My fiance and I just added three extra days to our National Parks trip in early June. We are going to the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce and we just added three extra days to our trip, which was initially to end in Bryce and then back to Vegas to fly home. Any suggestions as to what we should add to the trip. We were thinking maybe Canyonlands or Arches but don't know if we are biting off too much. We also don't want to end up too far from Vegas since we have a 3 PM flight on the last day. We are moderate level hikers and don't mind going off the beaten path. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

It would help to know how many days you planned before you added three more days.

Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce, Arches (Moab), Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas would make a good itinerary.

HTTY

we really enjoyed capital Reef NP. We tried to avoid too long a trip by doing LV to Bryce to Capital Reef to Zion to LV in that order.

I don't know what your current itinerary is but with 3 extra days I might be tempeted to add 2 days in Arches.

A lot of WOW factor there.

Some of it may depend on whether you see yourself in that part of the country within the next several years.

I love Arches and Canyonlands, but if you're worried about time, consider the Page area, take a ride on Lake Powell, go to Rainbow Bridge, Antelope Canyon, etc.

If you add Moab to the trip you are looking at spending approx 1 1/2 of those three days in the vehicle driving.

I'm with emalloy and I'd add Lake Powell between Grand Canyon and Bryce and do Zion last. You can do an all day boat tour to Rainbow Bridge, and/or a half day float trip on the Colorado River. Take the short hike to Horseshoe Bend and see the Antelope Slot canyons.

If you're other plans are set in stone and you only want to add an area after Bryce, then consider Scenic Hwy 12. There are a lot of activities to do on this route. Calf Creek Canyon & Burr Trail, and make your way to Torrey and Capitol Reef National Park.

Utahtea

We have two days in Vegas, then two days at the grand canyon, two days at Zion and three days at Bryce (we have been to both GC and Zion before). We have reservations at the lodges inside all of the parks so the start of our trip is set. Thanks for the feedback thus far (very helpful).

I think you may have too much time in Bryce. It depends what you want to do.

It's 5 hours of driving from Bryce to Moab. That's taking the scenic route along Rte 12, thru capitol Reef and by Goblin Valley.

If you drop one day from Bryce and take this route you have many stopping options along the way. Willis Creek slot canyon, Devil's Garden Escalante, Capitol Reef NP, Goblin Valley.

It's a 7 hour drive back from Moab to Las Vegas.

That is a lot of driving.


I guess you already have you plane tickets. Otherwise I would suggest you start and end in Salt Lake. Much less driving.

Agree with Myer- Depending on when your flight gets into LV, drive all the way to Moab/Arches first and then work your way back closer to Las Vegas spending the last 1 or 2 days in LV.
We used SLC as our rental car spot when we went to Moab/Arches.

If you are adventurous you could spend a day canyoneering in Zion. I have only done it in Arches and would highly recommend Desert Highlights there. But Zion Adventure Company in Zion would probably be great too. There are really tons of possible things to do at and around each of the parks in Utah. I think my favorite is probably Arches, but they are all good. Capitol Reef is my least favorite, but it certainly has many good things too. Goblin Valley is a really cool place to see. You could also add in Page/Lake Powell for a few days. You could try for a permit(walkup only) at The Wave. That would take a full day as well.

Three days would be a nice amount of time to spend exploring Rt. 12. It isn't far from Bryce and you could visit The Devil's Garden near Escalante, hike along the Escalante River, into Lower Calf Creek Falls. You can also drive the Hell's Backbone Road. You could even make the drive over to Capitol Reef over Boulder Mountain to Capitol Reef and return down the Notom Rd. and retiurn to Boulder on the Burr Trail for a backroad adventure. If you make the Boulder Mountain Lodge you headquaters you could easily spend three days doing a leisurely exploration of this remarkable area.

Naturally it would have been nice to have this scheduled before Bryce to be closer to Vegas afterward. We like to make Zion our last stop for the same reason.

Our last trip was all about scenic Hwy 12. Our trip report should give you a good overview and maybe some ideas.

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/utah_tr

All,

Thanks for your help. This is all very useful information. Now it is time to hit google maps and plan it out. I wish we could have done the trip in a different order, but Zion lodge only had vacancies towards on two days, so I grabbed them.

Happy Travels!

If you call every day eventually you'll get cancellations for your days.

Myer is right....it has always worked for us although it is an effort...you really do have to call every day or even twice a day...these vacancies never show up on the website. Cancelled booking are frequent.

I think Moab is a long distance to add into the mix, especially if you are flying out of Vegas. Exploring the Escalante area (Hwy 12) is pretty interesting, so I probably wouldn't go much past that Boulder Mountain Lodge area. The Burr Trail, Lower Calf Creek Falls, eating at Hell's Backbone Kitchen - all in one general area that won't extend you too far from your return flight.
Other considerations: hiking in the Kolob section of Zion National Park; hiking, picnicking, and driving in Valley of Fire; hiking or bicycling in Snow Canyon (just out of St. George) - all are places with a nice pay-off and few people.

And, yes, keep trying to get reservations at Zion. There are cancellations all the time, especially 30 days out when tour groups have to release their unsold spots.

I highly recommend Capitol Reef NP, Scenic Hwy 12, and the Lower Calf Creek Falls trail. I absolutely loved Capitol Reef. The Cassidy Arch trail was tremendous. I did not think that Devil's Garden was worth the 26-mile round-trip on the gravel road. I also thought that Hell's Backbone Grill was overpriced and overrated.