Southern Utah National Park Tour - Advice Please
 

Hi all -

First I must tell you how wonderful and helpful you all are. Been reading and reading and reading for days and think I have our trip planned. Recognizing this will be our first trip to Utah you all are the experts -- advice please. Anything you think is too long, too hot, too challenging, not to be missed etc (you get the idea) please do chime in.

About us: healthy / active / late 30's. We hike and bike and are wanna be photographers too busy to study yet keep our digital cameras at the ready.... We are not super hikers (just bought boots for last years' trip to sequoia / yosemite) but are in relatively good shape (made it up Vernal Falls/Nevada Falls no problem Yosemite falls darn near killed me, though... 3.2 miles straight UP) We aren't poor but like to have nice vacations on a fair budget. (ie won't be looking for the ritz...)

With that said we are trying to loop around southern Utah's parks in early /mid June with the following plans (nothing is booked):

Friday Day 1: Arrive Las Vegas early am. Pick up car - drive to Zion 2.5 hours 158 miles. Get lay of land in Zion. Buy / pack cooler for lunches / snacks / beer etc. Pick up gear (rent narrows shoes etc.) Day hike Zion.

Zion hotel of choice: Red Rock Inn

Day 2: Up early Hike Narrows (read little water expected early june - little snow this year?)

Sunday, Day 3: Up early. Drive 91 Miles - 2 Hours to Bryce. Drive through / meander through Red canyon. Day hike Bryce. Sunset @ sunset point Bryce for pics.

Bryce Hotel of Choice: Bryce Trails B&B Tropic

Day 4: Sunrise @ sunrise point Bryce (I figure they don't call em' that for nothing...) Hike Bryce AM. Consider horse ride / bicycle through red canyon PM.

Tuesday, Day 5: Leave early AM Drive 277 miles (6 hours the long way) to Moab. don't miss boynton overlook. Visit either Arches or Canyonlands in afternoon for sunset pics.

Moab hotel of choice: Kreamkeeper Inn

Day 6: Arches or Canyonlands hiking -- potentially guided bike ride through either park. (thoughts here? anyone done this? Supposed to be a great adventure. Too hot in June?)

Thursday Day 7: More canyonlands / Arches / Moab hiking.

Day 8: Leave Moab early - go to monument valley 158 miles, 3 hrs. Meander through monument valley - maybe tour with navajo (11 - 4) Leave monument valley around 4pm and drive to Page area.

Page hotel of choice: dreamkatcher B&B (Big Water)

Sat, Day 9: Antelope Slot Canyons AM / Dinner cruise lake powell PM.

Sun, Day 10: Drive back to Vegas, 260 miles, 6 hours (more meandering) Late flight home 7:40pm....

Sooo... too much driving? Too hot in June in Moab? Spending too many days in Moab? Should move that extra day to a different park? Should I delete one of the stops and focus more on one of the other parks???

There is just so much to do and see in the area and I don't want to miss something spectacular but know I can't see it all. (Already opted out of Grand Staircase, Capital Reef and Grand Canyon -- where a seperate week long trip is required!)

I know some might have the tendancy to say skip the monument valley / antelope canyon days and focus more on Zion/Bryce/Moab areas but I think the Antelope canyon might be a big highlight of the trip?! Should I move the Monument Valley / Lake Powell out and add that to the future GC trip?

Ok - enough outta me...

Please let me know your thoughts.

I would definitely cut out Powell/Mon. Valley for more time in the Moab area. You aren't spending much time in any one place-every park only gets one full day-and you are doing a lot of driving. You are only spending 2 days in Moab-one day for each park-so that is absolutely not too much.

Especially since you are photographers, don't miss the sunrise at Dead Horse Point State Park. It is worth getting up early and driving the 30 miles.
Since you are hikers, I'd consider doing the Chesler Park overlook hike in the Needles section of Canyonlands south out of Moab. You could do this either as a day trip from Moab or on your way south. This section sees far fewer visitors and I think has more interesting and beautiful scenery than the Island in the Sky section near Moab, which is where more tourists go. The hiking in the Needles section is unlike anywhere else due to the geological formations-it's really special.

I'd go as early in June as you can to avoid the worst of the heat and crowds.

I guess you need to decide if you want to make this an exploration trip where you try and hit all the areas so you know where you would like to come back in the future or cut back so you can concentrate on the areas you do go to and save the others for later.


The day you drive from Bryce to Moab are you taking scenic Hwy 12? If so, then plan on it taking all day and spend a little time at Captiol Reef National Park.

Utahtea

Hi Gidget,

I really wouldn't recommend doing a bike tour in either Arches or Canyonlands. You won't have time. You will be able to see more driving and doing the short hikes to arches and points of interest.

Make you res for the Dreamkeeper in Moab right away. They are very small and popular. My fault.

All - Thanks for the input. BF finally looked at itinerary and suggested taking out Moab area altogether (too hot in June?) and Monument Valley.

As it stands now -- mostly zion / bryce / escalante etc. with potential day trip to Page to see antelope slot canyons.

Are antelope and other slots in page worth a day trip -- or should we spend the extra day in the zion area?

Thanks again,
gidget

between the entrance to Bryce and Tropic, there is a trailhead for the Mossy Cave trail. A short but very interesting hike would be worth your while.

I've only done the Upper Antelope Slots canyon tour. It's only 1 1/2 hours long and so I don't know if I would want to spend 5 hours in a vehicle to JUST do that tour.

I would recommend spending the night and doing either a 1/2 day float trip on the Colorado river or a all day boat tour to Rainbow Bridge National Monument. Now those would be worth the trip.

Don't know if you are planning on driving scenic hwy 12 all the way to Torrey. If so, spend the night in this area to see Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef is at about 6,000 ft. elevation so it won't be as hot as Zion.

Utahtea

Gidget, you made a great plan.You will be tired but very satisfied. Just a few extra suggestions:
For Zion we stayed in a Best western in Springdale just a mile to the Park entrance.
Instead of Lake Powell I would drive to the Grand Canyon.You must see that.
In Moab you can never spend too many days.There's so much to see.
In Moab we stayed at the Apache motel. That's where John Wayne stayed when they were shooting all those western movies in the neighbourhood.
We made our tour in September so I can't comment on any weather conditions in June. Greetings from Belgium.PAul