zion, bryce, moab road trip help?
 

We are planning a road trip to Az and Ut and would like your thoughts on if it makes sense.
I would like to see a few different parks and thought we would fly into Las Vegas and drive to Zion and Bryce, stay for four nights with a possible day trip to the North Rim. We've alread done Sondona and South Rim of GC.
Thinking next of driving to Moab UT, to visit Canyonlands and Arches for three nights, then driving to Salt Lake City Ut to fly home.
Do you think this makes sense for a one week trip? and Is the drive to Salt Lake City interesting?
last question: should we stay inside the park at Zion or at the much acclaimed Desert Pearl or ClffRose? Thanks for you help.

You will likely get responses to stay at Desert Pearl and Zion Lodge both. I haven't stayed at the Pearl. We really like the historic lodges of the parks and this one is good as well. I do like the Bryce lodge/cabins better though. So, if you are wanting variety, you might do 2 nights at the Pearl and then 2 at Bryce Lodge.

There is a lot do see between Bryce and Moab. We have been twice and here are the standout places that we enjoyed.
Devils Garden in Escalante
Homemade pie and the picnic area in Capitol Reef/Gifford House
Goblin Valley
Little Wildhorse Slot Canyon
Horseshoe Canyon/best indian petroglyph/pictographs in the world
Deadhorse Point

I really think a trip to Utah isn't complete without seeing Goblin Valley State Park. It's the most unusual of the unusual, in my opinion. You could do all that I mention above in a day, but you probably couldn't include Horseshoe canyon. It take the better part of a day.
The best hikes in Aches, in my opinion, is Delicate Arch and Devils Garden. Yes, there is a DG in Arches and a DG in Escalante. Canyonlands provides endless hiking or off roading. In Moab, you might want to take a 4 wheel drive tour of canyonlands. You can rent bicycles there as well and do some of the slickrock stuff(rated easy to difficult).

My all time very favorite adventure in a national park is with www.deserthighlights.com in Moab-if you are slightly adventurous. It is very safe and we have been with them twice and hope to go again in the next year or so.

I'll let others comment on the drive to Salt Lake. I think I have taken the non-scenic routes. I think you might need 2 or 3 days more to really do the enitre thing right.

and if fruit is in season pick some at Cap Reef

Your plan is reasonable, if you understand that there may be a drop off charge for not returning the car to Vegas.

When you say a one week trip, are you taking into account the time to go to/from the cities you are flying from? It is a long, but very beautiful, drive from Bryce to Moab.

I would always opt for in park lodging if it is available, but I just need a clean, comfortable place to sleep with a private bath and don't need fancy, a pool, or internet connections. Only you know what you need. I would want to stay in Zion and Bryce for a night or two depending on how much hiking you do and not try to stay in one place and see both.

In Moab you need to stay in town for both Arches and Canyonlands as there are no lodges in the parks, but if you camp there are places to do that.

2011 pics-Arches, Goblin Valley, Cap Reef Pies, DG Ecalante, Bryce, Goblin Valley, Calf Creek Falls http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...0IatW7FqybsWOi

2006 pics- Arches, Canyonlands airplane flyover, bicycling, canyoneering, Deadhorse Pt http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...0IatW7FqybsWOz

2008 pics- Zion with The Narrows and Angels Landing hikes
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...0IatW7FqybsWPE

2009 pics- Capitol Reef, Horsehoe Canyon in Canyonlands, Goblin Valley http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...0IatW7FqybsWPV

thank you spirobulldog and emalloy for your quick responses. Now I am getting excited! I'll have to look at the pics another time but am glad the drive to Moab is interesting.
I don't want to move from hotel to hotel but will think about the suggestion to stay at both Bryce and Zion in addition to Moab. I'll let you know what we decide. thanks again

It is nicer if you stay near the parks for Zion and Bryce, simply because that allows you the time for sunrise or sunset. The best part about staying in the park in Zion in my opinion is that most of the crowds disappear about dinner time and the canyon becomes quieter.

There are two ways to get from Moab to SLC and each one has scenic places and non scenic places. If you go I-70 it will take about an hour longer but you go through the San Rafael Swell. We did this just last week and I loved it, if you take time for the pullouts and viewpoints it might take longer than an hour :-)
The other way is to take hwy 6 just past Green River (stop there for some melons in the late summer). This goes through Price and down through Spanish Fork Canyon. It isn't necessarily unique, but it can be interesting.

Oh, I guess I should say that the drive from Moab to SLC via hwy 6 is about 4 hrs. It might be worth it to take that extra time and just drive back to LV (via I-70 and I-15) about a 7 hr drive. It might be worth it to avoid the extra charges for drop off. The rental may not call it drop off fees, but the daily charges may be higher. Check it both ways.

I would go in and out of Salt Lake.

The drive to Zion is a bit farther but it's a smooth ride on a good, straight highway.

SLC is very close to the city, so if you sleep over there you can stay in town very reasonably at Little America.

As spiro mentined there are a lot of excellent sights between Bryce and Moab.

I would add:
Willis Creek slot Ccanyon
Lower Calf Creek Falls

For Zion you could stay in Springdale as it's very close though I would try for inpark.

Don't visit Bryce without staying over as the sunrise at Bryce Point is spectacular. Again, if possible stay inpark.

Arches doesn't have lodging so you'll be staying in Moab about 5 miles away.

There are a list of things to do in and around Moab but more later.

Forgot. You can swee my photos of trips at:

www.travelwalks.com

Oh, Calf Creek Falls. I forgot about that.

Just a note to add about the North Rim - Hwy 67, visitor amenities and the park close over the winter (reopens in mid-May, snow dependent) so check the nps.gov website for information as your trip gets closer. It's beautiful there, and different from the South Rim, which you've already seen. If you do go, stop at the Jacob Lake Inn for a milkshake and cookies. Just don't stay there unless you camp.

omg so many ideas. I will look into car rentals soon to determine the prices and difference in drop off points. I called reservations and got inside Zion for 4 nights, so excited but my daughter is pushing to see GC on this trip and I'm thinking its alot of driving. My possible plan now is
Las Vegas to North Rim one night than Zion for four, then nice drive to Moab for two - three nights drive to SLC to fly home. So much to do in these areas, I probably need more time but I can't take more time away due to family obligations so one week will have to do.

Just wondering if flying in to Las Vegas then driving to north rim is too much. Thanks inSandy Cleob and Myer. I'm printing all these suggestions out when I get to work on Monday.

You might want to do just Zion, Bryce, and North Rim-perhaps adding Page, AZ in the mix as well. Or doing Moab, Cap Reef, Hwy 12. What I am saying is that you might have to take 2 different trips. Arches is probably my favorite, but I really like all the parks in UT.

It is about a 5 hr drive from LV to North Rim. So depending on how long your day is before arriving at LV it might be possible. Though if you are coming from the east coast it might be longer than you feel comfortable with. You really don't want to drive that last few miles into the North Rim at night while you are tired. There are lots of animals out and it is very dark and hard to see them, so it is better to drive that in the day time .

All of the replies are right on the money -- however, most of them miss the central question: can you do it all in a week.

My answer would be, yes, if you mostly want to see roadsides and want to be exhausted at the end of the trip.

You can see Arches in one day but you can't really take any of the awesome hikes to Delicate Arch or Fiery Furnace in that day. You can go see Dead Horse Point State Park and the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands in a day, but not if you want to hike any place.

Goblin Valley is certainly unusual and readily accessible and Little Wild Horse Canyon is a gorgeous slot canyon but if you want a good portion of it you are talking about three or four hours.

Horse Shoe Canyon is significant and worth a trip but remember the guided hikes that the park service conducts warn you to expect a 3-5 hour hike. That is a pretty significant part of a day.

The last time I went to Bryce Canyon I sent a full day there and I have been there dozens of times. Ditto for Zion.

The drive from Zion to Moab is 11 hours if you don't stop to see or do anything.

Final point. Lodges are great but, as some of the other noted, there are none in Moab. There are some great motels, my favorite the Red Cliffs Lodge up the Colorado River. But my recommendation is to stay in a rental condo. Rates are reasonable and they are much more fun. Try moabrents.com. They manage a bunch of condos and several of my friends have stayed there and loved it.

I wanted to respond to some of the things cloveridge said as my experiences have been different.

I can see Arches in a day- hike Delicate Arch, Devil's Garden and all the places in Windows. (Fiery Furnace would have to be left out, but not a problem with all the other great places I saw) I actually did this last March in even less that a day as we drove down from Salt Lake, stopped at a few places along the way and only got there at around noon. So I think one day for Arches is no problem at all.

Canyonlands Island in the Sky and Dead horse point can be seen in half a day. I've done it with a hike to Mesa Arch and Grandview point included. Leave out the long drive to Upheaval Dome which may be interesting to some, but not needed on a short trip.

I'm not sure where you get 11 hours for the drive from Zion to Moab?? But it is about 7 hrs going hwy 12/24 and about 5 hrs going I-15/70.

InSandy,
I agree with you. Canyonlands was one of my least favorite places in the area. I much preferred hiking near Fisher Towers (see the current Citi Accessories commercial (on Youtube)).

I would either skip Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point or visit for half a day.

I'm trying to get my daughter and son-in-law to go in spring-summer 2012 when he may have 3 days off together. Fly into Grand Junction. Spend the afternoon at Arches as well as day 2 and sleep in Grand Junction that night. Day 3 would be taken up by getting home to South Florida.

Is this ideal? No!!! But it may be the only way and I'll live with whatever we have available.

I think Balanced Rock, a few hours in the Windows section, a quick stop at the Park Avenue viewpoint, try to get to Landscape Arch (have to check how much time this takes) and try to squeeze in Fiery Furnace somehow (depends on the current schedule).

Of course, with more time there's a lot but . . . .

Driving between Zion and Moab with a detour to Goblin Valley is 7.5 hours plus and hour or two in Goblin Valley.

If you take route 12 and stop in Goblin Valley it's still under 8 hours plus the time in Goblin Valley.

I keep thinking of all that's in between but I guess you can't be everywhere.

If you didn't want to drive as far as Moab, spend a night in Green River. Robbers Roost motel is not bad. Others are more expensive and a little nicer.
I spent about 2 hours in Goblin Valley (including finding a geocache) then headed back to Green River.