I would appreciate any input on my iternerary from Vegas to Denver. I will be with my wife, and we are interested in some biking, hiking, photography, and maybe rafting. We plan on camping mostly, though we are inexperienced. I am driving from the east to Vegas by myself, so I will be able to make some stops that don't fit or which are more streneous than my wife would like. So here is the current plan:

Day 1 - Arrive Vegas in the evening
Day 2 Vegas
Day 3 Vegas. sleep in, leave for Zion. Get in a late afternoon/evening hike
Day 4 Hike the Zion narrows. drive to Bryce in time for sunset.
Day 5 short morning hike, drive to Grand Canyon North Rim, take in the sunset views
Day 6 Drive to Moab. See Monument Valley, maybe Antelope Canyon
Day 7-8 Moab. Bike twice, hike Arches, sunset at Dead Horse, maybe rafting
Day 9 drive to denver

Is this too ambitious? I was thinking about dropping Bryce because it is a little out of the way.

In october, how likely is it that we can get walk-in camping sites? Bryce camping spots are walk in only. If i want to reserve, I would do kodachrome, which is even more out of the way.

Thanks in advance! Josh

I think it may be a little too ambitious, but just my opinion.

I did a similar trip a few years ago that started in Vegas and went counter-clockwise camping 2 nights in the Grand Canyon (S. Rim) and Bryce, and then 1 night in Zion, and back to Vegas. Bryce was by far my favorite of the parks. It is just so unique and beautiful.

It seems to me that the Grand Canyon is more out of your way based on the other places. I have not been to Moab so can't comment on that. I would think you would want to relax after hiking as opposed to getting back in the car and scrambling to your next destination. Especially if you are an inexperienced camper, you may not get the rest and relaxation that you imagine in the great outdoors. So, maybe think about cutting out GC and add another night to Bryce at the very least??

It got pretty cold at night in both the Grand Canyon and Bryce in June so I am sure you can expect it to be very chilly in October.

Hope this helps!

The basic plan looks doable.

Things to remember. It will be cold
at Bryce in October...snow is possible.
The average high for Bryce in Oct. is 59 F and avg. low is 27 F

It will be cold at the North Rim as
well and it closes in mid October so
you'll want to look into that. The average high for the North Rim in Oct. is 59 F and avg. low is 31 F.

Obviously, earlier in the month will be warmer than the average and the end lower than average.

If you dicide not to camp then you'll need to start calling both parks to pick up on a cancellation to get a room assuming you're going this October.

You aren't going to want to wait to long in the day to get a campsite in Zion. October is a prime month for camping as we found out last year.

There are national forest campgrounds in Red Canyon on Hwy 12 just before you reach Bryce Canyon. I don't know how fast these fill up. Kodachrome State park will be out of your way and they have a speed limit of 30 mph on the road in...so it's a slow drive. There is also a private campground, Ruby's Inn just at the gate of Bryce.

Day 6 is going to be a LONG day. You are looking at 10 1/5 hours of JUST driving.

How important is the N. Rim and Monument Valley? Have you considered leaving Bryce and continuing on scenic Hwy 12 to Capitol Reef National Park? Great campground and good hikes here. Then it would be a nice drive to Moab the next day.

When you leave Moab, make sure you take scenic Hwy 128 to I-70. This is and Hwy 12 are my favorite scenic drives.

If you want to camp in Arches National Park, I'd make reservations. If not, there are plenty of BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River for camping.

Utahtea

Thanks for all the advice. I agree that the grand canyon is out of the way, and highway 12 from bryce to moab seems pretty obvious, but th grand canyon was my wife's one request. Plus I reserved a canyon view site which sounds sweet.
I had thought Grand Canyon to Moab would be 7 hours of driving, but I assume that it was a bit optimistic to trust Google maps? So I would need an additional day (e.g. Page) to make that feasible. We don't have any days to add though...

Well if the Grand Canyon was by request, then you have to go!

The drive in and out of the N. Rim is a slow one. Get stuck behind an RV and it's even slower.

I've checked sunrise and sunset times and you are only going to have about 12 hours of daylight in October.

Sunset in Bryce Canyon occurs long before the actual sunsets on the rim because the canyon faces east.

For a grand canyon type of view, make sure you go to Green River overlook in Canyonlands National Park (near Dead Horse State Park)

Utahtea

Dump the time in Vegas and just use it as an airport. See the Grand Canyon, Zion & Bryce & head out Rte 12 thru Grand Staircase & onto Torrey/Capitol Reef over the first 5 (or so) days and the last few in Moab. Save the long drive til the end.