Dead Horse Point State Park, Don't Miss Goblin Valley State Park. Right near Goblin Valley is Little Wild Horse Canyon is one of the best slot canyons in the state. Fisher Towers near Moab, Monument Valley is not a National Park and you could visit it. Several State Parks near Bryce and Zion that would be worth checking out too. You could consider Antelope Canyon too.

Although you will be able to drive on the highway through Zion (Route 9), you won't be able to get into the canyon itself beyond where the road into the canyon splits off from Route 9 - that's accessible by park-run shuttle vans only (unless congress comes to its senses and ends the government shut-down). Still lots of gorgeous scenery to see along the highway, though.

If you can't get into Bryce, there are some nice hiking trails through the hoodoos at nearby Red Canyon on Highway 12.

All of Highway 12 between Bryce and Boulder is spectacular, particularly the Hogsback area.

I recommend driving on the Burr Trail out of Boulder, at least as far as the end of the canyon, it's incredibly scenic. Kodachrome Basin State Park is wonderful, too, and has some nice trails. Devil's Garden, on Hole-in-the-Rock Road, south of Escalante, is really cool, but as it's on Federal Land, I don't know if the parking area will be closed - better check first if you plan to go there. As mentioned, Goblin Valley is a don't miss site.

I found this web site, which lists many wonderful alternatives in Utah to the National Parks: http://www.visitutah.com/national-park-travel-advisory/

Good luck, and I hope the shut-down is over and the parks open again soon!

How embarrassing...my apologies to all the visitors from around the world who come to visit our amazing parks.

I'd hoped we were better than this...guess not :(

We just talked to a young couple from Canada today who tried to do the Devil's Garden hike on the Hole-in-the-rock-road. They said the road was open but when they got to Devil's Garden there was someone there preventing them from doing the hike. I too had hoped to do this while we are in the area.

Capitol Reef National Park scenic highway is closed but we were able to drive Highway 24 though the park. The turn outs along Hwy 24 are open except for Hickman Bridge because there was a rock slide earlier this year and the hike has been closed since. The spur road to the Goosenecks is closed and also Chimney Rock parking. There are signs on all the trails that the park is closed.

We heard on the Utah news that you can drive Hwy 9 though Zion but they were NOT allowing anyone to stop and take pictures. You can not drive though with an over-sized vehicle like an RV.

Utahtea

Returned home Saturday night after enjoying ten great days in Utah and Nevada. The national parks were closed, as well as roads and facilities in the national forests, but thanks to suggestions from the Visitor Centers in St. George and Moab, as well as from so many local people eager to help, and especially from many posts here on Fodor's, we were able to see a lot of amazing places. And, many of those places we would probably not have seen had the major sites been available.

These were our favorites, in no particular order:

Goblin Valley State Park
Dead Horse Point State Park
Anasazi State Park Museum
Kodachrome Basin State Park
Snow Canyon State Park
Valley of Fire State Park (Nevada)

There were many great scenic routes:

La Sal Mountain Loop Road
Hwy 211 through Indian Creek Recreation Area south of Moab
Hwy 128 from Moab to I-70
I-70 between Exits 99 and 149
Hwy 72 between I-70 and Loa
Hwy 12 from Torrey to Hwy 89
Hwy 9 from Mt. Carmel Jct. to Springdale through Zion NP
Hwy 24 from Torrey through Capitol Reef

We also had a look at part of Bryce Canyon thanks to Ruby's where free shuttles ran every 20 minutes from their hotel to a part of the canyon rim on their property.

There were interesting petroglyphs and pictographs in many places including up the street from our condo in Moab. The most impressive and interesting, to me, were the Newspaper Rock on Hwy 211, and those we found in the Sego Canyon north of I-70 at Exit 187. Up a few miles on a gravel road are several rock art sites, and an abandoned mining town.

So, plenty to see and do despite the closures, including a 10-mile horseback ride into the Red Canyon and walks and hikes at Kodachrome, Calf Creek Lower Falls (road closed, restrooms and water fountains locked, but lots of hikers anyway), and Valley of Fire SP.

Nevertheless, it is sad that these parks were closed given the impact on the local economies that depend on tourism. It was also difficult to hear the disappointment of tourists from other parts of the world who were making a long planned, expensive trip to see them. I spoke with some Germans who were on a bus tour that brought them to Valley of Fire SP instead of the Grand Canyon. They were enjoying the spectacular scenery there, but were sad about missing the Grand Canyon and didn't understand why the parks were closed due to a political fight about a health care plan.

Thanks again for all your help here. Let's hope this is the last time our national parks are closed.

Sounds like you had a great trip, and now have to plan another so you can go into the parks.

Thanks for reporting back.

Hi Mainegg,

So glad to hear you had a good trip - you visited a lot of really great places! The Natl Parks are wonderful, but Utah has many places just as awesome.

Personally, I think everyone in our government should be fired immediately - but that's another thread...

emalloy - We did have a great trip, and my husband is already talking about going back for more. Now we just have to figure out if our budget will stretch for both more Utah and my need to return to France as often as possible.

Dayle - I was never a fan of term limits, but could easily become one. Let's hope we don't have to endure more of this political theater in a few months.

Sounds like you were in southern Utah at the same time we were, MaineGG. I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip.

Our trip did not include plans for visiting the national parks since we've covered them all pretty thoroughly in past visits, but it would have been nice to have the option. We had hoped to camp in Natural Bridges Nat'l Monument but maybe next time.

It was sad to drive through Springdale our first day - it was a ghost town. Saw groups of tourists taking photos of the Arches National Park sign in Moab...bummer. We were happy to see that Capitol Reef had many of the pull outs and the Petroglyph trail open during the gov't shutdown. Zion NP rangers, however, wouldn't even allow people to use pull outs for photos. Seemed a bit mean-spirited to us.

We had a fantastic trip and will post a short trip report soon. Peter and I were thrilled to have a chance to meet up with Dayle and her friend, Carol at Hell's Backbone Grill for breakfast. It was so nice to finally meet in person after so many years of sharing info on Fodor's. We had a great time!

It sounds like you had a good trip too. Look forward to your trip report.