Coming back to the forum after a great trip to Yellowstone/GTNP in 07---had some good advice on that one. THANKS! And now on to this summer's plans....

I have some reservations already made for the hotels to do a Zion, Bryce, Page (?), Grand Canyon, Las Vegas trip. Want to keep driving to a minimum (hard to do out west!) and like to see things thoroughly. ( Spent 8 nts doing YNP, GTNP, Cody and Beartooth Hwy )

Basics: Family of 4 (2 boys, 8 and 13, both scouts). 10 nights. Las Vegas to Las Vegas, 2nd wk of June. Right now I have some overlapping hotel nights, so I need to make final adjustments.

Day 1-3: Arrive in LAS by 11am. Drive to Zion. 3 Nts on hold at Majestic View Lodge, Springdale.
Day 4: (?) Drive to Page, AZ in a.m. Overnight in Page.
Day 5: Colorado River Float trip or boat tour to Rainbow Bridge (?)
Drive to N. Rim Lodge (have reservations for 3 nights, but can shorten)
Day 6: North Rim
Day 7-8: Drive to Bryce (have resv for 3 nts at Lodge in Park), stay 2 nights
Day 9-10: Drive back to Las Vegas for a night or 2.
Day 11: Fly home in a.m.

After reading some threads about the North Rim vs. the South Rim of the GC, I was considering changing this to do Bryce after Zion, then Page, then South Rim and go back to Vegas on the south side and maybe hit a little of old Route 66.

If I keep the North Rim, I might be able to hit a little of Capitol Reef NP. I don't want to drive as far as Arches on this trip.

What I actually have on hold for lodging is:
6/6 3nts Zion Majestic View Ldg
6/9 3nts N. Rim western cabin
6/11 4 nights Bryce Canyon Lodge Western Cabin.
I just held what was available hoping to come back later to ammend.

Thanks, let me know what you think.

When you say "float trip", do you mean mild or wild. I personally would not do a mild trip with two boys. We did a 3 day rafting trip a year ago with our 12 year old daughter and we all loved it. Sleeping in the bottom of GC is great. Is this your first time to the Grand Canyon? I would probably see Rainbow Bridge over a mild hour or two ride in the canyon.

I think you are allowing plenty of time at each place. I don't think you will find 3 days worth at the North Rim. Unless you are hiking a lot, 1 day would be enough.

My opinion that the best hiking on this trip would be-
Zion-Angels Landing and The Narrows(both fantastic)
Bryce-Navajo Loop/Queens Garden(haven't done this one yet)
Grand Canyon- Hike below the rim, many considerations to this
type of hiking, tons of ways to go about it.

I haven't stayed at Majestic View, but if you could get inside the park at Zion Lodge it would probably be better. You were smart booking ahead in case other options don't work out.

Page-you might want to consider Antelope Canyon
Zion- you might consider letting the boys do some Canyoneering. It is very fun and fairly safe.

I am with you on seeing things thoroughly. We prefer to do it that way ourselves. The only thing I might change would be your length of stay at the North Rim. I would probably just stay one night in Vegas.

I believe there are helicoper tours from Page. You could do the Grand Canyon, Rainbow Bridge, or even Monument Valley on an air tour from there.

You could get in a couple of days at Escalante. A hike that has always interested me, that we haven't done is "The Wave". This isn't far from Page/North Rim. Only 20 people per day get to do this one. 10 get to sign up in advance and 10 people get dibs on it each day as walk ups. You might investigate this a little bit.

Sounds like a super trip.

Ken

I do agree with most of what spiro has said but we took the gentle float trip from Page to Lees Ferry and enjoyed it very much. Our guide was great, we stopped at a sandy place where there were petroglyphs on the canyon wall. The ride down to get the boat was interesting too. Your time seems adequate to get a feel for the places you've scheduled for. If you do decide to go the south route, there is a section of 66 that is off I 40 just past Kingman that goes over the ridge and through Oatman (a funky, old gold mining town) and then back to Vegas, or since you will be going by it, do stop at Hoover Dam. You also must get a National Park pass, good for all the NPs for a year.

Thanks for the info. The boys would love the longer rafting tours, but my wife, not so much. On the other hand everyone loves to hike although we haven't done anything as strenuous as down to the bottom of the GC. The canyoneering and The Wave hike sound right up our alley too. I am going to cut at least one night off of the N Rim at either end. Las Vegas was just to wind down before flying home, as we're not into gaming. IF I would go back to Vegas via the S. Rim, how many nights would be recommended? (Also pls look for my other thread from today...you might have an opinion on the car)

If I look at the spectacular from my two trips to Utah/Arizona, I would do the following:

a) If you're near Page make sure you go to Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend (free) when the sun is high in the sky. They're about 15 minutes apart.

b) Personally, I would much rather take the hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls than drive much further to Capitol Reef. A stop in Devil's Garden Escalante (as opposed to in Arches) would be a lot of fun for the kids.

c) About 20 miles east of Bryce is Cannonville. About 10 miles south of there (a hilly, bumpy dirt road) is Willis Creek. It's an easy hike thru a series of real slot canyons. It also has a few very small water falls to add a bit of variety. You can stop in at the Canonville visitors center to get detailed driving instructions. Make sure there's no chance of rain as you don't want to be in a slot in the rain.

You can see photos at:

www.travelwalks.com

Driving back from the south rim to Vegas takes 6 to 8 hours depending on traffic and your driving style. So you really don't need to spend a night unless you do some stops along the way. If you leave the south rim after lunch you could drive to the Kingman area, relax at a place with a pool for the kids, start out the next morning and go either the Hoover Dam (rt 93)or Oatman (rt 66 to 95) option back to Vegas. If you are interested in petroglyphs, there is a place off 95 a couple of miles past Laughlin called Grapevine Canyon where you drive in a couple of miles on a gravel road to a parking area and then hike up to an area that has hundreds of petros.

I bought my parents a flight from vegas/helicopter to bottom of GC/float trip/bbq for a christmas gift. I knew there was no way of talking them into anything that involved spending the night in a tent. They enjoyed the float a lot. Anything on the bottom would be great. But the rapids, and spending the night is much much more than great. My wife was very concerned about everything. Yes, they have a porta potty, which is pretty much an ice chest with a toilet lid. But, it is the most scenic "dump" you will ever take. They just put the box thingy by the river, next to some bushes. Everyone urinates in the river. The food is actually very good. Even at breakfast they do everything from eggs to french toast. The only negative thing I could find was that the drinks don't stay super cold. They simply drag them in the river alongside the boat.

Really anyway you do your trip you are bound to have a great time. I think 1 full day on north and south rim would be enough for me. Unless, you are going to do a lot of hiking.
A helicopter tour is nice. I suppose that is included in your float trip. It is probably only a short helicopter ride, but still it is great going down into the canyon.

I see the Grand Canyon as the most shock and awe view, but the most incomplete park. Unless you like to hike with a ton of elevation gain and loss, visiting a few rim views and maybe a couple of historical places is enough for me. I would hike at least some of the way down. The rest of the places you are visiting are full of great hikes. I cannot imagine any hike being much better than The Narrows or Angels Landing. If you look at top ten hikes in national parks, those two are probably on the most lists. Again, you would love canyoneering. Check out Zion Adventure Company. You will probably want to rent some gear there for the Narrows. You will want at least footgear, and probably pants as well.

I hope you get to hike "the wave", you might want to have a gps, as it is supposed to be hard to find. Even the rangers don't find it on their first try sometimes. It is controlled by the BLM.

If you go back to vegas via the south, you could see Hoover Dam. One free thing that we enjoy in Vegas is a tour of Ethel M Chocolate factory. Not that big of a deal, but we like it. You get a free piece of chocolate a the end, then you wind up buying $50 worth.

Great stuff all around. I thought for sure that I wanted to stay away from the crowds on the South Rim, but the more people I talk too say that the S.Rim has more "shock and awe" as you said. I also want to mix it up a bit and thought that going around the south we could stop on the Navajo land, Cameron trading post, and Route 66 (which the boys know about from the movie "Cars". Plus it would be all new scenery and less backtracking. Which way back to Las Vegas would be more scenic in your opinion? Also, has anyone seen Escalante's Petrified Wood in the state park? Any worthwhile dinosaur pits in SW Utah?

Ken,

There was an incredible dino print find just outside of St. George, UT just a few years ago. A guy was doing some work on his land near the Virgin River when a backhoe turned over a rock and viola! tracks. Thousands and thousands of tracks were shortly found and in order to protect the find (and his sanity) his home was put under some sort of state designation. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the place. I'll search and see what I can find for you. Many visitors!

There are also some just west of Zion Canyon in the bed of one of the forks, exiting "The Subway". But that's a whole different hike and story.

Ah, very easy to find: www.dinotrax.com, plus other UT state gov sites. I've been meaning to visit this myself for a long time. Have fun!

The St. George dinosauer find looks great. We saw tracks at Capitol Reef. We were hiking w/ 3 10 year old boys and one of them looked up and saw tracks overhead. It was a thrill for all of us.

The Calf Creek hike is great with kids and we love slot canyon hikes. There was one we hiked just outside Capital Reef that ended (for us) at quicksand w/ a dead rodent. Naturally the kids thought that was the best thing ever. Yuck.

I think you're right to go to the South Rim. We went to the North and it made me think that the south would be the way to go.