eroz

Such great info on here-thank you all! I think I have a decent plan based on reading your input so far, but please let me know holes/concerns/recs along the way. Hubby and I are in ok shape and like to hike, golf, explore. Plan for mid-Sept 2014: Leave Portland Oregon to drive to Boise, overnight, then into Bryce.
Day 1 Arr Bryce mid afternoon. Drive around the area (take the shuttle maybe?), check into Bryce Lodge (this was the only night available around our dates), sunset view.
Day 2 Sunrise Bryce, Hike Bryce (Queens/Navajo Trail). Lunch in town, head to Zion.
3 nights Desert Pearl. 2 days to Hike around and explore Zion. Need to figure out best easy to moderate hikes and eats. Not going to do Angels Landing, but maybe up to Scout? Also Narrows looks awesome.
Day 5 Wake up Zion early, Slowly Drive 12 to Goblin Valley, explore along the way (??) and overnight in Torrey.
Day 6, head to Moab. Local motel. 2 nights. We can have 2 pretty full days of hiking, Fiery Furnace, maybe an adventure land tour here. Should we add a 3rd night? Will head from here to visit Salt Lake City and overnight there (have never been), then to Boise and spend an afternoon/overnight, then home to Portland.

I may have to cut a night along the way due to limited vaca time from work but this is pretty close time wise. Please advise your thoughts-thank you.

tomfuller

Coming from Portland, stretch your first day drive to at least Twin Falls ID or maybe all the way to Ogden UT. This would help to get to Bryce a little earlier in the day.
Make sure to take the hike out to Delicate Arch while in Arches.

mabella101

Just a note ; when you say 'lunch in town' after hiking Bryce you might be better off eating at the restaurant at the lodge. If memory serves me correctly there are not a lot of choices outside the park and the restaurant at the lodge was not so bad.
Definitely hike the narrows. Rent the special shoes, they will help. And if you don't have a waterproof camera, it would be a good time to invest in one. Minimally one of the disposable ones, though the pictures will not do it justice. Start as early as you can on this hike and take whatever food you can fit in your waterproof canister (also available for rent). We were so enthralled by the scenery we didn't make it back to the Dessert Pearl until past 9! We didn't realize how hungry we were until on our way back on the shuttle.
You will love The Desert Pearl. So beautiful, so peaceful.
Enjoy!!

peterboy

Great place for lunch is on the way to Zion. Watch for Bryce Canyon Pines on the right just after you take a left out of Rubyville onto Hwy 12. Just up the road a bit...not far.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bryce-canyon-pines-bryce

Good for what it is...we love the patty melt and breakfast is also great. They use local meat. Not a place for a vegetarian

You might enjoy our trip reports since they cover a lot of the ground you're visiting.

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/utah_2012_trip_report

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

No report but pictures from 2 other trips...can you tell we love Utah?

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/utah04

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/utah_03

peterboy

Oh, also you should always add a day to Moab...or week.

Myer

You really don't have to take a shuttle in Bryce.

Bryce isn't really a sunset park as you are at the top and you go down. It is a spectacular sunrise park. My favorite is Bryce Point.

Some of the worthy sights between Bryce and Goblin Valley:

Willis Creek slot canyon 10 miles south of Cannonville just east of Bryce. 2-3 hours. Directions from the visitors center in Cannonville.

Devil's Garden Escalante about 9 miles south on Hole-in-the-Rock Road. About an hour or two.

Lower Calf Creek Falls. One of the only falls in the area. Beautiful. Three hours or so.

indyhiker

When we were in Zion, we hiked Upper and Lower Emerald (not difficult, but it was, not surprisingly, crowded on a Sunday; the Watchmen, Observation Point, about 14 miles of an out and back of the West Rim Trail, the River Walk, Canyon Overlook and the Middle Prong of Taylor Creek. Observaton Point and the West Rim Trail had their tough moments, but were well worth the effort. I'd note that the West Rim Trail covers some of the same ground as Angel's Landings (Walters Wiggles for instance), but you bypass the scary part of Angel's Landing at Scout's Lookout. The entirety of the West Rim Trail would make for a very long day hike and would require a shuttle, but you can do part of it and just turn around when you want. The best views along the trail are about 7 1/2 miles in if memory serves, so that makes for long, but rewarding, day. I really liked Taylor Creek, but it requires a drive to the Kolob Canyon section of the park. I thought it was worth the drive, but we were there a week. Observation Point has quite a bit of elevation gain, but it's otherwise not hard and the views at the top are amazing on a clear day. We unfortunately didn't do the Narrows, as we were there in the middle of spring runoff, so the flow rates and water levels were much too high. We also rented road bikes one day and road up and down the park rode. That was lots of fun. You only really have to contend with the park shuttles, and they're few and far between.

I absolutely loved Zion the minute we drove into town. I hope you like it, too. I preferred Springdale, too, over Moab. Springdale's just a quieter town, but has enough decent places to eat and shop to make it interesting. Moab is an interesting place though. It's just a bit more hectic--or at least it was in April.

As for Moab, I liked Arches a lot, but the hikes themselves were not as enjoyable to me because I never felt like we got away from the crowds. We did a hike our last day in Moab at the Fisher Towers (a hike on BLM lands about 45 minutes outside of Moab) and much preferred that hike because it just wasn't as crowded. We didn't hike any part of Canyonlands. Our time there was spent biking the White Rim Trail. It's beautiful out there so I would definitely recommend factoring it into your itinerary.

J62

I second the recommendation for the Zion West Rim trail out & back. The 14mi makes for a long but very satisfying day, but I you don't have that much time you can just go a mile or so past Scout's lookout and a little way into the back/high territory. Very different landscape vs the main valley.

There is a water source a few mi out the WR trail but it's not crystal clear and requires filtration/disinfection.

Observation Point is another great hike and much shorter. A fast hiker can get up in < 2hrs. Average hiker closer to 3-4hrs. No water on the trail so bring several liters per person + food. Coming down can take from 1-2+ hrs.