10 - 14 day canyon tour
 

I am starting to plan a trip, flying into Vegas and visiting Zion NP Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon, and then back to vegas. We have between 10 to 14 days. I was looking to see if anyone has a good itin. for that time fram. We will be going in May.

There are many trip reports here with very similar itineraries.

I did much of what you want to do last June.

You can click on my name, read my report and see photos at:

www.travelwalks.com

I'd do it in reverse for a few reasons. First, as you exit the grand canyon you get sweeping views as you come down the hill...those views are behind you as you go up the hill. Second, Zion is just a nice 3 hour drive back to Las Vegas so you get that long drive to the Grand Canyon S. Rim out of the way first.

Day 1 Drive to Grand Canyon
Day 2 Explore Grand Canyon
Day 3 If you want to hike into the canyon you will need this day here other wise it's optional
Day 4 As you exit the Grand Canyon make sure you stop at the many overlooks and the Desert View Overlook before exiting the park. Just before reaching Lake Powell do the 3/4 mile hike to Horseshoe Bend
Day 5 Float Trip on Colorado River in morning and Antelope Slot Canyon (land) tour in afternoon
Day 6 Boat tour on Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge National Monument
Day 7 Drive to Bryce
Day 8 Tour Bryce
Day 10 Drive scenic Hwy 12 to Torrey
Day 11 Spend Day in Capitol Reef
Day 12 Drive to Zion
Day 13 Zion
Day 14 Zion back to Las Vegas

If you like spending more time in each location or you only want to do 10 days, then cut out Hwy 12/Torrey/Captiol Reef.

Utahtea

Utahtea,

We did that almost exactly that route several years ago.

The strongest memory is of the lovely views and pure remoteness of several areas along the Highway 12 from Bryce to Anasazi State Park and back. We were also amazed that a road could be built through such terrain.

Have always wanted to go back,

like_2travel

I think utahtea has laid out a good itinerary.

For day timing I would make sure of the following:

In Page, make sure you visit both Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon at about the middle of the day to get "high" sun.

While in Page, take 15 minutes to visit "the best dam view". Great view of the dam for very little time and effort.

Be at Bryce Canyon, and get up in time for the sunrise at Bryce Point.

If time becomes an issue, I'd drop the Capitol Reef portion before any others. It's also more out of the way.

Make sure you hike down at least Navajo Loop or Navajo Loop-Queens Garden in bryce Canyon and also at least 1 hour down Bright Angel trail in GC.

There's no comparison to viewing the overlooks and getting into it.

In fact, unless you are physically unable to do it, you're wasting your time by not going down at least a bit. My opinion.