Just returned from our trip out west and figured Id leave a review for anyone considering this trip in the future. Keep in mind that we did this early June, so conditions will be different depending on the season.
Itinerary: We flew into Vegas, rented a car and drove our way to Salt Lake City. Along the way, we hit Grand Canyon, Page AZ, Zion, Bryce, Escalante, Capitol Reef, Goblin Valley, Arches, Canyonland (in that order). Here is
a map of our itinerary. The first drive from Vegas to GC and the last drive from Moab to SLC were about 4 hours. All of the other drives were about 1.5-2.5 hours.
General Recommendations: Buy a National Park Pass ($80) and it will get you into all the NPs. Bring refillable water bottles, its HOT and DRY and there are free refill stations in all the NPs. If you have kids, get a NP Passport book which you can get stamped in any NP in the country. Bring a wide-angle camera/lens (I used my GoPro). The pictures and scenery out here are so expansive, a phone pic just doesn't do it justice.
There are basically 4 ways you can do this trip.
- You can camp/RV. We like to camp, but I know what it takes to camp comfortably with a wife and 2 teenage daughters and I wasnt willing to drag all that stuff on the plane with us. Saw lots of people doing it though and it looked nice (although very HOT during the day).
- You can stay in chain hotels. I am not a chain-hotel guy, but if you like comfortable/familiar accommodations, there were Best Westerns everywhere we went.
- You can stay in expensive accommodations. If money is no object, there are great places to stay in every town. There are lodges right on the rim of the canyon and there are lodges inside of Zion. I would imagine you need to book these years in advance and be prepared to open the check-book.
- You can book the weirdest, most funky looking local places along the way. This is what we did.
Day 1 - Grand Canyon - I recommend staying inside the park here. The place is mobbed with tourists and its nice not having to drive/park. We booked the cheapest room we could find (Maswik Lodge). Sure, it wasnt on the rim and we didnt have a view of the canyon, but it was a just a short walk away. We only did one day here and did not attempt any major hikes down into the canoyn. We hiked the rim trail during the day and took the scenic bus ride out to the
viewpoints in the evening at sunset. Everything inside the park is terribly overpriced ($7 for a can of beer). Skip the restaurants and pick up a sixer and sandwiches at the market inside the park.
Day 2 - We drove to Page AZ where we stayed in a
traditional Navajo dirt-floor hogan. This was mainly a half-way point to Zion to break up the drive, but the attraction for me was seeing
Horseshoe Bend. In order to get this picture, you need to actually lean out over the edge. Its not affiliated with any park system, so there is no rail to protect you and there are no rangers to keep you under control. The result is hundreds of people taking selfies and getting WAY to close to the edge. Four people have died here already this year alone. I was literally sick to my stomach watching people take pictures.
Day 3/4 - Zion NP. We stayed at
Zion Ponderosa in a Glamping Tent. The tent was cozy and it was the only pool we got in the whole trip, so the kids liked it, but it wasnt very conveniently located. You had to drive 40-60 minutes through the park to get to Springdale (the closest town where we should have stayed). We spent the first day just driving and stopping through the park on our way to Springdale where we rented "the footwear package" ($25pp includes shoes, neoprene socks and a walking stick) to hike The Narrows the next day. This hike was the highlight of the whole trip for me and the footwear package is a must if you intend to make it to "Wall Street" (the narrowest part of the Narrows). It's about a 6-hour round trip. The crowds and the parking in Zion are atrocious. You need to do this hike early to get a parking spot, make it before it gets too hot, and avoid some of the crowds. Resist the urge to start snapping pics as soon as you enter and just start walking. After an hour you will no longer see people without rented shoes. After 2 hours, you will start to have sections of the canyon to yourself. After 3 hours you will enter
Wall Street and be able to get pictures like this. If I had it to do again, I would've stayed another day here to do the Angels Landing Hike.
Day 5/6 - We stopped at
Bryce Canyon NP on the way to Escalante where we stayed in an
Airstream Trailer. They also had a drive-in movie here and we rented one of the antique convertible cars to sit in to watch it. It was hilarious and awesome. The was the most remote/desolate place we stayed. We did two hikes in Escalante. Both were about 6 miles round trip and both were REALLY HOT (who knew it was so hot in the desert?). The first was a hike to the
Zebra Slot canyon and the second was a hike to
Calf Creek Falls, a 126ft waterfall in the middle of the desert with surprisingly bone-chilling water.
Day 7/8 - Moab, UT. On the way to Moab, we made a very quick stop at Capitol Reef NP and popped into
Goblin Valley State Park to snap a quick pic for
@El Floppo. It's literally right on your way, and worth the time to run around among the hoodoos. Moab is a very cool town with lots to do. We stayed in a yurt at a yoga retreat here. We did
Arches NP the first day and did a guided
SUP trip on the Colorado River the next day. Plenty of cool places to shop/eat, but make sure to hit the
Quesadilla Mobilla food truck at some point during your stay, it was THE BOMB!
