moab to springdale utah - easy drive?
 

Google tells me 5:30 hrs.

Is it easy to do in a morning? Or should I drive 1/2 way the night before and stay over somewhere?

Is it scenic?

BTW, will be driving October 8.

According to Google Maps you can do it in about 5.5 Hours taking Rte 70 & 15. Or you can do it in 8 hours taking the scenic Rte 12.

I don't know what you plan is but there are some pretty amazing sights along the way and it probably merits a couple of days between.

Just driving on Rte 12 (freaked me out but very scenic), Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef NP (not one of my favorites but for some it is), Lower Calf Creek Falls, Devil's Garden Escalante, Willis Creek slot canyon (I seem to be the only one to go there), Bryce Canyon NP, etc.

A lot to work in.

I'm doing a counter clockwise loop LV, GC, Page, Bryce, CR, Arches, Zion, LV in 10 days. I'll be on rte 12 between bryce and capitol reef. I was just wondering if I should breakup the drive from arches to zion doing 1/2 of it the night before, or if it's a tolerable 5 1/2 hour drive with some scenery.

I broke up the drive by staying in Torrey, a nice tiny town with good motels and restaurants. If time, you can take the short Scenic Drive along the Waterpocket Fold, south of the park headquarters at Fruita.

I've stayed at Capitol Reef Inn and Chuckwagon Motel in town. There are more motels nearer Scenic Drive.

I loved Torrey.

I'm not sure I understand. Does this mean you will have already seen all the sights listed except for Zion that you are leaving for last before returning to LV?

Why not leave Bryce also and take the fast route to Bryce and then down 89 to Zion?

If anyone plans on driving from Moab to Zion or visa versa along Highway 12, I strongly recommend spending the night and I'd do it in Torrey. This will allow time in Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef truly is the undiscovered jewel of the Utah Parks.

Utahtea

It sound to me that you are hitting all the National Parks. Definately get a National Park Pass. There are some TREMEDNOUS places that others have mentioned here that you will want to consider.

As far as Capitol Reef, many will tell you that it is one of there favorite places in Utah. For me, it is one of my least favorites. I would strongly suggest Goblin Valley/Little Wildhorse Canyon as a stop. For Capitol Reef, I would stop at the Gifford House and get a pie and eat it in the picnic area a few feet away. Almost guaranteed there will be several deer there as well. If you like to hike without the crowds, you will like Cap Reef. I don't think the sights there are nearly as good as the other places in UT.

Hwy 12 is usually on every top ten best list that I have seen. So I don't think you will have a problem with the scenery.

I'll second the suggestion to stop for pies at the Gifford House!

Utahtea

Utahtea is spot on with her suggestion. To travel through the area but skip Hwy 12 would be cheating yourself.

Here's a link to a wesite that provides an overview:

http://www.utah.com/byways/highway_12.htm

This site shows all the attractions along Rt. 12 (a great site)

http://www.so-utah.com/hwy12/homepage.html

On our last trip we devoted our trip to Hwy 12 since we never felt we gave it enough time on previous trips. We flew into Vegas and only went as far as Torrey. We loved it! Here's our trip report:

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

We do enjoy hiking without the crowds and do very much enjoy Capital Reef. Capitol Reef also displays the widest range of rock color that you'll see in any of Utah's National Parks. It is stunning after a rainstorm. A minimum visit would include the Gifford house, the Scenic Drive, the small pictograph trail and a short hike up to the Hickman Bridge or up the Cohab Canyon trail. We found the Cohab Canyone trail very colorful with good views.

As far as Hwy 12 being scary, here's an image of the scariest section; The Hogsback section just as you head out of Boulder toward Escalante looks like this from behind the wheel:

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/88442508

It is a long way down on either side for sure but it is easy to keep the car on the road.

This will be a great trip for early October...you're gonna love it!

Yes, I will have seen all the listed, including Bryce, Capitol Reef and Rte 12/Escalante, before getting to Arches, on the way out. Leaving Bryce for the return part of the loop would have left a long drive from Grand Canyon to Capitol Reef.

On the return though, Arches to Zion, via 70 and 15, I was trying to decide if I should break it up into 2 3 hr driving segments over 2 days, or do the 5 or so hours drive in one morning. I decided to do the morning drive and book at Hurricane since it's 30 minutes closer to Moab then Springdale and I could check out the upper part of Zion when I arrive.

Thanks for the tips though.

Hello,
We just drove Moab to Springdale last Saturday, via 70 and 15, easy fast 5 hours or so. Arrived in Zion in time to take in 2 short hikes, up the River Trail towards the Narrows, and Weeping Rock.

Can you not get a reservation in Springdale? Don't bother staying in Hurricane, you won't notice the 30 minutes.

Arches was spectacular, by the way.

I am confused by your asking "Is it scenic", since you have been to "all the places listed". I think everyone assumed this was your first trip.

spirobulldog,
What I meant is I'll be seeing Bryce, 12, CR etc. on the way to Arches. I was asking about the return drive from Arches.

gigib,

You answered my question :), thanks.

BTW, My logic for booking Hurricane over Springdale: 1) cheaper (trying to balance out the expensive hotel I booked in Vegas :)) 2) closer to Arches 3) closer to Vegas 4)I'll only be there 2 nights.

I think Hurricane is closer to the Kolob trail, which I'll go see on my arrival day.

spirodog and everyone else, thanks for the tips about rte 12 and Capitol Reef, they will be very useful on the way up to Arches.

Governator, would you mind sharing your itinerary with us? I can't quite get a handle on your route.

October 8, there will be Colorado River 4 hour jetboat tours out of Moab to add to your itinerary. Usually an afternoon or morning departure. the Colorado River, so accessible and it is contributes to the grand canyon and canyonlands erosion and sights. A must do...apples should be ripe at Capital Reef orchard.

Ahh...didn't realize this was the return route.

I-70 between Green River and Fremont Junction is the San Rafael Swell which could be a National Monument someday. Make sure you stop at some of the scenic overlooks, they are well worth a little of your time.

On I-15 if you have the time you might want to drop into the Kolob Section of Zion National Park just south of Cedar City.

Utahtea

Itinerary: (Oct 2-12) LV->South Rim Grand Canyon ->Page->Tropic/Bryce->Torrey/Capitol Reef->Moab/Arches->Hurricane/Zion->LV

Ambitious, I know but it's my wife's first time and she wants to see as many places as possible.

It's good to hear I-70 is scenic. I rationalized staying in Hurricane since it's close to the Kolob section.

Do you think, when heading from GC to Bryce, I should overnight in Page or Kanab. Which route gives a view of the Vermillon Cliffs?

Are you asking which route because Hwy 89 takes you to Page and also to Kanab. Alt 89 takes you though Jacob Lake and then Kanab.

You will see some of the Vermillion Cliffs on both routes. Alt 89 turns from desert type views to mountain driving with curvy roads, forest and meadows. It's a little slower drive if you get stuck behind an RV.

Hwy 89 though Page is my favorite route, but then I like the desert type scenery with multi colors. You will see the Vermillion Cliffs on this route too. You also will see beautiful Glen Canyon Recreational Area (Lake Powell). If you have 1 1/2 hour to spare you can do the Upper Antelope Slot Canyon tour which is just outside of Page.

BTW, early October is a great time to be in this area.

Utahtea

Ok, that confirms my choice to go via Page.

When I drive from Grand Canyon to Page, is there any need to be concerned about driving at night?

here is my 2 cents on this since we are heading to Utah, for the 3rd time, on October 7th. We were not huge fans of the Grand Canyon especially after going to Canyonlands in Moab but we really enjoyed Page, AZ. make sure you take a tour of Antelope Canyon and I would make sure I did not take the tour after 2pm. The mid-day light is what makes this tour unbelievable.

We have done the drive from Zion o Moab twice, once without a stop and once with an overnight in Torrey. We stayed at the Best Western and will be there again this trip. Great place, clean, not to expensive and wonderful view. If you stay in Torrey you must eat at Cafe Diablo http://www.cafediablo.net/ It is AWESOME.

OH....Governator...PLEASE do not drive this route after dark!!!!

As you descend from the Grand Canyon on Hwy 64 towards Cameron you will see the painted desert off in the east. As you drive up Hwy 89 you see the colorful desert and you see the Vermillion Cliffs as you get close to Alt 89. As you climb up Antelope Pass you have beautiful overlooks, some of the Vermillion Cliffs and before you descend to Lake Powell you have beautiful views of the lake. Please...Please..do not do this after dark. As far as safety...I wouldn't worry. As far as missing things...it's HUGH IMHO.

Utahtea

I really really think you should stay in Springdale over Hurricane. Hurricane is just kind of a town, while Springdale sits right at the opening to Zion canyon, right below the red rocks, it's very scenic and charming. IMHO, Kolob is not much, you can stop and see this area right off of hwy. 15 on your way down.

I'll second what gigib said!

Utahtea

Utahtea, I'm in Page now. I took your advice. Drove 89 yesterday as the low setting sun was shining on the Vermillion cliffs. As we approached, the cliffs were lit up like neon lights. There was a light rain which formed a complete rainbow arch over the glowing cliff. My wife and I got out of the car to take pictures. As we ran across the road and into the desert to get further back to take the pic, we were so overcome with the magic of the moment we were literally shouting with glee and high fiving. Thank you.

I would stop at Goblin Valley- between Cap Reef and Arches.
Consider hiking Navajo Loop/Queens Garden in Bryce.

Your hands might get red after a while, because you will probably have many more high five moments the next few days.

Oh, Governator! I'm planning my next trip now!

Postscript : did the drive in one stretch. The I-70 portion was very scenic especially the San Rafael Swell and the part coming down a mountain into a broad valley very colorful with sedimentary rocks. Not sure if that's part of the swell area. The I-15 part was kind of boring. We really enjoyed our tour of the Utah national parks. Even driving from one park to the other was non-stop scenery. Thanks for all the advice.

Governator,

Glad you had a good trip. How about a full trip report? Details, details!!

Hi Dayle,

Thanks. The trip was Amazing with a capital 'A'.

Here's my trip report, Part I.


After a night of little sleep, and a 7AM, 5 hour flight, landed in Vegas in the morning, got our rental car and headed straight for the Grand Canyon South Rim, a 5 hour drive. I was hoping to make it there on time to see the sunset.

Stopped off at Quiznos near the airport and got our first taste of how nice the people out west are. The guy making the sandwich asked if we wanted fixings on the sandwich even though it was supposed to be plain. When he saw we were going to share, he cut the sandwich and put it on two plates. I had to mention this because this never happens at home.

On the way to the GC we made the requisite stop at the Hoover Dam. Remembering how I had bashed my car on one of the ill placed columns in the parking lot, last time I was there; I carefully navigated my car into a parking space. It was a beautiful day and we took some pics of the dam and the beautiful arching bridge, which I didn’t realize at the time, is new. Not wanting to spend to much time, for fear of missing the GC sunset I didn’t let my wife wait on a slow moving line for water. This turned out to be a mistake.

Continuing our drive, on into the desert, my wife was getting thirsty and insisted I stop for water. Seeing a big sign at a gas station ‘LAST STOP’ I stopped and went in. I asked how much was a 20 oz bottle of water. Clerk answered $4. I asked how much was a small bag of chips. Clerk answered $4. . I asked her how come it was so expensive and she said there’s nothing for miles around. Not wanting to face my thirsty wife empty handed, I reluctantly shelled out $8 for a small water and bag of chips.

At this time the weather was starting to look bad. The eastern sky over the mountains was stormy and there was lightning ahead. A little scary but I decided to keep on driving.

Driving not even a mile past the ‘LAST STOP’ I saw a café on the right. I pulled off to get some coffee. Surprisingly the coffee was only .85 cents. There was a bunch of strange but friendly characters in there that made me feel that I had stepped into the past. I started telling one guy how I had just got ripped off for a $4 bottle of water. The waitress overheard me and told me they had water for $1.50. I looked in the cooler and it was the exact same bottle that I just paid $4 for. Yikes.

Continuing on, it stopped raining. I saw the aftermath of 2 accidents on the way, a biker that had fallen over in the rain; there was an ambulance on the scene. And a little later, a car that had gone off the road and overturned; the police were on the scene. However, tempted by the straight and fairly empty roads, I found myself speeding along as fast as 95 mph at times.

We finally made it to Tusayan around 5pm, I enquired and found out that I could buy an annual park pass at the Grand Canyon Movie Theater in Tusayan. I wanted one of those since we would be hitting 5 national parks. As it turned out I didn’t save much money though, since the pass was $80 and the total I would have had to pay at the gates would have been $85. (GC $25, Bryce $25, Capitol Reef $0 cause the scenic road was closed, Arches $10, Zion $25.)

After getting the pass I drove straight to the nearest lookout. It was funny, pulling into the parking lot and being directionally challenged, I had to ask someone to point me to the GC. I was expecting him to say it’s that big hole in the ground over that way. But he was typically nice and showed me the way as his wife explained about the shuttles. When we finally got to the overlook, it was my wife’s first time and it was great to see her excitement. She got so excited as we approached the rim she broke into a run. The view was of course awesome, however because of the overcast sky we didn’t really get to experience the sunset shining on the canyon. Great nonetheless and worth the grueling drive.

I drove back to Tusayan to get some gas (another mistake, paid 3.60 a gallon, when I had seen gas for 2.60 as we were passing Williams.) Also bought a gallon of water so I wouldn’t have to keep buying small bottles. Then we drove to the hotel. The Yavapai Lodge. The room at the lodge was very nice. The bed was quite comfortable. I went back to the lodge cafeteria to take out some food, chicken pot pie which was very good for cafeteria food.

Next morning we woke up early to see the sunrise at the canyon. There were already a lot of people out there before us with the same idea. The sunrise was very nice and we got some good pics. We also got daring and took some pics out on a ledge. We spent the rest of the day going to various spots around the rim. My wife wanted to walk down into the canyon, but I told her I wasn’t in shape for that.

We had lunch at the El Tovar restaurant. I have to say that was one of the most elegant meals with very formal service by the waiters. Even though I’m just an ordinary guy, it felt good to be treated like I was some rich person. I had blackened tuna and my wife had fettuccini with spinach and shrimps. She had wine and I had a bottomless glass of soda. We also had one of the fantastic selections of desert. The price of the meal was very reasonable and I walked away very happy. We spent some time relaxing in the lodge looking at the huge animal heads on the wall.

We went back outside and sat on the bentwood rockers a while, enjoying the beautiful weather. We went to the shuttle bus to go to see more view points. As we were waiting on line an enormous elk came strolling by and I took some videos of it.

While waiting we got into a conversation with some nice folks from Michigan who told us they tried to take the shuttle to the end the prior day and a storm suddenly rolled in so they didn’t get to the last stop. They told us they drove across the country all the way from Michigan. When we got off the shuttle and said good bye to these folks I joked that they were seeing the USA in their Chevrolet. They laughed and told me they in fact were driving a Chevrolet.

When we got off the shuttle and looked around a little.. a storm started to roll in. Shuttle service was cancelled and we had to go back to the starting point. I thought about the folks from Michigan and how again they wouldn’t get to the last stop on the shuttle.

We got back to the El Tovar where our car was parked. I remembered what Utah Tea had said about how I should drive to Page before dark , to enjoy the scenery , so that’s what I did.

I’m glad I listened to her, the scenery was great. We stopped at the devils watchtower and climbed to the top for some nice pics. When we left the tower it started to rain again. We ran to the car so as not to get the camera wet. Driving on rte 89 we had the experience I posted earlier, seeing a complete rainbow arching over cliffs glowing in the light of the setting sun. As I said it was such a joyful feeling that I started running and whooping out loud as I ran back into the desert to get a better picture. My wife started whooping along with me and we were jumping and high fiving.

When we got to Page, we drove to our hotel. Luckily I brought along my Garmin and so it was easy to find. It was on the street of little hotels. The Red Rock Inn, it was very cheap but since we were only going to sleep there and move on, it was more then sufficient. My wife was a little reluctant to go in, but when we went in , it was more then good enough. I would recommend it for anyone who wants a cheap accommodation in Page. The bed was actually quite comfortable and they had a refrigerator and microwave. I heated up the leftovers from our El Tovar lunch and we had that for dinner, along with some beer I purchased at a Maverick gas station.

We woke up early the next day to get to our next destination. In fact , though it’s not something I like to do while on vacation, we had to wake up early nearly every day to complete our aggressive itinerary.

Just before I left home I read that the Rainbow Room at the Waheap(sp) Hotel was a nice place for breakfast. After a stop off at the Glen Canyon dam, we headed there. It was indeed a good place to have breakfast with a nice view overlooking Lake Powell. We were having beautiful weather. We chose to eat from the menu and ordered French toast and eggs with bacon and potatoes, with a side of fruit. This was a good idea as we got a fresher breakfast then eating off the buffet for about $10 less in total. Again the service was very good and we enjoyed the meal.

When we left the dining room we looked around the hotel. In the souvinir shop they had some interesting Native American rattles and Kachina dolls. I couldn’t help but play the rattle to the tune of an Indian (hope that doesn’t offend anyone) dance music to the scowls of my wife. We went around to the back of the hotel to admire the lake some more and dream about how some day I’d like to rent a houseboat and spend a week on the lake. Someone pointed out a road runner bird so I made some lame jokes about the Acme Anvil company. But it was cool to see the bird, it ran away to fast to take any pics however..Beep Beep.

To be continued..

See full trip report in a separate thread here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...in-10-days.cfm