AmyTravel1

Hello,
I'm looking to visit Zion, Bryce, Page, GC South Rim and Arches in mid-march. This will be with my husband and 2 kids (9 and 10 years old). We have about 14 days (with travel from NYC). Is this itinerary ambitious? We'd have to fly through either Vegas or Salt Lake City. I've seen some who have done this trip without the GC, but we'd like to go there. Any suggestions for itinerary or changes are welcome. Also, is Bryce too cold/snowy at that time? Thank you in advance for any insight.
-Amy

emalloy

You can easily do it in two weeks. Vegas often has lower air fare and car rental rates and makes an ok place to start a loop.

In March you will only be able to go to the south rim of the Grand Canyon (my favorite) because the North rim roads are closed.

Get lodging in the parks if you can, especially Grand Canyon. Otherwise look at Springdale for Zion or Ruby's for Bryce. There are plenty of places to stay in Page.

Bryce will probably have snow on the trails, but it is beautiful from the many pull offs on the road through the park or get yak tracks if you want to hike down into it.

I would want to do a loop and would determine which direction to go in first based on lodging and the time your flight gets in. If you fly to Vegas by early afternoon, you could be at Zion in 3 hours.
a few days there, then to Bryce for a day or so, then to Page (if the smooth water raft trip is running in March it would be fun for the kids) then on to Grand Canyon for a couple of nights and back to Vegas with a stop at Hoover Dam. If it works better with the flights, go the Grand Canyon then Page, Bryce, Zion.

Get a cooler and keep snacks/drinks in the car and fill the gas tank whenever it gets down a half.

Have a fantastic trip.

Get a

spirobulldog

Let me strongly suggest doing Canyoneering in Moab with www.deserthighlights.com It's our single all time very favorite thing we've done on any of our National Park excursions(we've been to just about all of them). Very safe, you kids would need to be adventurous tho.

You'll love Utah. I would also strongly suggest not missing Goblin Valley State Park. You might as well add in Canyonlands and Capitol Reef too as your going to be right there.

There are super hikes in every park. Be sure and see the Night Sky one or two nights. Totally amazing in UT/total darkness.

A really good slot canyon right by Goblin Valley is Little Wildhorse Canyon. Search my name as I have a lot of reports with photos on all the places you mention.

AmyTravel1

@emalloy - Thank you so much for your suggestions. I really appreciate it. I noticed you didn't mention Arches in your response and that is somewhere we would like to go. Do you think that is doable in this trip? Below is an itinerary. Is this the most efficient way to do it? I'm open to any suggestions. Thank you again.

Day 1 - Fly into Vegas (from NYC) and spend night in Vegas
Day 2 - Drive to Zion
Day 3 - Zion
Day 4 - Zion
Day 5 - Zion and then afternoon head to Bryce
Day 6 - Wake up in Bryce - afternoon head to Page
Day 7 - Page
Day 8 - Head to GC South Rim
Day 9 - GC
Day 10 - GC
Day 11 - Head to Moab/Arches
Day 12 - Moab/Arches
Day 13 - Moab/Arches
Day 14 - Moab/Arches
Day 15 - Head to Salt Lake City
Day 16 - Head to NYC

AmyTravel1

@spirobulldog - Thank you for the suggestions. I guess we can see the sites you suggestion all while staying in Moab?

Shanti

South Rim of the Grand Canyon is the opposite direction from Page as is Arches. This will add a lot of driving to your trip.

I would drop it for this reason and see it on a different trip flying in and out of Phoenix. But I'm not a huge fan of the Grand Canyon especially if you aren't hiking into it.

If it were my trip I would drop GC and in it's place I'd leave Arches and go back to LV via Goblin Valley State Park and Highway 12.

This map might help with your planning: http://ohiohickstraveltips.weebly.co...-utah-map.html

emalloy

If I were to do this, I would do Day 8 head for Moab (fast way 4 hrs 89-70-191, slower but beautiful down to 12 etc 6 hrs)

do Archesand Canyonlands on days 8,9,10,11,

head for Page on day 12, spend morning of day 13 in the Page area and head for Grand Canyon in the afternoon, to arrive before sunset

Night of 13 and 14 at Grand Canyon see sunrise, hike a bit

Day 15 back to Vegas maybe a stop at Hoover Dam

Day 16 fly home

You get no drop off charge for the car and maybe better air fare.

RVvagabond

Suggest these books for planning:
1) Hiking - not written for serious muscle-pumping legs, but just great family type of hiking. "Hiking from here to WOW" by Kathy and Craig Copeland.
2) Over all encompassing touring with mile-by mile guide: "Driving, Hiking and Mountain Biking Southwest Utah - Book 2". This book is in e-book and print format
3) If you are going to immerse your self in Canyonlands, I suggest: Canyonlands National Park, Favorite Jeep Roads & Hiking guide"

Both at Amazon
Between these book, all questions will be answered for Utah.

Bill

utahtea

Mid-March in this area can be cold and snowy in some of these areas so come prepared. Air fare and car rentals are usually higher when you fly in to one location and fly out of another. You might consider flying in and out of Las Vegas. One reason could be possible weather delays flying in and out of Salt Lake City in March.

If you are going to do a round trip from Las Vegas then I'd suggest this route: Grand Canyon, Page, Monument Valley which you will pass on your way to Moab. At least drive though Capitol Reef National Park on your way from Moab to Bryce Canyon on Hwy 12. Hwy 12 is a destination and wonderful adventure in itself. Then end in Zion and you only have a 3 hour drive from Zion back to Las Vegas. This route is a little longer than ending in Salt Lake City but you'll have an opportunity to see Capitol Reef, Goblin Valley and Hwy 12.

If there is a lot of snow at Bryce check with the visitor center to see if you can get snow shoes or I think you can rent them at Ruby's Inn.


Utahtea

Dayle

Hi utahtea,

Just one thing, I have to point out. Our SLC airport is RARELY closed/delayed due to local weather, even in the middle of winter. If there are flight delays, it's due to weather problems in other parts of the country and the domino effect that can have on flights.

The most common delay in SLC is a fog situation, still rare, but usually happens in January. The temp inversions that cause our fog are over with by March.

Happy Holidays and travels to you!

Shanti

That's good to know, Dayle. We always fly into Las Vegas. Partly that's because there's so many direct flights (I think there's a grand total of one to SLC) but I also had concerns about problems there during the winter. I'd like to fly into and out of SLC some trip and see the scenery on that road.

utahtea

Thanks Dayle for the information on the Salt Lake City airport.

Utahtea

spirobulldog

Cap Reef would not really be able to be done as a day trip from Moab.

FWIW, The Grand Canyon probably has the most WOW factor, but it's actually my least favorites of all the places mentioned. I'm sure I will have several that disagree with me on that. You can get a very similar feel(and actually much prettier) from Dead Horse Point State Park. This is right outside of Moab.
Now if your hiking down into the canyon or rafting it, then that's another experience in itself.

I think you have to many days in Zion. The 2 premier hikes in Zion are Angels Landing, which is very doable with kids your age. There are huge huge dropoffs. A fall would mean certain death. I say go for it, others will be super cautious with kids this age. The other hike that is major major is The Narrows. It will likely be to cold and to much water in March. These hikes easily rank in Top 10 dayhikes in just about everyone book.

I think your cutting Bryce short.

Another really good hike is to The Great Gallery/Horseshoe Canyon. This is where Aaron Ralston was found(the dude that amputated his own arm). This is in the middle of nowhere and the road may or may not be in good enough shape, depending on you car rental that you have. We did it just fine in a regular car rental.
Goblin Valley and Little Wildhorse Canyon are also in the middle or nowhere, but the roads to them are very good shape. Middle of nowhere means there is no gas, no food. There isn't even a vending machine as what little electric they do have is all solar powered. Come prepared, in other words.

I would venture to say that Goblins, Little Wildhorse, and Canyoneering would be your kids absolute favorites. I've done all of this with my nephew and daughter when they were about there age and they both found them to be spectacular.