Help with Utah Nat'l Parks & Grand Canyon Itinerary
 

I'm starting to put together an itinerary for a trip in the last two weeks of September 2007 and would appreciate any and all feedback. I know from planning an earlier trip to Ireland how extremely valuable advice from a Fodor's forum can be. We fly in and out of Las Vegas. I don't have any reservations yet but plan to start making them soon – I know things fill up quickly. This is what I have so far:

Day 1 & 2: Zion National Park, Desert Pearl Inn in Springdale

Day 3 & 4: Bryce National Park, stay at the lodge in the park (Western Cabin ??)

Day 5 & 6: Capital Reef, Red River Ranch in Torrey

Day 7: Arches, Dreamkeeper Inn in Moab

Day 8 & 9: Monument Valley, Desert Rose Inn in Bluff

Day 10, 11, & 12: Grand Canyon South Rim, El Tovar in the park.

Day 13 & 14: Las Vegas, haven't researched yet.

Day 15: Leave.


Some of my questions are:

Should I shorten the 4 days in Zion/Bryce to 3 (somehow?) and add a day to Moab to give us enough time at the Arches?

Are there better places to stay? What rooms are recommended? What about which lodge to reserve at the Grand Canyon south rim?

We plan on doing a lot of photography. I'm going to make a reservation with Tom Phillips at Monument Valley for a guided tour.

Thanks !

I wouldn't cut any time from Bryce, I really loved it. Very unique. The lodge is beautiful, but quiet. We stayed in Ruby's and it was extremely kid-friendly. Between the two I would go with the lodge! If you can get a room at El Tovar it's amazing. Do you really need two nights for Monument Valley? We just did a self drive tour on the way between two stops. You'll have a wonderful time whatever you decide.

Thanks for the info Dohlice,

I've done tons of research on this forum already but when you get down to a specific itinerary it's always a big help to find out if you're making the right decisions.

The reason I had two days in Monument Valley was to have enough time for the guided tour (it's designed specifically for photographers and starts at the crack of dawn). Because the driving time from Moab to Bluff is only a couple of hours, according to Mapquest, I could change to a more general tour that starts not quite so early in the morning.

I guess I should have given a bit more information in my first post. It's just my husband and I – in our late 50's, early 60's (so quiet is good!). So don't need a pool for the kids ... much prefer a nice porch to sit at and have a drink! It's my first trip there and his second (which was a very long time ago).

The early morning light must be beautiful. I prefer the afternoon shift! I got some amazing pictures in Monument Valley - I enlarged The Mittens and framed it. The coveted "spot over the fireplace" is also from monument valley. Pretty dorkey, maybe, but we have a small vacation house and each room is a different place out west.

You will also love Bryce for the photo ops. The colors are insane. I wasn't thrilled with Ruby's. I thought a little night life would have been nice, but there really isn't any there. You 'll love the lodge. We did a mule ride in Bryce from right near there. That was fun, too.

If you're passing near Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon is a photographer's dream. I wish I had seen Arches, but we hope to on another trip out there.

Lots of good photos ops in Arches, and a day isn't giving yourself enough time IMO.

I'd keep your early photog tour in Mon Valley. If you're serious or semi-serious about photography, you know the best light is early and late. Don't sell yourself short and take the general mid-day tour - those red rocks aren't the same in the middle of the day.

I'd be inclined to cut a day somewhere to give yourself another day in Arches/Moab. You've got 3 nights at the Grand Canyon - that might be some serious overkill, especially during the day. Lots of great scenery there, but what would you do all day for 3 days?

I agree with Weasel unless you are planning to go to the bottom of the Canyon, 3 days at the Grand Canyon is too much (IMHO) . Two nights is ok but use most of one of those days to get to your new destination and begin exploring that.

I love zion and stayed a the Desert Pearl in Springdale. It was fantastic.

Thanks to everyone!

To TheWeasel and KarenL,

I think you're right. I'll take a day away from the Grand Canyon and add it to Moab. We're not planning on a trip to bottom of the canyon. My husband did a mule trip when he was there ages ago and there is no way I could him to do it again! He keeps muttering on about sheer drops and mules hanging over the rim ...

Has anyone stayed at the Lodge at Red River Ranch? That's the one place I'm not so sure about. Any place in the area nicer (not necessarily more expensive)?

Lake Powell is one of the areas that I'd like to but just can't seem to work into our timeframe. The other is Mesa Verde.

Just can't get to everything in only two weeks.

I would never do that mule ride in the Grand Canyon. It looks so scary. We were able to get down to Indian Garden and back on foot. The ride in Bryce is much less scary. It’s also shorter!

We just did similar trip to yours but backwards.
It’s a great idea to add second night in Moab.
If you taking sunrise tour with Tom Phillips you can shorten your stay at Monument Valley and live to Page/Lake Powell after the tour - well worth the visit. It’s about 2.5 h drive taking scenic AZ-98.

We also stopped for a few hours at Goblin Valley State park, UT off rt 24. It rain for us and few pictures we took were not great, but we enjoyed our short stop anyway. Here the link I found before our trip
http://www.utah.com/stateparks/goblin_valley.htm
http://public.fotki.com/vseznayka/us...goblin_valley/

Travfirst,

Thanks for the tip about Goblin Valley. That's the first I've heard of that park – the photos in the second web site looked very interesting and different. I'll be sure to add it to my list of places to stop. And I'll see about the Lake Powell stop. I didn't think it could be worked in, but maybe it'll be doable.

Now, to wait until Sept 1st so I can begin calling the Lodges in the National Parks for reservations!

My opinion - add time to Moab for sure - and possibly Zion/Bryce.
Remove time from Capital Reef, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, and especially Vegas to allow the adjustments to Moab, etc.
When in Moab try to visit Canyonlands and Dead Horse State Park.
We did a similar trip in May, 2005 and loved it. Arches & Zion were our favorite parks.

I would also drop a day from the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, but do not sell yourself short at Capitol Reef. The landscape offers some of the best photo opportunities in the area. You will most likely have few fellow tourists around. The surroundings vary greatly. We stayed at the Wonderland in Torrey for 8 days. It was fine. I don't know where the Red River Ranch is, but it may be in Teasdale further from Capitol Reef. Torrey is five minutes from the visitor center.

Advice for your reservation quest - get help! My sister made a reservation at El Tovar for next August and out of the 6 of us calling for it, only one ever got through. But he got the suite they wanted : )

The lines don't open even 1 second early either.

This is my revised plan:

Day 1 & 2: Zion National Park

Day 3 & 4: Bryce NP

Day 5 & 6: Capital Reef

Day 7, 8, & 9: Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse

Day 10: Monument Valley

Day 11 & 12: Grand Canyon South Rim

Day 13 & 14: Las Vegas

Day 15: Early flight back.

What do you think? If I reduce Las Vegas to just one day it would really only give us the night there as we plan to leave the Grand Canyon area after noon. That may be plenty for Las Vegas, tho. We're not gamblers and maybe would only take in a show. We live just an hour or so from Atlantic City with its casinos and never go there. That would let me add a day back to Monument Valley and with Bluff as a base I could also go to the Hovenweep National Monument which I read was very interesting.

... (should have put this in the previous post)

So this would give me:

Day 1 & 2: Zion National Park

Day 3 & 4: Bryce NP

Day 5 & 6: Capital Reef

Day 7, 8, & 9: Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse

Day 10 & 11: Monument Valley

Day 12 & 13: Grand Canyon South Rim

Day 14: Las Vegas

Day 15: Early flight back.


This may be it ?!?

That looks really good. You'll have a great time!

Your revised itinerary looks better but I think that the Idea of staying in Bluff for visiting Monument Valley might be off.

It is about an hour's drive as I recall. Not a bad ride but doing it 4 times would get old in a hurry especially since there is no need to stay so far away in such an uninteresting and unscenic place as Bluff (sorry Bluff).

Consider Gouldings right at Monument Valley or the San Juan Inn just north of the park.

I'm glad you've added more time at Moab too much to do and see there in a week so you can't really give it too much time...

Here's a link to our last two trips to Utah...we're off to Yellowstone this Sept. but still have a yearning to return to the red rock country.

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

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

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

peterboy,

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that we're going to need the 3 days in Moab.

Due to extreme pressure from my husband I've decided to add one more day back to Las Vegas. (I know, I know ...) But, I'm still spending 3 days in Moab. My plan is to eliminate one of the days in Monument Valley. The guide I'm planning to use has a sunset tour that I can take instead of the sunrise one so that should work out well.

I'll definitely check out the San Juan Inn. It was also mentioned on one of the photography forums I look at (the person there said if you call in advance, the owners will keep the bar/coffee shop area open a little longer so you can get a bite to eat but Goulding's restaurant closes at 9 and that we won't be back from shooting yet).

Your photos are great and really make it hard to wait a year :)

Does anyone think I should reverse the order of my trip?

I'd get the long drive out of the way on the first day.

I don't think it is a problem removing a day from Monument valley...a day is enough and sunset is awesome.

If you reverse your trip, you'll be nearly duplicating the itinerary that we set up for my sister in law and her husband....they should be arriving at the San Juan Inn this evening. Wish it was me :>)

The quick return from Zion to Vegas is well worth reversing the order. Plus, you'll be saving one of your best stops for last...Zion & Springdale are wonderful during late Sept.

Also, it is only a 3 hour "real time" drive from Springdale to Vegas but you gain and hour since you're crossing a time zone between Utah and Nevada so it is only a 2 hour ride "by the clock".

I always leave the rental car's clock set to Vegas time and adjust my watch to the mountain time zone so I avoid arriving late (or too early) for my Vegas flights home.