Please help with Bryce/Grand Canyon/Zion trip
 

Hi, we are going to be in Vegas during the first week of April, and will have about six days to go on an exciting road trip. I have been compiling our itinerary from everyone’s trip reports and comments here! (Special thanks to Myer!) It has been enormously helpful, but also very confusing with so many choices, that now I am feeling totally befuddled and bogged down in confusion!

We will be renting a car, leaving our Vegas hotel at 2pm on Sunday, and we need to return to the hotel at about 1pm the next Saturday.

We want to visit Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon (and any other suggestions are welcome) for not too strenuous hiking, scenic drives and lots of photography.

Please may I ask for some help and suggestions with planning our time?

At the moment, the rough plan so far is:
Sunday afternoon – visit Red Rock, then drive to Zion. Spend 1 night there.
Then Bryce Canyon (2 nights at the Bryce Canyon Lodge. I actually booked for Thursday and Friday nights, but now am not sure what our timing should be.)
Visit Page, Antelope Canyon, etc.
Should we spend 1 or 2 nights in Page?
Is there time to go to Monument Valley?
Then Grand Canyon (south rim - is it correct that it is nearer than the north rim, and that the north rim is closed at the moment?).
Last night (Friday) at the Grand Canyon (or should we spend more than 1 night there?)

Another thought is to go straight to Grand Canyon after one night at Zion, so that driving back on Saturday won’t be too much of a rush, and do Bryce and the other highlights on the way back? (I also won’t have to change our booking at the Bryce Canyon Lodge.) Would that be a better plan?

I will be SO grateful for some help in sorting this out!

Many thanks in advance.

I think it would be helpful for you to just pull out your maps and take a look at where everything is relative to each other. That would help answer some of your questions and keep you from too much backtracking.

The usual thing people do is make a big oval shaped loop, with the Grand Canyon in the middle of that loop. So, you can either drive from Las Vegas to the south rim and then continue on, or do the other things first and save the south rim for the end before driving back to Las Vegas. It doesn't make any sense to go to Zion, drive all the way to the south rim, and then come back to Bryce, etc. That's way too much backtracking.

Red Rock is slightly out of the way - if you're visiting on Sunday afternoon, you'll almost certainly not get to Zion until dark or nearly so. Sunset the first week of April is right around 8pm, and the main valley gets dark before then. In that case, you'll have just part of one day in Zion before heading elsewhere, and you should devote more time than that. The usual suggestion is to spend 2 nights at Zion and 1 at Bryce - Bryce is much smaller. However, if you're really interested in photography, it might be worthwhile to stick with 2 nights at Bryce as it's certainly more easily photogenic than Zion.

Grand Canyon north rim is closed in April so yes, you'd have to go to the south rim. Since you need to be back to Las Veags at 1pm on Saturday, Zion should be your last night. GC south rim is at least a 5 hour drive, so that's not something you want to do if you're under a deadline to get back.

Can you leave any earlier than 2pm on Sunday? If so, then I'd say leave early enough so you can get to the south rim for sunset. Given your need to be back at 1pm, it seems like the logical way to route your trip is south rim first, then continue on with Zion being your last stop on Friday night. You can keep the Thursday night booking at Bryce Canyon and try for Wednesday night as well, but if that doesn't work out just book something directly outside of Bryce. It's maybe a 15 minute drive into the park.

jin,

With Bryce being at 8,000 ft. and this being a very good snow year for us, there will probably still be snow at Bryce the first week of April. I would call right now to the Natl Park ranger station at Bryce and ask them how much snowpack in inches they have. There is more predicted to fall this weekend. See what the rangers tell you about early April. They are extremely helpful and have penty of time to talk during the winter!

I think you should plan 2 full days at Zion and only 1 at Bryce. 1 day at Bryce is enough if you can't hike down among the hoodoos.

You can easily drive from Bryce Canyon to Page in a day. One night there is enough; you can visit Antelope Canyon in the morning, then head to your next destination.

Lee Ann

Thanks a million for your responses!

Because of the timing on our last day, I have turned the itinerary upside down, and will try do what BibE1 suggests - that is, try and leave Vegas earlier on Sunday and head for the South Rim for Sunday night.

Dayle - thanks for the heads up about the snow at Bryce, I'll check with them tomorrow, and possibly rearrange the number of nights at Bryce and Zion.

In the meantime, here is our revised itinerary for your suggestions and approval :)

Sunday night - get to South Rim by evening, stay in Grand Canyon (haven't been able to find accommodation yet! Any ideas where to stay if Xanterra is booked up?)

Monday - day at Grand Canyon. Spend night there (I am trying to be positive that something will open up soon!)

Tuesday - visit Monument Valley.
Sleep in Page at Holiday Inn Express.

Wednesday - Antelope Canyon. Head for Bryce Canyon. Stay in Lodge

Thursday - Bryce Canyon. Either stay another night there, or go to Zion - stay at Cliffrose Lodge.

Friday - Zion.

Saturday - back to Vegas.

So thanks again to you both and Lee Ann for help so far - I would be grateful for any further input about this itinerary, and any other suggestions, specially about where would be nice to stay in the Grand Canyon.

We were in Bryce in early Feb. and there was a lot of snow on the ground! That said, many people were renting snow shoes at Ruby's Inn and going on hikes. Queens Garden and Navajo were open. We just braved the rim hike between Sunset and Sunrise with snow boots. Lots of fun & so beautiful!

Don't plan on Antelope Canyon first thing in the morning.

You want to be there when the sun is high in the sky to get the effect in the Canyon.

While in Page there are two other sights definitely worth the small amount of time.

Just after crossing the bridge beside Glenn Canyon approaching Page from the northwest, on the west side of the road is a scenic turn-off.

It's "the best dam view". It's free and takes less than 20 minutes. It gives you a straight-on view of the Dam.

Also, a couple of miles south (on #89 just below the #98 turn-off) is the parking lot for Horseshoe Bend. It's free. A 3/4 mile walk in the sand and you are at a view point (no fence, screen or barrier) that looks straight down at the Colorado River making a "U" turn. Spectacular!!

Once near Page don't miss these other two sights.

You can see my photos of them at:

www.travelwalks.com

Select the Bryce, Zion, Sedona trip of 2007.

Thanks everyone - so much - for the invaluable help. Your photos are sensational, Myer, and I am grateful for the Antelope Canyon timing suggestion. I booked the 2 and a half hour photographers' tour with Chief Ray Tsosie for 10.30am.

There is just one more decision I have to make and I would love your input about this unfinished part of the itinerary...

I have been leaving it till the last minute to make the final decision whether to spend 2 nights in Bryce and 1 night in Zion, or two nights in Zion/1 in Bryce. (Have accommodation booked at both places, at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and Cliffrose Lodge, Springdale). Had hoped to hike in Bryce, but judging by recent weather reports (thanks again, Dayle)and hearing today that the trails are full of ice and mud, I am wondering if it wouldn't be better to be in Zion for the two nights?

On the other hand, reading about the scenic drives near Bryce, and the snow shoe idea (thanks utahtea!) sounds fun - it seems like it would still be wonderful to be there for two nights.

But on the "other" hand... Zion is warmer and we would be able to walk more....?

Please can the experts help me make a decision here?
Thanks again very much!

Your trip sounds great and the Cliffrose Inn in Zion is nice. Good food in Zion, Switchback Grill and the funky one across trhe street the name escapes me. Spent 2 nights in Page (for sons basketball) that was 2 nights I will never get back. At least that is what 4 sets of parents felt like. Pretty though.

Have fun!!

"Please can the experts help me make a decision here?"

I don't know if you've made a decision yet, and I'm certainly not an expert, but here's my advice:

You don't want strenuous hikes, but like scenic drives and lots of photography. Bryce has more of a wow factor and is more easily photographed than Zion. I would do this - after you leave Antelope Canyon, drive up to Mt. Carmel Junction and then head west to Zion. Don't go all the way to the main canyon, just do a couple little hikes on the east side (Canyon Overlook for one, there are some little slot canyons and/or scrambling around on the rocks). Then head to Bryce for 2 nights, and then back to Zion/Springdale for the last night.

The best time to photograph Bryce is sunrise, so that plan gives you 2 mornings without forcing you to spend 2 full days there. Depending on how seriously you take photography, you can time your arrival the first night so you have some daylight left to scout locations for the next morning, but that's probably not necessary. The main overlooks are well-known and would give you a good vantage point for sunrise. Spend a day in/around Bryce hiking or driving, then after sunrise on the Friday head to Zion. You'd have most of the day there in Zion, plus a little bit of time on Saturday morning (in addition to part of the day on Wednesday on the east side), and you would get 2 mornings to photograph in Bryce.

Mt. Carmel Junction to the east entrance of Zion is 30 minutes or so, plus a little bit of driving into the park so probably a total of 1.5 hours roundtrip that you'd go out of your way. I think that makes more sense than going up to Bryce immediately - sunset just isn't much to see there, so it wouldn't be necessary to leave Zion at any given time to make it to Bryce before dark.