We'll be coming from Mesa Verde, my first thought is to spend the night in the North Rim (I'm trying for reservations) then the next night go to the South Rim for 1 night then on to Vegas. We don't do too much hiking and a mule ride seems out of the question due to last minute plans, so is 2 nights too much? Should we go to Vegas from the North Rim, would we be adding alot of unnessary car time going to the South Rim then on to Vegas?

I don't think it's worth going to both rims on one trip. The travel time is too great, and I'm not sure it would add much. You could spend 2 enjoyable days just riding the shuttle at the South Rim to various points of interest, without doing any significant hiking.

I agree with Travellyn, you do NOT need to do both rims. I remember your last question and you itinerary was tight enought so I would only do one rim.

I prefer the views from the S. Rim, but which parks you've seen or want to see will be a big factor in which rim. If you have already been to Bryce and Zion the do the S. Rim. If you haven't been to Bryce and Zion yet, then do the N. Rim.

It is 280 miles from Mesa Verde to the S. Rim and plan on it taking about 5 1/2 - 6 hours to drive.

It is 350 miles from Mesa Verde to the N. Rim and plan on it taking 8 - 8 1/2 hours to drive.

The first day at the canyon you won't have much time to see it so I would plan on spending two nights.

Driving times from the N. Rim and the S. Rim to Vegas are about a toss up even thought the mileage from the N. Rim is less.

Utahtea

Utahtea's mileage helped with the decision because of the miles and timeframe. As you can tell I am having a hard time planning this because of the time factor. I'm trying to break up the traveling time but I don't want to squeeze in too much and spend all the time in the car just driving by everything and not be able to enjoy it. Not to mention that 14 year old with only us for company ; )

AnnaR,

What did you decide?


Utahtea

I decided on the S. Rim because of the timeframe, 2 nights, we have reservations so far for one night at Maswik I'm going to keep trying for another night. We'll be taking our tent so I won't mind camping for 1 night there. I've not been to Zion or Bryce, don't know if we'll get to go this trip.