My family and I are planning to fly into Vegas for a few days around April 14th, then drive onto Zion & Bryce. How many days at each park is enough? None of us hike on a regular basis so we wouldn't be camping out. I was thinking about Flanagan's, The Lodge @ Zion & Bryce, Ruby's. I've accumulated so much advice via this column about special places in each park. It looks like I'll need a few days @ each. Thanx.

Betty: If you are not planning to hike at all, you can easily cover the roads in both parks in a day. Of course, you may want to stay longer.

It's not clear from your post if you are totally uninterested in hiking, or are only interested in a small amount hiking. There's one big difference between hiking in Zion and Bryce. In Zion, most hikes are uphill on the way in and downhill on the way out. Except for the rim trail, Bryce is the opposite. Many prefer getting the hard work out of the way early.

The best trails in Zion are Angels Landing (but not if you have small kids or are afraid of heights), Observation Point, and Canyon Overlook. The Canyon Overlook trail is not very long or steep. The eastern uplands area of Zion (east of the tunnel) is a great area to explore off-trail.

April should be a great time for both parks. Also, the drive from Las Vegas is easy (about three hours to Zion).

You should stay a minimum of one night at Zion, 2 at Bryce, one more each would be best. Also, best stay in the park if you can. At Bryce, drive and see every overlook - each one is different. The horseback ride is excellent.

The Park Ranger walks and talks are wonderful - get the schedule as soon as you get there. They are free and run by mostly young people who are knowledgeable. They are not strenuous.

Another very nice park near Las Vegas that gets very little traffic is Valley of Fire State Park. I've been there twice and saw maybe 20 other people - max- and the scenery was great.

Denise:
Is the Valley of Fire State Park in Utah or Nevada? What is there to see? Sounds interesting.

Hi Betty,
My husband and I stayed two nights at each park last year. We are not strong hikers but the walks in both parks were wonderful as where the ranger talks. We stayed in log cabins inside the parks. (You call one number for reservations in Zion, Bryce and the North Rim, sorry I don't have the #)You should researve early to stay in the park. It's hard to only stay one night. Very clean and relaxing.
Enjoy and have fun.

Definitely, definitely stay at the lodge inside the park at Zion. Great ambience and great views. We did Zion in one day
stayed overnight and then Bryce the next day - went on the Lake Powell, Grand Canyon and then back to Las Vegas.
If you can stretch out to five days could probably see all four.

If you'd like to take a most unusual hike, there is one in Zion that is entirely in the bed of a stream. You walk up-stream as the water way becomes more narrow. Enentually, I'm told (I didn't walk that far), you can reach out & touch both sides of the canyon. Beware of flash floods. It is a really unique & beautiful experience.

The hike that Steve is referring to is the called,appropriately enough, "The Narrows." The trailhead is where the Zion Canyon road ends. Several years ago, five people died in a flash flood of the Narrows, so the park rangers are very vigilant about closing the trail when there is the slightest threat of rain.

Betty,

We stayed one night in each park, with children who were then (I think) 8 and 11.

We loved Ruby's, but we stayed there because we couldn't get reservations at the National Park Lodge at Bryce.

I think my kids enjoyed Bryce better, but my husband and I both really loved Zion. It was definitely the unexpected pleasure of the trip. (We'd started at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.) You may know this already, but you actually drive down into the canyon at Zion and then do your hikes up. The site of the lodge is spectacular--like a beautiful college campus situated at the base of those spectacular peaks. We had a wonderful game of Frisbee on the green.

Even if you don't stay at the Zion Lodge, do try to eat there--we had a spectacular dinner followed by a great breakfast.

Our family sounds like yours in terms of interest in hiking. The length of stay was fine for us, as we'd just spent time at the Grand Canyon. If we hadn't just been there, we could have spent two nights at each place.

Hope this helps.