Please Help! Utah plans
 

Hello all, I just found out that my husband will be taking a business trip to Salt Lake City. We want to take some time to tour the national parks with our 15 year old son but I have no idea where to go. We would be leaving Salt Lake city on July 31 and departing Las Vegas in the afternoon of August 6. I know this isn't much time, but can anyone suggest an itinerary that would take in the highlights? Any tips on where to stay? Thank you so much for any help!

Hi River,

If you can leave SLC early in the morning, you can drive to Capitol Reef, see/hike a bit and stay overnight.

Next day, drive Hwy 12 to Bryce. Plan on taking most of the day, especially if you want to stop along the way to hike Calf Creek Falls or Escalante River.

Stay in Bryce, spend the next day in Bryce. Stay second night in Bryce.

Drive to Zion early AM and stay in Springdale, just outside the park. Spend 2 nights.

Head to LV for return flight.

This would be the Natl Parks in the summer. Bryce will be nice, at 8,000 ft altitude, probably low to mid-80's at the top. Zion will be HOT, around 100 degrees.

An alternative might be to go to Jackson/Yellowstone instead and fly home from SLC. Just a thought, as WY is very nice during peak summer weather.

Thank you Dayle! My husband would dearly love to see Arches. Do you think that it would be too far out of the way? I don't know when we'll ever get back to Utah and hate to miss anything.

Also, wanted to ask if any of the parks require more time than others. Would it be better to stay one day Zion and two at Bryce, or vice versa? Thanks again.

If you just want to drive through the parks without hiking or really stopping much, yes you can spend just 1 day at each and include Arches. I would never recommend this although some people do it.

To put it in another perspective, it would be like driving through Paris and saying you "saw" Paris.

No, you really don't have time to see Arches too. If you wanted a nice, enjoyable trip with a few hikes, you would need almost 2 weeks to do all the UT Natl Parks.

You need to choose:

Capitol Reef and Moab (Arches & Canyonlands)

or

Capitol Reef, Bryce, Zion

Thanks Dayle. You are right that we don't want to rush through the parks. I wish we had more time as I have always wanted to see them all! We'll have to be satisfied with pictures of Arches until we can make it out to Utah again.

Have you ever camped at any of the parks?

Yes, many times. I live in Utah and go to Moab and Zion at least once a year. Bryce every few years. What would you like to know?

Are there any campgrounds close to or in Zion and Bryce? We don't need anything fancy but prefer that they not be primitive (no toilets). Do you think its too hot in July to camp?

Yes, as Natl Parks, both have campgrounds and you can make reservations for them at www.reserveusa.com. There is a reservation fee and cancellation policy.

The Natl Parks do not make all their camp spaces available for reservations. Therefore, there are (I think) anout 50% of the spaces open for first come, first serve. During peak season these are hard to come by, but usually if you are at the campground EARLY, like before 9am, you can snag a spot. Check out time for those leaving is usually about 10am.

Outside the actual Natl Parks, there are commercial campgrounds too, like KOAs, but none of those by either Zion or Bryce. By Bryce, Ruby's Inn has a campground area that is quite nice, with a small gen store and showers.

Outside Zion there is a commercial campground nearer to the town of Virgin. About a 15 minute drive to Zion. Mostly giant RVs with full hookups there.

July will be hot, but Bryce is at 8,000 ft. so day temps will be very nice. Zion will be just plain HOT. There are some very nice motels, B&B that have pools!

You can make reservations for Zion but not Bryce through http://reservations.nps.gov/index.cfm. When I used them last year for Glacier there was no fee for making the reservation. You can reserve a site in Zion w/electricity if you prefer.
If you are going to visit more than two national parks in the next calendar year it would be less expensive for you to purchase a National Parks Pass $50 for the car load at the first park you visit. Visited my AAA office today & they had them available for $48

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I'm looking forward to seeing Utah for the first time.

By the way, I sure hope all of the folks on this forum who love Utah as much as I do will contact their representatives in congress and urge them to stop the feds from selling off gas and oil rights to companies that will allow exploration in Zion-Mohave area, Green River and throughout southern Utah. Encourage them to sign onto America's Red Rock Wilderness Act and support protection of these unique and fragile areas. Allowing gas and oil exploration in these areas means road building, destruction of the fragile desert soil and plants, and destroying the incredible scenery that we all travel to Utah to see.

While staying at Valley of the Gods B&B a year or so ago, we talked with our hosts about some of these threats to southern Utah and learned about the Southern Utah Wilderness alliance. Check out their website for more info -www.suwa.org.