famof5

We are flying into Salt Lake City on August 1 and home the 15th. Planning to see Tetons, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and several Utah parks. Have 3 boys aged 10, 14 and 16. Considering staying in Tetons for 4 nights with one day trip into Yellowstone. Good idea or mistake? Which Utah parks on our path are must see?? Considering arches, canyon lands, Monuments, Bryce, Zion, others??

Michael

With 14 days, drop Yellowstone and do a tour of the Southwest: Arches, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, possibly Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, etc. That will be more than enough for 14 days.

As an alternative, you could do Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountain NP, Dinosaur National Monument, Great Basin National Park and southern Idaho.

Neither of these lists suggests an itinerary that would be the most efficient. Google map might be useful for that purpose. Have the boys work on that.

spirobulldog

There is no way I would spend 2 weeks in Utah in August. HOT HOT HOT HOT. Consider Michael's second paragraph.

Michael

I've camped in the Southwest in the middle of summer. It cools down at night. While some may choose not to visit the area in the summer, one realizes that many people bear it; the crowded national parks are a witness to that.

utahtea

spirobulldog, August might not be the best month because of the heat, but year after year we had to go in the summer because our boys were in school so we had no other choice. It can be done. Hike early in the morning and late in the evening and do your driving in the heat of the day.

famof5, Two weeks for all the things you want to see can be done but you are going to be constantly on the move. You can easily spend a week in just Yellowstone. If this was my trip, I would stay in Yellowstone or at West Yellowstone and either make a day trip to the Grand Tetons or hit them on the way to or from Yellowstone. If you want to add other parks in Utah, then I recommend saving Yellowstone and Tetons for another trip.
Example trip:

8/1 Arrive SLC and drive to Moab 235 miles
8/2 Arches National Park - Moab
8/3 Canyonlands and Deadhorse State park - Moab
8/4 Moab, Utah to Torrey Utah with a stop at Capitol Reef National Park 160 miles
8/5 Torrey to Bryce Canyon via scenic Hwy 12 81 miles. There's a lot to do on Hwy 12. So plan on the day just doing the drive.
8/6 Bryce
8/7 Bryce to Zion 85 miles
8/8 Zion
8/9 Zion to Pocatello, Idaho 470 miles
8/10 Pocatello, Idaho to Yellowstone (depending on where you stay) 160 to 200 miles approx.
8/11 Yellowstone
8/12 Yellowstone
8/13 Yellowstone to Grand Tetons 115 more or less depending on where you stay
8/14 Tetons to Salt Lake 286 miles
8/15 Depart

If you want a more relaxed pace then I'd drop Bryce and Zion this trip because they are so far out of the way and spend more time in Moab, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. You could easily add Dinosaur if you are dropping Bryce and Zion. Monument Valley is way out of your way.

Once you decide on your route, we can give you more ideas of what to see and do.

Utahtea

famof5

Thanks for the advice so far. Timing is our only open window between summer and fall sports. We have family in SLC for home base. I'm struggling because we really want to see both Yellowstone/Tetons and Grand Canyon as this will likely be only trip out west for us with the kids.

Utahtea I will think more about what to cut out and come up with a new route. Thanks again.

utahtea

Oh...I totally didn't see the Grand Canyon on your list the first time. That's really going to add a lot more driving and makes for a very difficult itinerary. You will have to make some hard decisions. If you think this will be the only trip out west with the kids, then you don't want to spend the majority of the time in the car and packing & unpacking from motels!

SLC as an actual home base for any of the Utah National Parks is not going to work. Family will probably want you to spend some time with them besides the day you land and the day you take off so that will also cut into your travel time too.

Good Luck!

Utahtea

StantonHyde

You could see Yellowstone and the Tetons in 3-4 days plus a day of driving on either side. So that's close to one week. If you go to the Grand Canyon, go to the North Rim--it is about 6 hours from SLC vs. 8 to the South Rim and it is much cooler. The only other park I would visit in August would be Bryce because it is at higher elevation. I don't do heat well, though. I would also say that if you really want to look at canyons up close and be awed by the scenery etc--Grand Canyon isn't as accessible as Zion or Arches. You really have to hike into it. So maybe you could do Yellowstone one week and then Bryce/Zion/Cedar Breaks the second week.

spirobulldog

I live in Oklahoma and work in 105 with 90% humidity(heat index hotter than Utah actually, usually). I would for sure do Yellowstone/Tetons with that combine Glacier National Park or Mount Rushmore/Badlands/Black Hills. There is also a couple of days you could spend in Wyoming-Battle of Little Bighorn/Big Horn Canyon/Cody.

famof5

We really don't want to totally give up Grand Canyon. And we actually only have 12 days as we arrive at 11pm on 1st and leave 1am on 15th. Yikes! We are now thinking of the following itinerary:

8/2 SLC to Yellowstone
8/3-8/5 Yellowstone
8/5-8/7 Tetons
8/8 back to SLC (driving day)
8/9 to north rim GC (driving day)
8/10 -8/11 north rim
8/11- 8/12 Bryce
8/13 back to SLC and home

We are used to long drives as we drive from upstate Ny to Chicago about 4 times per year. Cut out Zion and arches/Moab from original plan which is a bummer but tried to cut hottest most off the main path out.

Any suggestions or big mistakes here?

spirobulldog

Well the plan you have there looks decent for the heat. So, yeah do it. I have rafted the Grand Canyon and been to the South Rim 3 or 4 times. I have yet to make it to the North Rim. There are pros and cons for both the north and south rims. I think the weather and crowds of people will be much better on the North. Bryce is higher elevation, so that it is cooler there too.

I love Arches and Zion, but I think spending an adequate amount of time in the other places is great.

spirobulldog

1 day is probably enough at the Grand Canyon unless you are doing some hiking or horseback/mule riding(which either would be great).

Do you have your lodging reservations yet? They go fast.

WhereAreWe

Minor thing but I think it's easier to keep track of an itinerary if you list it by where you are staying overnight - that way you aren't listing off some days twice.

1- SLC
2-5 - Yellowstone
6-7 - Tetons
8 - SLC
9-10 - North Rim
11-12 - Bryce
13 - SLC

You said you are flying out at 1am on the 15th though and you have nothing listed for the 14th...so that should mean you have an extra day that you could add somewhere. It's only a 4 hour drive from Bryce to Salt Lake City, so conceivably you could actually stay at Bryce on your last full day until late afternoon or early evening, then drive back to SLC and go straight to the airport. A 1 am flight means you'll want to get there around 10:30 pm, so you won't need a hotel that night. You can shower at Bryce before you leave. That conceivably gives you 2 extra days if you figure on staying at Bryce just the night of the 13th.

1- SLC
2-5 - Yellowstone
6-7 Tetons
8 - SLC
9-10 Zion
11-12 North Rim
13 Bryce
14 Drive to airport late for flight at 1 am on the 15th

famof5

Thanks all! We're getting closer to a plan!

Spirobulldog - yes we have at least tentative reservations everywhere...couldn't get into Yellowstone ...booked Three Bears at West Yellowstone.

The more I read about Bryce vs Zion I am thinking we need to find a way to do both...at least a full day at each.

WhereAreWe - unfortunately the 15th was a typo...we leave the 14th at 1am...but you are right that we can spend most of the last day at Bryce.

I like the idea of Zion before North Rim and Bryce after...would reduce one long drive day a bit...and could probably reduce North Rim stay to one night....

Thanks again...

InSandy

I'd keep two nights at the Grand Canyon. There are three main areas and you need more than one day to see them all. The Lodge area can be seen in a long half day, explore that the day you arrive. Then the next day head over to the Cape Royal and Point Imperial areas. They are a bit of a drive and you can spend all day there. If for some reason you can spend it at the lodge area.