maw

reposting this with a MUCH better title-Thanks to the Weasel! (former post was "too late?"
just beginning to research a possible 7-9 day trip this coming mid/late June to Utah. We'd be driving from WA state and probably interested in the coolest (tempwise) and 'closest together' red rock parks/canyon etc in Uta, which sounds like Bryce/Zion? Not sure what to think about lodgings/camping...I'm much more inclined towards a comfy bed at night but we do camp here at home in WA. 2 daughters will be ages 9 and 13 at that time.
Yes, I am reading up on this area and type of trip on the board here.
My first concern is that we should probably be booking any lodging NOW? What should be my first family friendly comfy lodging phone calls to see about avail?
THANKS!

Michael

No problem camping in Bryce or Cedar Breaks because they are very high. It usually cools down at night. In fact, the last time we were camping there in mid-June we had snow flurries in the middle of the day and the next day we took refuge in Kodachrome State Park which is several thousand feet lower. Zion will be warmer, as will be Capitol Reef. But even they cool down at night.

KathrynT

If you are interested in lodges in the parks, try the national park websites which will direct you to lodge reservation information. The town of Springdale, right outside the entrance to Zion, also has many places to stay. A favorite on this board seems to be the Desert Pearl Inn.

I would also recommend doing a search on this board for "utahtea." She posts frequently on this board and has a wealth of knowledge about visiting this area and about campsites.

You will love visiting this beautiful area!

PortiaLucy

Zion and Bryce are beautiful and different enough from each other that they make a great combination. Zion can get hot midday, even in June, but planning hikes for early or late in day makes it fine. You can hike/wade the Narrows even on hot days because you're in and out of water.

Staying at the lodge at Bryce (reservations may be hard to get) makes sense, but at Zion I'd opt for Springdale. The shuttle makes it easy enough to get into the park, it's easier to get to good restaurants and grocery stores, and the Desert Pearl is MUCH nicer than Zion lodge. (A nice dip in the pool after a hike is perfect.) My daughters were 11 and 14 when we went in 2004, and they loved the Desert Pearl so much they're still talking about it. So the Desert Pearl would be my first call, then the Bryce lodge. Meanwhile, while you're in Utah this June, we'll be vacationing (and getting wet?) in Washington and British Columbia.

Good luck. You'll love this trip.

highflyer

Hi maw,

We were in Utah last June and with 7-9days you can easily do more than Bryce and Zion. We loved Capitol Reef NP and the drive between Bryce and Capitol Reef on route 12 is stunning.

We stayed inside the park at Bryce and the cabins are very rustic (so so comfort wise!) but ideal for getting up at dawn to watch the sunrise over the hoodoos. Between Bryce and Capitol Reef we stayed at Boulder Mountain Lodge www.boulder-utah.com which has a lovely hot tub with great views which we found relaxing after a long day of hiking and the beds were super-comfy.

If you do go to Capitol Reef there are a few lovely places to stay...do a search for other options. We stayed at the Best Western in Torrey and it was inexpensive with an outdoor pool and hot tub plus stunning views but don't bother eating at the hotel...

We were there for the last week of June and temperatures were perfect, warm days and cool nights and although Zion was hot in the afternoon we managed to miss the really hot weather... good luck and enjoy your trip!

maw

After reading a bit more I am thinking we should at least do a "token visit" to the Grand Canyon??! Don't think we would get down in that area again in the near future, too many other places we've never been. Could we do all that plus driving to/from WA in 10 days--I am trying to see about possibly 2 weeks, we're not the best long distance drivers.
thanks again for input!

mahoneycutt

I second the search for UtahTea. She helped many, many people with their vacation plans and is very friendly.

We visited Vegas, Grand Canyon, and Zion over a four day stretch several years ago. Double check the mileage but it may be too far for you to drive on this trip. We came in the opposite direction, but I remember it being at least 6 to 8 hours to drive from the Grand Canyon to Springdale.

Mike Honeycutt

utahtea

maw,

Not sure where in Washington State you will be driving from, but probably going to take 4 full & long days of driving to get to and get back from the parks in Utah.

I used Seattle as a starting point. Day 1 you could reach Boise, Idaho after traveling 500 miles.
Day 2 you could reach Nephi, Utah after traveling 425 miles.
Day 3 you could reach Zion National Park after traveling 225 miles.
Day 4 See Zion you
Day 5 you could travel the 125 miles to the N. Rim and see the sites
Day 6 you could travel the 160 miles to Bryce
Day 7 Drive the 110 miles scenic Hwy 12 to Torrey and see Capitol Reef National Park
Day 8 & 9 you would be traveling home the 1050 miles back to Seattle, WA.

If you had 2 weeks, then you could take more time coming and going. I would spend 3 nights in Zion, 2 nights at Bryce and add 3 nights in Moab, Utah to see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

Utahtea

Utahtea

maw

Yikes, utahtea, thanks for the heads up about the drive.
Hmmm, we would definitely need 2 weeks for a driving trip like that to and from WA (by the way, we are about 70 miles north of Seattle, in the Skagit Valley area) OR what would be the best fly-in and rent a car options be for getting to these parks and the GC, I see that a lot of folks fly into Vegas? We are not interested in Vegas for itself at all right now and hadn't even considered flying, but obviously we didn't take a serious look yet at the driving distance/time also. Will need to get hubb's and kid's input on how to get there.

PortiaLucy

We flew into Las Vegas and hightailed it out of there as soon as we'd buckled our seatbelts. The airfares to Vegas (at least from the East Coast) can be so cheap that it's definitely worth it. If you get into Vegas by early afternoon, you can still drive to your first destination with no problem (we even made time for Hoover Dam), and the drive is actually quite interesting; the landscape changes dramatically. And if you plan your flight back to Seattle for early afternoon or later, you can still spend the previous night at a park. We left early am from Bryce, drove to Las Vegas with time to drive down the Strip so our daughters could see it (and not quite believe it), and made it to the airport with plenty of time for a 2 pm flight home. That was after spending 2 nights at North Rim of GC (North Rim to Springdale is only about 3 hours if I remember correctly; Utahtea will know), 3 nights in Zion, 2 nights at Bryce. We wanted at least a full day in each park and didn't want to be driving someplace new every day. It was perfect. I wish I'd counted how many times we said "Wow!" on that trip. If we'd had more time, we'd have followed more of Utahtea's advice and done Moab. Utahtea is a gem.

Any advice for our trip? We'll be flying to Seattle and driving a loop with 2 nights each in Seattle, Olympic NP, Victoria, Vancouver, and Manning Provincial Park before flying back out of Seattle.

highflyer

OOps I didn't even consider the possibility that you were driving...I'd recommend flying into Vegas and out of Salt Lake City if you include Capitol Reef ...or in and out of Vegas if you include the Grand Canyon.
Even if you allowed two weeks for the trip it would be too much drivetime for me (over 2500 miles by utahtea's estimates!)and my kids would revolt!

maw

PortialLucy--
what time of year is your trip to the PNW?
I don't know how much help I'll be as we really aren't in Seattle all that much and lately most of our trips have been in the mountains here. If you are making it to the coast with your Olympic Nat'l Park loop the beaches north of Ocean Shores are beautiful and wild, and even tho we feel at times like we have our own private rain forest in our woods here at home (not kidding, some gorgeous mossy/ferned trees etc!)the rain forest in the ONP is really something--hope you like the color GREEN !!

Going to bring up the subject of flying instead of driving to hubb, we just really hadn't taken a serious look yet at the mileage to get down there.

utahtea

You can do a lot in 10 days to two weeks if you fly in!

Las Vegas would be the best location for flying in to make a circle of the parks.

I'd suggest going to the S. Rim of the Grand Canyon if you haven't been before. It's 280 miles and about a 5 hour drive from Las Vegas so try to fly in early in the morning to make the drive or you could spend one night on the way.

Spend at least 2 nights at the Grand Canyon so you can ride the free shuttle buses or walk along the rim. If you want to hike into the canyon, then add another night.

From the Grand Canyon you will exit at the east entrance, but make sure you have time to stop at the scenic overlooks before you reach Desert View.

Make your way the 140 miles to Page, AZ. If you are interested in taking the all day boat tour to Rainbow Bridge National Monument or the 1/2 day float trip on the Colorado River, then spend two nights in Page. Also in the area is the Antelope Slots Canyon tour which will take about 1 1/2 hours and the short 3/4 mile hike to Horseshoe Bend. If those don't interest you, then you can move the 155 miles to Bryce.

I'd spend 2 nights at Bryce so you have one full day to explore.

From Bryce drive the 116 miles of scenic Hwy 12 to Torrey. I'd spend 2 nights in Torrey so you have one full day to see Capitol Reef.

From Torrey you can retrace Hwy 12 or take hwys 24, 62 & 89 back down to Mt. Carmel Jct. to enter Zion National Park on Hwy 9 and the Zion Tunnel. If you like hiking then plan on 2 - 3 nights in Zion.

Zion to Las Vegas is a fast 165 mile and will take only 3 hours.

Flying out of Salt Lake City was mentioned, but it only saves you about 75 miles, you have to drive thru SLC which can be a BEAR during commute times, you might have to pay extra for one way car rentals and air fares.

Utahtea

PortiaLucy

maw- We are going to the PNW June 8-19. I know this is still iffy rain-wise, but my older daughter has to get back for a summer job, so it was June or nothing. Thanks for the tip about the beaches. Yes, we do love green, so we're excited about ONP. This is the third installment in our "discover the wonders of the American West" vacations. The first was our trip to Zion/Bryce/Grand Canyon, which got us totally hooked. Last summer was Alaska (incredible), so this year we thought we'd try something a little different--some mountains, some coast, some rain forest, some city. And the bonus is that we let ourselves get bumped on the way home from Alaska (which was free with frequent flyer miles), so the airfare for this one is free, too.

maw

beginning to plan the trip, have reservs for Desert Pearl toward the end (going by utahtea's timeframe with a few tweaks) which sounds wonderful.
HOWEVER not having luck with Bryce lodging at all--any ideas?
Also ideas for south rim GC lodging, Torrey lodging.
Not sure about Page, AZ attractions yet or staying there--how do those compare to Bryce,GC,Capitol Reef,Zion? may just drive thru?
it's hard to guess at lodging dates but I'm doing my best with everyone's input, remembering we are not great long distance road warriors also tho!
Thanks so much for any lodging ideas for the above mentioned areas.

maw

oops, forgot to say that everyone was open to flying into/out of Las Vegas, looking at poss. 6/18/06 arrival and 6/29/06 departure. So kind of going by utahtea's second itinerary with a few tweaks for the family.
I'm assuming air reservs are the least on my worries compared to lodging?

maw

Had to go with Maswik for GC and probably Ruby's for Bryce.
Not too concerned as long as we have a room to sleep in since we'll be 'spoiled' by the Desert Pearl at the end of our trip.
Still need to book (probably only 1 night) in Page and then 2 nights in Torrey--good family motel recommendations? Of course I check TripAdvior too and again, not too picky about those nights.

wtm003

Good idea to stay at The Desert Pearl at the end of your trip, otherwise you probably would be a little disappointed with Ruby's.

We stayed at Ruby's last fall. Our room was very basic, a little dated, but clean. For us, it was fine and I have no complaints. I was told that the rooms in the main lodge are nicer, so you may want to check that out. It is quite a complex with restaurants, grocery store(expensive), gift shops, etc. We ate out of our cooler while staying there so I can't comment on the restaurants.

We all LOVED the Desert Pearl. Like PortiaLucy my kids still talk about it. We ended up staying an extra night.

At the South Rim of G.C. we stayed at the Quality Inns & Suites in Tusayan. I was very happy. Large room and sitting area so we were able to spread out and relax.

maw

tentative itinerary, thoughts please.
fly into LV 6/18-don't have flight reservs yet so made GC south rim reservs for 6/18,19,20 (Maswik Lodge)
or we may stay 6/18 night between LV and GC if flight doesn't get in early enough.

Probably only 1 (6/21,not resv'd yet) night in Page--is it worth it? doing more reading about it.

Then 22nd,23rd nights at Ruby's to explore the Bryce area. REALLY wanted to stay in the park but nuthin available.

24th,25th in Torrey (not resv'd yet) for Capitol Reef area.

Then 26th,27th,28th at Desert Pearl for the Zion area. Have seen so many ppl rave about Zion and also Desert Pearl.Depart LV 29th.
starting to feel as if I'm going to have to print EVERY thread out about all these areas to figure out the "absolute must dos"!!
I've kind of an odd question-does anyone know if a big cooler can count as a suitcase with the airlines, definitely going to want to do some picnicing,sandwiches etc on this trip as well as some family restaurant meals.

Dayle

Hi Maw,

Yes, the airlines should take your cooler as a piece of luggage. It will comein handy for keeping your picnics while you are in the rooms and car.

BUT - In Zion you can only go into the park by shuttle bus & there is no place to leave a large cooler while you explore. Bryce also has shuttle buses, but they are not mandatory (yet).

You might do better with a couple of day packs and non-perishable picnics. I backpack and tend to take the same types of snacks for hiking. I stick to drinking lots of water, plus a "sports" drink if it's a long hot hike. Important to replenish your body.

Have fun!