Wonder if anyone has any suggestions for our upcoming August trip to the Southwest? We have 14 days to experience and hike the National/State Parks. We have already toured Bryce and Zion on a prior trip. We plan to fly into Salt Lake City. Our first draft is:
Day One--Fly into Salt Lake City
Drive to Moab-- We were thinking of seeing Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Point Horse State Park. How many nights should we stay and any suggestions for accommodations?
Then maybe onto Torrey to see Capital Reef Area--How many nights and where should we stay?
Then back up to Salt Lake City? Again what should we see and where should we stay? We would welcome any input on our draft. Should we be adding any other locations onto our travels? Thanks so much.

Maybe my trip report will help.

I really liked Red Cliffs Lodge in Moab, although it's about 20 minutes outside of town.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35162297

How long to stay at each place will depend on how much hiking you want to do at each park. Do consider that it will be quite warm in August. Arches and Canyonlands are both places you could spend several days exploring. Canyonlands is huge. There are outfitters in Moab who do boat and 4 wheel drive tours in the area. Some of these sound very interesting. There are no campgrounds in Arches but there are several places in the area and also in Canyonlands. If you are not hikers, but rather the drive through type you could do each of these in a couple of days. If so you might look into dropping down to Monument Valley or Natural Bridges NP before heading back to Capital Reef. If you look through some of the other posts here you will find lots of folks with lots of information on the places to stay etc. in the area.

Two weeks sounds like a lot of time for your itinerary. You could easily spend a week in Moab but Capitol Reef can be seen in one full day unless you really like to hike in 100+ degree weather or have 4wheel drive and want to explore the backcountry of the park.

You might consider adding on some sights in next door Colorado. A five or six day loop through Mesa Verde, Cortez, Durango, Silverton, Telluride and then back to Moab would expose you to some great scenery and not too much extra driving.

Consider swinging over to Mesa Verde NP. It is an amazing place with awe-inspiring cliff dwellings. It is about a 90 minute drive from Moab and well worth the trip. Stay in Cortez or on site at Far View Lodge. Leave Moab in am, do 1/2 day on arrival, stay the night and do a full day. Tour Wetherill Mesa as well as Cliff Palace, Balcony House and Spruce Tree House.

Deb

emalloy,

There is a campground in Arches. It is right near Devils Garden Trailhead and is nice. It doesn't have any hookups. I think it was called Devils Garden Campground. It is at the back of the park and would be very quiet at night.

RonFX,
Our favorite thing we have ever done in the southwest is canyoneering.
www.deserthighlights.com

this rate up there with rafting the grand canyon and ziplinning. It is safer, much less expensive. Super fun, you will only be nervous at the beginning. If you are somewhat adventurous this is very fun.

Definately check out Dead Horse Point. A couple of things I haven't done in the area is Great Gallery in different area of Canyonlands. Right close by is Goblin Valley, that I also hope to do soon.

We spent 4 days in Moab and it was probably just right.

Took a morning of rafting.
Fiery Furnace ranger-led hike
Fisher Towers (saw rock climbers way up.
Dead Horse Point.
Various area of Arches NP.

Make sure you hike to Delicate Arch an hour before sunset on a clear day.

Gobblin Valley is a nice couple of hour stop between Moab and Capitol Reef.

One day in Capitol Reef is more than enough.

I would strongly suggest Lower Calf Creek Falls. Absolutely spectacular.

Ron,

I would also recommend adding Mesa Verde to your trip.

As others have said, time in each place depends on how sports/hiking oriented you are. Plus, since you are going in August some time on the rivers would be perfect and would sure feel good! Hiking very early mornings, afternoons by the pool or on the river, hiking early evening again. This could make more time in each place practical.

4-5 days Moab
2 nts Mesa Verde
3 nts doing the Durango-Silverton-Ouray-Telluride loop
1 nt Capitol Reef
1 nt Boulder
2 nts Park City (it's a 25 min drive to SL Intl airport)

I'll be the contrarian and say that Cap Reef in August is great. It's higher elevation and so not as hot and it's really beautiful. It's my family's favorite hiking area. You can stay at Torrey although if you camp, the park itself is perfect. We usually spend 3 to 4 nights there. My husband is a geologist so the interesting geology is part of what we love there. If the peaches are ripe (and they are in August sometime) stop and pick some in the orchard. They're the best.

Mesa Verde is nice in August, in part because of the higher elevation. We have found Arches to be difficult for us that time of year because it can really be hot. Calf Creek Falls is a great short hike on the way to Cap Reef.

RonFX,
How wonderful to have 14 days! How about something like this:
- 4 days in Moab to see Arches, Canyonlands, etc.
- head over to Mesa Verde for 2 nights and stay in the park at Far View lodge
- You might consider spending a night at Valley of the Gods B&B located just north of Mexican Hat, Utah. Very unique place, incredible location at the base of the Moki Dugway (Rte 261). You can see Monument Valley in the distance.
Here is a not-so-good shot from the porch - http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/21362499

- Take the exciting drive up the Moki Dugway and head over to Natural Bridges for a hike. Then head north on Rte 95 to Hanksville and onto Torrey.

I agree wholeheartedly with rosetravels about Capital Reef. My husband and I love it. I think some people find it intimidating because of the lack of crowds and area services. We actually love it for those reasons and the amazing scenery and geology of the area. So unique and fascinating. Torrey is an incredibly scenic town with several great and affordable places to stay. The town even has a few really good restaurants - Cafe Diablo, Rim Rock, even the mexican take-out at Austin's. We love staying at Austin's - very clean and so reasonably priced. In Capital Reef, do the Cohab Canyon hike - lots of fun. Also enjoyed Chimney Rock, Hickman Bridge. We still have so much more exploring to do there! I'd spend a few nights in Torrey.
I would highly recommend driving scenic Rte 12 to Escalante. There is so much to see and do along the way. Calf Creek hike is nice. In Boulder, you can drive the Burr Trail through Long Canyon. We enjoy the backroads and always rent a 4wd SUV so we can explore a bit. We've driven on backroads from Capital Reef to Boulder and all the way down to Lake Powell. We've also driven the Devil's Backbone in Escalante and lots of others all over southern Utah. Love being able to stop anywhere and see things that many others don't see. If you like exploring, I suggest getting the Utah Gazetteer from DeLorme so you can get off the beaten track. Be sure to have plenty of water in your cooler and gas in your tank and a can of flat fixer in case of problems. And always watch the weather for storms.
- Spend a night or two at Boulder Mountain Lodge and have a delicious dinner at Hells Backbone Grill on site. Such a lovely place in the middle of nowhere! We made lots of neat stops along Rte 12 and in Escalante - you should get more suggestions from all the great folks on Fodors. But you shouldn't miss the drive on Rte 12 - its breathtaking.

Not sure if you like hiking or photography so I'm not sure what stops to suggest. But you've got a lot of info to digest here. Let us know what you come up with. And I'll give you a link to our '07 trip report to give you some more options. Have fun planning!

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

Thank you all for your tips. Adding more info on my group, the main interest for our trip is photography and hiking - so "we do get out of the car". We will definitely stay in Moab for 4 to 5 days and 2 to 3 days at Mesa Verde, but we're having a tough time deciding on the what may be more interesting - head to Capital Reef via Durango – Silverton - Telluride loop or head to Capital reef by way of a 2 day stop at Valley of the Gods to include time there to see Monument Valley. Thoughts??

Regarding backcountry 4WD, we will have a 4WD vehicle, but I am not a serious 4WDer regarding venturing too deep into the "secluded" back county in areas that I'm unfamiliar. It appears that, via Sharon's comments, Capital Reef appears to safely accommodate such drives. Any other comments or experiences?

RonFX -
I'd take the Valley of the Gods route to CR. One of my top favorite memories in my life is sitting with my family overlooking that area at sunset. Since then when I've been at a work retreat and they tell us to remember something beautiful, that's what I think of.

We've driven every road in CR and always had a regular car. The Burr trail is totally fine in a car, you'll have no troubles. We even took the crazy northern road (I think it's called Cathedral Valley - fabulous for photography - check out the photos in the visitor center) in a VW Quantum wagon years ago. We almost got stuck a couple of times and the final bit was on slickrock but hey, we made it out. It was nuts though.

It would be much harder to get into trouble with a 4 wheel drive. Its nice to know its there if you need it.

zipline in Durango is great.

I prefer Utah scenic drives over the over Durango/Silverton type drive. But, it might be good to break it up and see something a little different than red rocks for your entire trip.

Since you mention hiking.
Petroglyph Trail in Mesa Verde is the best on there.

Arches- Devils Garden and Delicate Arch Trails. Fiery Furnace with a ranger or Desert Highlights guide.

You can't really hike in Monument Valley because you have to have a Navjo with you.

Natural Bridges. Hike to see Sipapu Bridge.

We have been to pretty much all of the area you mention. Enjoyed all of it. Monument Valley is probably my least favorite. If I had seen it first, I would probably not feel that way. We have not been to CR, it is high on my list of places to see. I do want to see the Great Gallery in Canyonlands at some point. We haven't been to Goblin Valley, but plan on doing that sometime.

You can do Mesa Verde in 2 days. ou might want to make it 3 days if you plan on going to the wetherhill area. We didn't make it there. Each of the houses are similar, but at the same time a lot different.

Ron,

Last spring I did another long weekend to Capitol Reef and enjoyed 2 hikes that are among the top 3 on my list for Capitol Reef:

Golden Throne
Cohab Canyon
Hickman Bridge (from other trips)

The wind was horrible on the first day, so I decided to do the Cathedral Valley drive rather than hike. It was a very long, slow drive and honestly the scenery wasn't worth it. It is a very remote area and I definitely would NOT recommend anyone going out there without a high clearance 4x4. You do need to drive across the Fremont River and there are some very sandy and rocky, slippery spots.

The rest of Capitol Reef is mostly paved roads and very enjoyable.

Most other areas and drives in UT are much more worth your time.

Meaning other areas on UT are more worthwhile than Cathedral Valley.

Dayle,
LOL, cause some folks on here hate it when you use the term "worth it"
Good thing you clarified that.

RonFX-
Most of the backroads that we've taken do not necessarily need 4WD but we want the option of 4WD in case of wet weather or if we want to venture somewhere a bit more challenging. It's more of a safety precaution for us. If the weather forecast is for rain, we don't ever take the chance on backroads. But some of the ones I've mentioned to you in my earlier post would be no problem in dry weather even without 4WD. Haven't done Cathedral Valley in Cap Reef yet but I'm sure we will soon enough. Some folks don't enjoy some of the backroads as much as we do (my husband and I really enjoy being off the beaten path where we can stop and study the plants and other details of the landscape closer up. Sometimes we find places that are so unique and special like this spot:

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/34818907

Acres covered with billions of round iron extrusions that are covered beneath the sand until rain erodes the sand and they roll onto slickrock. Just too cool! Not sure exactly where we were but we spent hours there checking it out.
A shot of the "marbles":
http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/34796369

There are so many cool spots out there and we are so easily amused. I think no matter what you guys do, you'll have a great trip.