Help with National Parks Road Trip
 

HI-
My sister and I are planning a trip for mid-September and I was hoping to get some feedback from the wonderful experts that help so many travelers on this website. The 12-day itinerary I'm working on starts and ends at Las Vegas airport (no stay over unless necessary):
Day 1 Sedona
Day 2 Grand Canyon South Rim
Day 3 Page- Lake Powell/Antelope Canyon
Day 4-8 Moab (via a quick stop in Monument Valley)- Arches, Canyonlands
Day 9 Torrey- Capital Reef
Day 10 Bryce
Day 11-12 Zion

I got a taste of this beautiful area and fell in love with it on a 7-day Tauck bus tour years ago but my sister, who rarley travels, has never been here and I want it to be a real treat for her. We're New Yorkers in our late forties and plan to do a few EASY hikes in the parks, a horseback ride (in Bryce?), meet up with friends for one of the Moab days and maybe take a Lake Powell dinner cruise in Page. From what I see, the only really long driving days are from LV to Sedona and from Page to Moab. Also, I thought of renting a convertible so my sister could really see the sights while we drive but I read that someone felt that the convertible didn't have enough power for the road inclines. We'll be in the car for most of the trip so I want to pick the right one. Do you think we should rent an SUV or full size car instead?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Howdy Annie,

I did more or less the same trip some time ago, but I do not remember any road inclines worth mentioning. But: I lived in Colorado at that time, so maybe my perspective was a bit blurred ;-)

An SUV can be useful on unpaved roads in the Parks (only remember one in Canyonlands, missed Capitol Reef though) and on the Monument Valley loop road.

Happy travels!

The only real road inclines are near Zion and they're not very steep.

I did exactly what you're doing (without Capitol reef) in June but in reverse.

You can read my report here and look at my photos:

www.travelwalks.com

Select the Bryce, Zion, etc trip on the lower right side of the page.

I'm going back for more.

The places where you are most likely to encounter unpaved roads are Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Monument Valley. You can visit each of these places without leaving pavement, but you will get a bit more scenery if you wander off the highways.

You might consider breaking up the "long driving day" from Page to Moab with a very scenic detour up Utah State Highway 261 through Valley of the Gods. The paved highway suddenly turns to dirt as you begin to switchback up Cedar Mesa, but otherwise the road is well maintained.

The first time I drove this road (25 years ago), I couldn't figure out how it got to the top of Cedar Mesa. Just as I was expecting the road to end (forcing me to turn around), I spotted the dirt road snaking up the side. The road was well concealed from a distance. Note that there is nothing dangerous or intimidating about the this short segment of Utah 261 - it is comfortably wide and not particularly steep.

At the top of Cedar Mesa you would have the option of veering west five or ten miles to visit Natural Bridges National Monument.

Hi annie,

Sounds like a very good trip, although the first day drive is a long one. In my opinion, I would skip Sedona because it pales in comparision to the rest of your plans.

I would not get a convertible because the sun beating down on you that many hours just doesn't work out. You will probably have the top up more than down. It's not like there is a lot of traffice. You can pull over and admire the scenery as much as you want!

Have fun!

Thank you all for your replies.
Thanks, Cowboy, for the road info. We're gonna take your advice and rent an SUV. Myer, your pictures are incredible. You really captured the beauty of the area. And smueller, that scenic detour through the Valley of the Gods has been added to our route. Thank you Dayle, for your feedback. I was concerned that my itinerary wasn't realisitic for a 12- day trip. It's funny that you mentioned to nix Sedona. I was going back and forth about stopping there. But Myer's beautiful pictures of the Sedona area have swayed me to keep it in our plans.

Thanks again. Any additional advice on scenic routes, or "must see's", etc., would be very much welcomed.
annie

I'd also suggest skipping Sedona and add that to the South Rim. That way you can chill a bit after the long travel day you dealt with the day before. Spend a relaxing day at Grand Canyon. Walk the rim and stretch your legs a bit.

Get a nice sedan with large windows.
There aren't really steep roads on your route.

Glad I was able to provide some useful input.

IMO, these sights offer the most bang for the time (in no particular order):

Sedona:
a) Oak Creek Crossing for Cathedral Rock at sunset at the Crescent Moon Picnic Area.
b) Boynton Canyon Vista hike (not the complete Boynton Canyon hike). This is less than 1 hour.
c) Broken Arrow Trail hike. A few hours but the most scenic hike I took.
d) Bell Rock Pathway hike.

Page.
a) Lower Antelope Canyon
b) Horseshoe Bend
c) "The Best Dam View".
Total time of less than 3 hours including driving to and from.

Bryce.
a) Navajo Loop-Queens Garden hike
b) Skip lookouts except Bryce Point as sunrise, Sunset & Sunrise points (start & end of the above hike), Natural Bridge. The remainder show nothing new. Definitely hike down. Easy if I did it.

Zion.
a) Canyon Overlook (at east entrance)
b) Middle & Upper Emerald Pools (IMO Lower is a waste of time so don't stop there)
Didn't do Angel's Landing (beyond me). I should have gone partway up.

South Rim.
a) I only went to GC to shorten the drive before and after. I didn't get an appreciation for GC. I should have hiked 45 minutes down Bright Angel trail and then back up. All I saw was a stream (sure!!! The Colorado Stream) and a big bowl. My fault.

Hope this helps.

Great info Myer! For hiking in Bryce, I found hiking from Sunrise point, Queens Garden, Navajo, Peekabo loop, Wall street to Sunset point an exceptional day hike. 4 to 5 hours with countless photo ops. Peekabo loop seems to remain the parks best kept secret.

Westbound,
I agree. But I tried to list the most bang for the time.

I was in Bryce for 2 days. On the first day I went down Navajo Loop and back up through Queen's Garden.

By the second day I figured I was acclimatized to the elevation. I went down the closed side of Navajo Loop (to the blockage), then back up and down the open side. Then I went thru Peek-a-Boo loop and up the closed side of Navajo Loop (to the blockage). Then back down and connected to Queen's Garden.

While not very difficult at all, that was a very tiring 5 hours.

Still, beautiful scenery!!!!

bookmarking...

Bryce ~ I was there Sept.25,26 and the blockage down the bottom of Wall St. was open. It seemed to be open for quite some time.
Antelope Canyon ~ I did the upper one, the most popular. I heard from quite a few the upper is far better then the lower. The ride in the converted pickup up the creek bed to the slot was a bonus.

I was in Bryce in June and while I was told of plans, no work had been done of the Navajo Loop rock slide blockage.

The plan was to leave the blockage as is and cover it over making it passable.

The scheduled completion date was sometime during the summer. I assumed that meant a year away but if it's completed, I'm impressed.

The NPS always impresses me.

If you're choosing an SUV for off-roading, be aware that most car rental agencies don't allow you to take their vehicles of the pavement, even if it's an SUV. So the extra expense wouldn't be worth it.

Annie -
My husband & I are planning a similar trip to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. Are there any books, websites, etc... that you're finding particularly helpful? Thanks!

Hi-Thank you all for your terrific advice. Sorry for the delay in my response. I haven't been able to log in since the revised website (trouble with my password).

Kelly- I'm certainly no expert but the tools that I've been using are:
the fodors travel forums (lots of great advice/information, as you can see);
I have a couple of Frommer's books- National Parks of the American West and Arizona;
the AAA website, particularly Trip tik travel planner for mapping the trip and mileage information between destinations (Mapquest is also good);
lots of websites, such as www.us-parks.com (information on the Grand Circle Trip- I decided to go opposite the stated route to be in Zion as a last stop highlight ) travel.msn.com frommers.com grandcircle.org nps.gov nationalparks.org ...

I'm sure there's lots more information out there. I hope this helps. What I've experienced is it takes a LOT of time to plan a road trip in an area that is so full of places to see. Making the tough choices in cutting out destinations due to time constraints is the hardest part for me, so far.

Good luck with your planning.
Annie

We always travel with a DeLorme's Atlas and Gazetteer for the states we're visiting. We like to know where we are and what our options are and like traveling backways. We use the printed books. our Utah copy is well worn. Hopefully this link will bring you there:


http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELi...;section=10096

Besides the maps, there's lots of other info on parks and scenic areas in them.


They have lots of GPS downloadables as well listed in other areas of thier site..

Even compacts shouldn't have a problem with the inclines out west, if you want to go a steady 65 (you'll probably have your pedal to the floor though).

But, people out there drive fast. Lots of long distance driving because everything is so far apart. And the roads are so straight. No landmarks to help you gauge your speed, and if there are, they are huge. I was easily doing 80 and frequently passed.

I rented a 2 door Toyota Solara(?), and at 80/85mph, was very quiet. Approached 100mph many times. With an SUV, at high speeds, you'll be guzzling lots of gas. I just came back from Europe and experienced $8/gallon gas - $3 here is relatively cheap, but it still adds up.

Reflecting back, I would have made more stops for photo ops and to take the scenery in. Also, the slot canyons in Antelope is an almost religious experience. I enjoyed it more than hiking down GC South. Have fun.

Hi All-

Well it's almost time for our trip, I'm so excited. We ended up adding an extra day in the Sedona area, after the long flight and drive.

I was just wondering if anyone would share advice on the best route to take, including any scenic roads, etc., that we shouldn't miss along the way between stops on this trip.

Thanks again for all your help!

annie

Oops, I forgot to list our final itinerary:

Day 1-2 Sedona
Day 3 Grand Canyon South Rim
Day 4 Page- Antelope Canyon
Day 5-9 Moab (via a quick stop in Monument Valley)- Arches, Canyonlands
Day 10 Torrey- Capital Reef
Day 11 Bryce
Day 12-13 Zion

Any advice on must take roads for this route would be VERY MUCH appreciated.
THANKS,
annie