVERYTHING ($75 for equipment rental to hike The Narrows, e.g.) but should give you a decent idea.

Flights (SWAG) - $700
Hotels / sleep - $1,941
Transportation (rental + gas) - $682 + $259 = $941
Food (this one's a SWAG) - $550
Park fees (incl parking in Springdale for Zion) - $160
Tours + tips - $1,300

I was surprised at the cost of hotels in southern Utah; they were not cheap. Do not let my total of $1,941 fool you - 4 of those nights were $117/night in a glamping tent. If you take that out, the average cost for a hotel was $245/night. Maybe this is normal to this area but it was not normal to me!


As for cost saving tips - I'm sure others will have better suggestions, but here's my observation.
- If you plan to visit 3 or more national parks / areas within a year, buy the annual National parks pass for $100. Entry fees are ~$30/per car. I would've spent more than this on this trip alone.
- Go to the grocery store on stock up on protein snacks and maybe things to make sandwiches instead of eating at restaurants (duh). But this also aids in convenience bc there were so many times we had to plan around getting food instead of maxing our time within the parks. It was annoying as hell.
- Sleeping in your car? Do it! Or if you have a tent and know how all of that works? Camping permits will cost you $25 / night, and as BSD mentioned above, a lot of the land surrounding national parks in southern Utah is owned by the state's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its free to camp on - be it in your car or in an RV or tent. (Book your camping permit ahead of time for national park land; they can fill up quickly. Same for hotels.)
- If you want to sleep in a proper bed, look for glamping options. The cheapest I found was $99/night ($117 with taxes and fees), but this was still cheaper than $250!
- Put in the work yourself instead of booking a tour. I made a really intense schedule for us and was exhausted with planning to bother reading up and teaching myself about what we were actually going to see and how it was created, so having extra money allowed me the convenience of booking tours. But it's not necessary, with exception to Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ.

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713nervy
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In reply to BSD • 3:48p, 10/23/24
AG
Canyoneering would've been SO cool! I was big time intimidated by Zion and waited until the last minute to plan our time there. I do wish we could've done canyoneering, but I'm sure there will be a next time. Pretty sure some healthy 40 year old fell to his death during a canyoneering tour just before we got there; several hikes had been closed for maintenance, including Angels Landing.

And The Needles district of Canyonlands - UGH! Why does it have to be SO far away from Moab?! Canyonlands might be my favorite of the parks. When I go back, I'll need a 4x4 bc I also want to do the Shafer Trail drive.
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BSD
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In reply to 713nervy • 7:32p, 10/23/24
AG
713nervy said:

And The Needles district of Canyonlands - UGH! Why does it have to be SO far away from Moab?! Canyonlands might be my favorite of the parks. When I go back, I'll need a 4x4 bc I also want to do the Shafer Trail drive.


It's really not too far away, but I get it. There's so much to do out there that you have to allocate your time appropriately and get the really good stuff in, especially on your first trip. Y'all obviously did a great job. These days I break up trips into either just Moab area or just the Zion/Bryce area. But if you love the area and do go back, have Navtech take you over Elephant Hill and into Chesler Park. It's pretty amazing out there. I would not drive Elephant Hill on my own, though! Also horseback riding out by Fisher Towers near Moab is a pretty amazing way to spend a sunset.

And I saw that about the guy who died canyoneering! I haven't seen any cause yet, or his experience level. There's a good book called Death in Zion that lists several ways of how things go south out there. Lots of falls and floods but a few canyoneering deaths occur. That is why I hire qualified guides! I actually use the same guide every time. Damn, now I want to go to Utah.
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Head Ninja In Charge
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8:54a, 10/24/24
AG
Good post. Great post.
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Bachelor99
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9:10a, 10/24/24
AG
Great write up! Thanks for sharing!
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breezecustomtravel
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10:59a, 10/24/24
AG
Thanks so much for sharing! Looks like it was an incredible trip.

Hoping to do this soon so I definitely will keep for reference.

Lauren K '07
www.breezecustomtravel.com
@breezecustomtravel
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2wealfth Man
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12:50p, 10/24/24
AG
sitting at the Lodge in Zion right now. Been a wonderful time to be here. View from the top of Angels Landing
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texas_ute
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3:10p, 10/24/24
AG
Great pics! Dead Horse Point is such an overlooked place to visit. Since it is a state park, it doesn't get nearly the visitors of the national parks. Such a great place for hikes, mountain biking, camping (incl yurts), and that incredible view out at the point!
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AgRyan04
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8:02p, 10/24/24
"Nice!", he says as he starts mapping out a trip back to Utah in his head
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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vin1041
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11:06a, 10/25/24
AG
Great pics. Thanks for sharing!
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Kool
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1:37p, 10/25/24
AG
Awesome trip and even awesomer pics! You picked a great time to visit, but it was definitely way hotter this year than normal. You'll have to go back.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
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62strat
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In reply to 713nervy • 10:53a, 10/28/24
AG
Quote:




man.. I so wished we could have enjoyed shafer trail.. but blowing a tire right before the switchbacks an hour before sunset with entire family/dogs in the truck is something hard to get over


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Na Zdraví 87
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10:20a, 11/1/24
AG
Just got back on Wednesday from a 9-day trip doing the Mighty 5. All I can say is WOW!
What a great trip. Loved Moab too.
Also went to Antelope Island State Park outside of Salt Lake City.
Highly recommend a visit to there as well. Great views of the Great Salt Lake there.
Also, they had just had the annual buffalo round up of over 800 head of buffalo on that island. Got to see them vaccinate and check the buffalo out up close. Pretty cool.
Great trip!

14 out of 63 national parks done. Time to plan our next national parks trip in January/February.
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713nervy
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In reply to Na Zdraví 87 • 10:25a, 11/1/24
AG
That buffalo thing sounds amazing! Even though after Yellowstone, I'd be good if I never see a bison or buffalo again for the rest of my life
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