Sweens

I'll be driving my wife & 3 small kids (7 mos.-9 yrs) across UT in mid-Aug. Would like to do a quick stop at Arches NP on way by (say around mid-morning), then head on twd. our real destination, LV. I have no idea what to expect in terms of terrain, stops along the way, etc. Any suggestions? What is availability of hotels/inns? Considering stopping around Richfield to catch couple of Z's & then drive into the night to LV when it's cooler. Are we nuts or is this do-able? Don't want to risk a car breakdown in the hot desert w/ kiddos.

x

You want your kids to be fresh and rested for your foray into Las Vegas? Nice family destination. Better they get stuck in the desert.

sweens

Yeah, well, thanks, Jerk. Maybe for you I should have explained that we are visiting their GRANDMOTHER who is a KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL TEACHER there, not that it's any of your business. Thanks for your help anyway. Anyone else out there? We are staying there to visit grandma & other relatives for a week before heading north to SLC, Yellowstone, Black Hills, etc.

Dayle

Hi Sweens,

Arches is about a 1/2 hour drive south from the junction with I70. By mid afternoon, it will be HOT. Not the prime time to visit.

If you do want to visit, you should plan at an absolute minimum 1/2 day. This will give you a drive through & a couple short hikes out to the base of your choice of arches.

Where to stay - there are several budget hotels in Green River, about 35 miles further west on I70 from the Arches/Moab junction. I say "budget" only because there are no other choices.

There are many motels, hotels & camping options in Moab/Arches. But you will need reservations. Also recommend reservations for Green River because you would be getting there late.

If you can't spend a 1/2 day, save it for another time.

Good luck!

Utahtea

It sounds like you will be coming in on I-70 with a short detour on Hwy 191 down to Moab.

If you're coming in from Colorado, once you hit Utah it will be mostly rolling hills until you hit Hwy 191. Hwy 191 down to Moab is mostly flat. A nice drive and there's enough traffic in case you do break down.

You can see a lot of Arches from your vehicle and short little walks to overlooks if it's hot out.

When you get back on I-70 after you pass Green River you will climb up a steep grade to the San Rafael Swell. Stop at the rest areas for great scenic over looks. They are trying make the San Rafael Swell area a National Monument. It's a beautiful area.

I've never stayed in Richfield, but I'm sure you can find accommations there or in I-15.

I-15 down to Cedar City is on the boring side. After Cedar City it get's scenic again. You might consider taking the drive into the Kolob section of Zion National Park. It's just off I-15 south of Cedar City. This is not the main section of the park but pretty nice.

How are you driving back? Do you need any ideas? Have you considered taking Scenic Hwy 12 from Bryce to Torrey, Utah?

One last scenic area that your kids might like is Sego Canyon, where they have a great collection of petroglphys. This is just off I-70 at the town of Thompson before you reach Hwy 191. Just a 3 mile drive on paved roads. Go through the town of Thompson, over the tracks and head north up the canyon. It is paved right to the spot.

http://www.so-utah.com/green/segocny/homepage.html

Also this web site is great for information on Southern Utah.

http://www.so-utah.com/contents.html

Have a good trip. We traveled all the time when our kids were those ages.

Utahtea

Curious

Sweens,

I'm curious about what the Grandmother being a Kindergarten teacher has to do with anything.

I used to be married to a Kindergarten teacher. She turned out to be a real slut. Another Kindergarten teacher in the same school was even worse.

Curious

Sweens

Utahtea, I was hoping you'd reply. If you're not a tour guide or travel agent, you should be, you obviously have great pride in your fine state. I never would have considered Sego Canyon or the San Rafael Swell.

You mentioned you assumed we'd come down Rt.191 to Arches. My map makes it look like we should get off at Exit 212 or 202 and go down Rt. 128, then out via 191. I guess we'd rather do whatever is faster since we are on a bit of time crunch, so which is better? Now, if there's only a 20 minute difference but the 128 scenery is much better, we'd still do that, but time is of the essence.

We are coming "back" up I-15 to stop somewhere around the SLC area just to camp for the night before heading up to Y'stone via Tetons... we'll be 4 nites/3days at YSNP. Then the long haul home to CT with 1 or 2 other visits (Black Hills, family in Indiana, etc.).

Any campground suggestions near SLC? It kind of depends on how far we get since we may stop at Zion on the way up. We may try to get as far as Bear Lake, but I'm not really expecting that, probably somewhere between Provo and Ogden.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Sweens

Dayle - Thank you, too, for your hotel suggestions! That's a big help.

Utahtea

Hi Sweens,

I'm not a travel agent and I don't even live in Utah....I just LOVE to vacation in there.

You seemed to be worried about your vehicle breaking down and that's why I didn't mention Hwy 128. Hwy 128 is by far the more scenic route and it will be a little slower going than the Interstate. I've never time these trips because we are usually not in any hurry. There is less traffic in case you breakdown but there is nothing wrong with the road. Once you cross the Colorado River you follow it all the way into Moab with the slick red rock canyon walls getting closer and closer and higher and higher until it's just the river and the road. Watch for river rafters in the river.

We've camped at Utah Lake State Park which has showers and is near Provo, Utah.
http://parks.state.ut.us/parks/www1/utah.htm

We've also camped at Preston Valley Campground in the Cache National Forest which isn't far from Logan, Utah on Hwy 89 to Bear Lake. Infact there are many national forest campgrounds in that area but no showers.

I have no idea how fast these campgrounds fill up in the summer because we were there in the spring.

Bear Lake seemed so desolate to me. Have a post card ready to mail from Paris, Idaho. It's not much of a town, but my friend got a real kick out of the postmark being from Paris.

If you have a stroller that you can take for the baby it will come in handy in Yellowstone.

Have a good trip and let me know if you have any other questions.

Utahtea

rqf

Assuming your car is air conditioned I don't think it is a good idea to drive late at night with children in tow. Break down late at night and you are in real trouble. You probably won't get out of Arches before noon. Richfield is about 175 miles and the trip can be made in four hours with a few short stops to admire the scenery. I would spend the night in Ridgefield. If you decide to do this make sure you have a motel reservation - you don't want to wind up without a place to stay. With an early start tne next day you could be in LV by early afternoon. It is an easy scenic ride from Moab to Ridgefield but once past Green RIver facilities are few until you get to Salina. ¥ou might consider taking a short detour off I-15 at Cedar City. on the way to LV, to visit Cedar Breaks National Monument.

sweens

Wow- thanks again to all! We're within 2 weeks of leaving. I'm trying leisure-planet.com to find hotels in Glenwood Springs, CO and Richfield, UT. Have found some decent ones, now just bidding on a price & making the reservations. You've been quite helpful with this leg of our trip. I'll let you know how it goes. (And I'll keep checking back up to when we leave to see if anyone else has any more suggestions, not that I need MORE options...) TTFN

J Correa

We were in that area a little over 10 years ago, so the details have faded. I do remember that Arches was really interesting, but incredibly hot. We had planned on taking a couple short hikes, but decided against it because of the heat. We stayed in Green River, UT - at a motel right along the river. It was really nice there - we were travelling east, so we had travelled across Nevada and the salt flats. Green River was like an oasis - there were actually green things growing out of the ground.

Sweens

WOW!!! What a vacation we had! Thank you to all who gave us such great advice; we did things we never would have thought of, thanks to you. I also had messages in the Wyoming forum under Yellowstone, so I'll write about that there, but I'll fill you in on our great trip through Utah. Utahtea, we found out why you love this state so much.

Arches National Park was the first NP we visited. We did take the Rte. 128 drive along the Colorado River and it totally exceeded our expectations. It was breathtaking! We even dipped our toes in the river, which was low and muddy but a thrill for us New Englanders. Arches totally blew us away; we did a little hiking, whatever the kids could handle, and we loved going up into Double Arch, which we thought of as an arch with a sunroof. It was pretty hot, but not the 100 degrees I was expecting, so that was nice. Then we drove on to Richfield for the night, but we did catch most of the San Rafael Swell at dusk. We got a kick out of all the bats flying around; they were everywhere, and big by East Coast standards.

Next day we made a last minute decision to take the "back road" (not a back road at all) by Rock Candy Mtn. down to Bryce, which I had planned to skip. What a great decision that turned out to be. Bryce was also overwhelming, and it's set up very nicely. We did a short self-driving tour since we virtually had the park to ourselves (I pity those families who skipped our National Parks for Disneyland or something). It, too, was just right for young kids; we could do the short walks to see the views without wiping them out.

We got out of there in the late morning and continued on to Zion for a drive-thru. Wow again! We especially loved the long tunnel and then the long drive down into the middle of the "bowl". All that & we made it down to Las Vegas by around 6:00 (including the time zone change, which gave us an extra hour).

After a week in L.V. with family, we drove back up I-15 through those amazing canyons between Arizona and Nevada and on up for a brief stop in the Kolob portion of Zion. On a nice hike there my 9-yr-old stumbled on a ring-necked lizard,and they just about scared each other to death, which was a great moment. Then on thru to Cedar Breaks to spend the night in Provo (hotel, no camping).

Finally, we drove the next day up the Alpine Loop and saw some of the Olympics sites around SLC, and on up to Bear Lake and those DELICIOUS raspberry shakes at Garden City. (My family thought I was crazy at first, but they quickly wished we could get 20 of them to go and keep them frozen somehow.) The view of Bear Lake from the top of the mountain really surprised us, with how blue the water is. Looks like the Caribbean. Northern Utah was wonderful, and we really fell in love with the whole state. This trip, though quick, definitely whetted our appetite to return when the kids are older and we can really spend some time hiking and getting to know the place. That is, unless we move there first! (Anyone know of any engineering jobs, preferably in Southern Utah?)

Thanks again to all!

utahtea

Boy, you took a LONG trip! I'm glad you liked S. Utah. Just to let you know, you've only scratched the surface of the beautiful national parks of this state. Something to look forward to!

Utahtea