Utah Grand Canyon trip with 4 teens
 

We are planning a trip out west, We have 3 boys 20,16,15 and one girl 13. We do need to keep to a reasonable budget, but want the kids to see and experience as much as possible.
We have looked at two options for a 9-10 day trip with two days drowned out by air travel and will be traveling early October 2019.
Option one would be flying in to either Salt Lake or Grand Junction hit Arches & Canyonlands staying 2 or 3 nights, then Bryce Canyon & Zion and staying 2 or 3 nights at a home we found in Tropic, followed by the Grand Canyon with a night or two and then on to Las Vegas for the biggest kid my dear husband where we would stop for 2 nights before flying out. So 8-9 nights total .

Option two would be to fly into Las Vegas , Grand canyon, Bryce and a Zion and looping back to Vegas.
Still working on the details.

Anyone have any suggestions, is mom pushing to much to try to see everything.

Any suggestions for stops with teens. Someone suggested the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for our daughter, and Antelope Canyon. our boys are four wheelin, outdoorsy, backwoods west virginians so any suggestions for them would be great too. We are also not used to a great amount of people as we try live a slower rural pace so any suggestions for a less visited spot would be appreciated by my husband.

If budget matters, I would first look at the costs for flying into the three cities and the cost of the rental car, both with the loop style trip and the open jaw. Be sure to check the less expensive airlines like Southwest and Jet Blue that do not show up on the sites like kayak and travelocity.

When you are planning this trip, try not to match the dates of the school break in Utah as that tends to be very crowded in the parks. The weather has been fine when we've visited in October.

Given your kids interests, I would not want to miss Arches and Canyonlands where you could do a jeep tour or perhaps rent 4 wheelers . There are great hikes there for all of you too.

I would cut Las Vegas to one night or avoid it if possible. It is not a great place for kids.

I'm guessing that the most cost effective trip would be a loop from either Salt Lake City or Las Vegas. Try for an early arrival and/or to get lodging for the first night on the side of the city that is in the direction you will be traveling for your first park to avoid traffic in the morning.

The loop might look like: Vegas>Zion>Bryce>Moab (Arches and Canyonlands)>Grand Canyon (south rim)> Vegas
or: Salt Lake City>Moab>Grand Canyon (north rim)>/Bryce>Zion>Vegas>SLC or no Vegas

Since they are loops, it could be done in the opposite direction if that works better in terms of pacing and lodging.

I prefer the South rim of GC if you haven't been there and you might fit in the Best Friends Animals before or after Bryce.

Get a paper map and stick pins in to see how all this fits together.

Have fun.

Malloy gives you a lot of good advice. I would just add that if the kids are most interested in outdoor activity, the parks with the most draw would be Moab followed by Zion. While Canyonlands has some nice hikes, I think of it primarily for its views. Bryce can be easily seen in one day even with a hike to the bottom starting at one end and ending at the other. You might want to reconsider staying in Tropic. While it's close to Bryce, it's almost 3 hours round trip to visit Zion and you probably want to spend more time in Zion than in Bryce.

Grand Canyon is wonderful and not to be missed but unless you plan on hiking into the canyon, one day is enough; do try to catch sunrise and sunset though. For your budget, you might want to consider Tusayan for lodging at GC. It's only a 15 minute drive from the rim; although staying at the rim is best. If you have the time, the highlight of your trip could be a raft trip in the GC. You can find 1-3 day trips.

Your husband doesn't like crowds but he wants to go to Vegas? You might want to skip or shorten to a few hours.

Thank you so much for your input, we are using any advise we can get. We homeschool so we can get away with waiting till other kids are in school to make the most of busy tourist spots.
I spent 2 weeks in Utah in 1994, living out of a backpack, hiking in Manti-LaSal, Rock Climbing and exploring in Canyonlands, and Rafting down the Green River and through Cataract Canyon. I didn't have to handle any logistics though so that made it easier.

Fall recess at UT schools is more mid-October. I don't know if 2019 dates are available yet. Best Friends is near Kanab and Antelope Canyon is near Page which aren't really near your other destinations unless you're thinking about the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and I agree that unless you plan to hike down into the canyon, one night is enough at either rim. Grand Staircase Escalante is great if you want to avoid crowds. Much less people than in the national parks but you have a pretty packed itinerary already unless you go with option 2.

Thank you all very much for your input, I will take in all the great advise as we work through our plans. All the comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Again Thank You

we have doing this and it was amazing to see look at my trip report i wil post it today

I think you will find that rental vehicles in Las Vegas are somewhat cheaper. Start with seeing Valley of Fire State Park then head for Zion. See Zion and then Bryce Canyon. Next see the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
The next stop should be Page AZ. You may want to take a boat trip from Page. If you have the extra time, you might want to visit Moab, (Arches and Canyonlands) and Monument Valley.
On the return to Las Vegas see the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and Hoover dam. There is a good hotel (Hoover dam Lodge) about 3 miles from the dam. There may be a helicopter tour company flying from next to the parking lot there to see the dam and Lake Meade from the air.
Outside Las Vegas, you may want to visit Red Rocks.

Someone suggested the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for our daughter, and Antelope Canyon. our boys are four wheelin, outdoorsy, backwoods west virginians so any suggestions for them would be great too.

4-wheeling - The preferred is Canyonlands Needles (Elephant Hill) or Maze Districts (to Doll House), but these are not on your trip

Best Friends Animal no-kill sanctuary is north of Kanab about 6 miles. Very good visit. Ask about the Hidden Lake and an Indian Ruins near there.
4-wheeling in that area: Paria Plateau - sandy roads, but fascinating area with abandoned ranches and incredible scenery at White Pockets and Cottonwood Cove. and/or Kaibab Forest (west end of N. R. Grand Canyon).
This site has White Pockets and road therein
Book for this area is available at Amazon: Vermilion Cliffs

Vaga

If LAS has the cheapest fares and you can avoid a one-way drop fee on the rental car, wouldn't that be the best option? You can still visit Moab if you fly into Vegas.

I would not stay in Tropic. Matter of fact, unless sunrise at Bryce is vital to your journey, I wouldn't stay overnight at Bryce at all. You can make that a half day stop and still get to see quite a bit.

Best Friends - while they do good work, I don't think it's a good use of your time. The setting is pretty enough but honestly, do you want to give up half a day to be driven around looking at dogs, cats, farm animals, etc.? It's great if you have a relaxing vacation and can spare the time, but you don't have that luxury.

Moab - 3 nights for sure. Zion - 3 nights with the caveat that you'll either leave early morning or arrive late evening on the day you visit Bryce (depends on your routing). Grand Canyon - 1 night. That leaves 2 nights for Vegas as requested by your husband.

You can do one of two routes: Vegas > Springdale > Bryce > Moab > Grand Canyon > Vegas if your flight arrives later afternoon, or reverse it if you arrive earlier since the drive to Grand Canyon is longer than the drive to Springdale. For that matter, if you wind up with an evening arrival into Vegas, start with 2 nights in Vegas instead of ending there.

Use AirBnB or VRBO in Springdale, Moab and Vegas if it cuts costs. You'd only need to book hotel for the Grand Canyon and that would likely need to be two rooms.

We went with a tour company in Kanab a few years ago where they had more like dune buggies, than the typical four wheelers. We had a 2 seater and a 4 seater. We went to White Pockets, and had put in for the lottery to The Wave, but won the alternative trip to the Lower Wave. It was fun and the guy with the tour company let us drive as much as we wanted. A lot of dirt/sandy roads, going through deserted ranches but got to see some awesome sights, and did some hiking too. I think it was the Kanab Tour Company.

Hi. Just booked our airfare for a similar trip with our 3 kids in April RT to Vegas. Hitting North Rim of GC, Lake Powell, Bryce, Zion, and Valley of Fire on way back to LV for a couple of nights. Wondering if anyone on here can provide any recs for where to stay outside of the North Rim? I'm not finding much...Thanks!

When in April are you traveling? The GC north rim may not be open in April due to snowed in....
This year it opened May 15th... You should also be prepared for winter weather in Bryce. I've been there in early May and had several inches of snow every night.

The weather at Zion Canyon on the other hand should be great in the valley floor. You may not be able to hike the Narrows if the water level is high due to snowmelt but you won't know that until your trip nears but you'd be able to enjoy the rest of the Zion Canyon.

rfrank1031: Some of that itinerary would be fine. But as J62 says, the North Rim will most likely be completely inaccessible, and while Bryce will be 'open' it will likely still have a lot of snow. You'd really have to do the South Rim and not the North.

Wow. We really hadn't planned on that...totally thought we were fine in April (Trip will be the 19-26th BTW) and probably should have researched a bit better. Was also planning on some time around Lake Powell and spending a day or two there. Too cold also? Or OK to enjoy a boat ride/raft ride?

Bummer about the Narrows (one of mine and my husband's favorite places), but will do what we can :)

Wow. OK, guess we should have researched better! Will make the switch to the South Rim. Any recs for where to stay there for one night. Heading from there to Lake Powell so heading North. Any input on time spent there? We were hoping to enjoy a day or two on the lake and do a raft or boat ride...will weather be OK for that? Sorry to hijack this thread, just thought it was very similar! Thanks!

Lake Powell would be fine, as well as the South Rim, and Zion. I definitely would not plan on the North Rim. The 'season' on the North Rim runs from Mid May to Mid October and the entrance gates are locked until at least May 15 most years.

Bryce will be open - whether it woks for you depends on what you are looking for -- It is 8,000 to 9,000 feet and there will be snow on the ground.

Oh -- I missed your last post (Saw the 'wow' and just thought they were duplicate posts). It depends on your budget but I'd look at Thunderbird or Bright Angle Lodge since both are right ON the rim. If El Tovar fits in the budget -- it would be great but it is pricey.

Thank you so much for the quick reply. When you say Lake Powell and Zion should be "fine" should we still be prepared with coats etc? My husband now thinks he doesn't want to spend 2 days on Lake Powell. We were planning one day to do Horseshoe Bend/Antelope and one day for just hanging on the lake (raft ride etc). He feels like now the weather will be too cold to enjoy and kids won't be able to swim in the lake anyway. Any feedback on whether we should spend a day there or are we better just spending our time further south where it's warmer? Thanks again so very much!