Nat Park Trip in Utah - Too Much??
 

We are planning an October 2016 tent trailer trip to Utah, and would like to run the following itinerary by you all. (We have already been to Bryce and Zion.)

We know that by taking the trailer, we will be going slower than normal driving speeds. Is the following a good plan? Too busy? Any recommendations for great campgrounds in Moab area and Grand Staircase area? Are we too late to book these? Thank you!

Day 1 - Drive from So Cal to St George - stay in hotel for 2 nights
Day 2 - St George (golfing)
Day 3 - Drive to Moab area - stay in an RV campground or camping with hookups for 4 nights
Day 4 - Arches NP visit
Day 5 - Canyonlands NP visit
Day 6 - Moab
Day 7 - Depart for Capital Reef - visit park and stay in hotel in area for 1 night
Day 8 - Drive to Grand Staircase Esc. - stay in RV campground or camping with hookups for 3 nights
Day 9 - Grand Staircase
Day 10 - Drive to somewhere between St. George and Vegas - stay in hotel
Day 11 - Drive home.

Megdean

It basically looks ok. Just so you know, there are no campgrounds in Arches, Canyonlands, or Capitol Reef Natl Parks with hookups. There are commercial campgrounds outside the parks that have them. You should be in plenty of time for reservations at the commercial sites for October, but start checking now.

As far as staying somewhere between St. George and Vegas, Mesquite, NV is about it. Really nothing special but there is golf there. There is also a campground inthe Virgin River Gorge that many people enjoy. Pretty sure there are no hookups there either.

Are you going to bypass Zion and Bryce on this trip? While you're in the area, why not give them a little time?

We covered some of your itinerary last year. this is a link to our TR with photos:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ol-reef-np.cfm

I do not quite get day 6. Just Moab? There is not much there as a town. Take a ride out to Dead Horse Point, it is on the way to Canyonlands. Try a river trip - it gives a very different perspective. We can highly recommend the Broken Spur Motel and Steakhouse near Capitol Reef. It is one of those finds that exceeded expectations.

Thanks for the very helpful feedback. emalloy, we have been to Zion and Bryce before so yes, going to skip them on this trip. In Moab, we were actually thinking of a river rafting trip on that day.

The river rafting trip sounds like a nice way to spend the day. There are also lots of ancient rock art sites in the area that are fun to explore. You can get maps to them at the Arches Visitor's center. I also have some old trip reports that give directions. Click my name and scroll down to find them.

Day 1 - Drive from So Cal to St. George - stay in hotel for 2 nights

Suggest staying at Mesquite, NV. Excellent golfing, casinos and superb food choices. They have golf 'packages'
https://www.visitmesquite.com/things-to-do/golf/


Day 7 - Depart for Capital Reef - visit park and stay in hotel in area for 1 night

CR has one of the finest park CG anywhere. Alas, first come first serve but you can call ahead in the morning and inquire of available spaces

Day 8 - Drive to Grand Staircase Esc. - stay in RV campground or camping with hookups for 3 nights

I don't know what you plan to do in Escalante, but 3 nights is a long time unless you are a hiker or plan to drive to the Hole in the Rock (4-WD required at the end)



Vaga

RVagabond, the three nights at Grand Staircase is only because we have a pop up trailer and find that it is a pain to set it up if we are only going to stay one or two nights. But that being said, we will look into your suggestions. Thank you.

You didn't say what days in October. Just so you know, Fall Break for ALL Utah schools is October 20-23 this year. Expect EVERYTHING to be massively crowded. Make reservations now for your campgrounds. If the campgrounds don't take reservations, then figure on showing up before noon on Wednesday, October 19 or you will very, very hard pressed to find a camping spot.

StantonHyde, we are actually planning on last week of Sep, and first week of October. Thanks.

Hi all, just want to let you know how our trip went and thwnk you for you help.

We ended up starting in Sedona for two nughts to meet up with friends who own the El Portal Inn there. Played golf at Sedona golf resort, which was beautiful, and ate at Ecolte.

Then we drove to Monument Valley, UT where we staed one night at Goulding's Lodge. Saw the sunset and sunise at the monuments. From there on to Moab. Stayed 4 nights at the Portal RV park. Full hookups, great bathrooms, but otherwise nothing too special about it. Did a lot of sightseeing and some hiking in Deadhorse SP, Canyonlands, and Arches and a float trip down the Colorado. We had a few meals in town, but nothing to write home about. Arches was prerty crowded, as was Moab at night. Had a nice meal at the Moab Brewery.

From there we went to Capitol Reef and stayed 3 nights at the Thiusand Lakes RV park, which we loved. Our site backed right up to a glorious view of the rocks. Capitol Reef really surpassed our expectations. We also took a drive to Boulder, UT to see the gorgeous aspen and the Anasazi Museum.

Leaving Torrey, we took Hwy 12 through Boulder and Grand Staircase, met friends for coffee in St George, and ended the day in Mesquite. What a fantastic drive!

Now we are in Mesquite on our way home. Playing golf here for two days while staying at the Highland Resort. Last night we ate at El Coyote Charro, one of the best fast food type Mexican places I have been to.

Thank you again for your help putting this vacation together.

It sounds like you had a very nice trip. Thanks for reporting back.

Sorry for all the typos in my previous post. Did not have my morning coffee yet.

Enjoyed reading your trip report. We love Capital Reef as well. It is often overlooked but it's a place we love!

A couple of other things to mention, not in any particular order.

We had two good meals in Boulder, one at the Hell's Backbone Grill and one at Burr Trail Grill. Recommend both, though the first is a bit pricey. In Torrey, we ate at the Rim Rock, which was just OK, and the Casa Diablo, which we did NOT like. Worst meal of the trip.

Not sure if this interests anyone, but we used our pop-up tent trailer and therefore needed to stay in campgrounds with full commercial hook-ups. We realized that this really limited where we could stay. There were so many beautiful dry camping spots in the Moab area. We are now selling the pop-up and buying a 5th wheeler to give us better options!

Wish we had had one more night in Monument Valley. We kind of rushed that, getting there at 5 pm and leaving at 9 am.

There was a beautiful campground at Grand Staircase (Calf Creek Falls) that we wish we could have stayed at.

In Mesquite, we stayed at the Highland Estates Resort. For $87 per night, it was pretty good. Sort of like a Residence Inn. I think you are actually renting out someone's condo, so it had a nice living room, kitchen, bedroom, amenities, etc. No bar or excitement other than a nice pool.