Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Utah mid Sept Trip Report, Zion, Bryce, Arches- beautiful!

hanks for everyone’s help. We just got back from a fabulous trip to the National Parks in Utah:

Bryce, Zion, Capital Reef and Arches! 10 fun filled tiring but exhilarating days. Wanted to share our experience….

SLC to Bryce. Lodging didn’t work out for us to do Zion first but agree with all that is a better way to do it so you don’t back track so much. The mileage didn’t look bad but the roads are curvy and can be slow.

Arrive Bryce, drove to end of 63 to Rainbow Point. Hiked 1 mi Bristlecone Trail, nice but not a necessary stop if you’re short on time. Stopped on viewpoints on way back to lodge, just beautiful. Natural Bridge (an arch!) was one of the pretty ones, and then the hoodoos at Bryce Point and Inspiration Point are the main reasons for this park-WOW! Checked into Bryce Lodge in the Park (Nice, clean) and walked along the rim. Had dinner outside of park at Bryce Pines, nice service-decent food. We wanted to eat around 4:30 and the Lodge is closed until 5:30 for dinner (lunch ends around 2). Saw sunset from Sunset Point. I was underwhelmed. Also don’t get the Sunrise and Sunset Point differences, you can see from one to the other! I did get up for sunrise, THAT was amazing. Then did the hike down Wall Street (next to Navajo). This is super cool and pretty easy to get down and into the closely walled canyon. It could be tough going up it (pretty steep). Then went around Queens Garden and back up to the rim. Very nice hike, I saw 7 deer on my way to the rim, and about 7 people on the hike that early. Loved it!

Time to drive to Zion. The Mt Carmel 1 mi tunnel is pretty cool but only 1 way 8am-8pm so the rangers have you stop and wait so big tour buses and campers can go through. Took awhile. Zion is beautiful. Huge cliffs, walls, trees, red roads, red rocks. We stayed at the Desert Pearl (really really nice as most reviews say) and just walked around Springdale (cute town with expensive food) and hung out at our pool. Had dinner at Jacks Sports Grill (next to and part of Switchback Grill) and it was good food. It seemed everywhere in Utah but Moab and SLC required food to be ordered if you wanted a beer or any alcohol which was different than we are used too, but many places have $2 salsa and chips or other affordable ways to cover this req.

Zion-Up early, drove to Visitor Center (Figured we probably don’t’ want to walk back after hiking). The park shuttle starts at 7am but the Springdale shuttle doesn’t run til after 8. Got on park shuttle and went out to Emerald Pools. Ok but not as great as expected. I think it was so dry that it may be prettier in Spring with all the water and falls happening. Went around the alt. trail to the Grotto. This was a cool hike. Got to the bottom and realized we were at the west rim trail to Angels landing. Hmmmm. Well why not! Hiked up to Scouts Lookout. WOW! This is a challenge, even early there were lots of folks but everyone was nice and supportive. Stopped a lot on high elevation and steep ascents. Walter Wiggles was also nuts. Got to Scouts lookout and watched the brave souls venturing up the rocks and chains to Angels Landing. Then headed back down! That was about 6 mi by noon and we were done! Hung out again and the pool, met great people and went to dinner at Spotted Dog Café. Good meat but overcooked unfortunately. All service was really good throughout the parks in almost all cases.

Last day in Zion, time for the Narrows. This is a must do and wish we could have gone even further. Would rec spending a full day or many hours. We just wore tennis shoes and people have lefts lots of wood (branches) walking sticks along the wall at the start of the water hike so got one of those. Went out about a mile and back-so pretty! Headed back on shuttle to town afterwards. Then drove into Washington UT near St George to golf Coral Canyon. This was awesome but really hot. We had excellent weather all week but did not do well in the 90-100 degrees in the afternoon so really worked to get up early and get our hikes and major explorations done b4 the heat hit.

Next day, heading out of Zion got breakfast at Café Soleil-excellent breakfast burrito and super fresh. Back tracking past Bryce and up Hwy 12. Yes, this is def. a scenic hwy! Stopped in Escalante and at various viewpoints. Lunch in Boulder at Hells Backbone café, very good and cute place to sit outside on another nice day! Into Torrey and Capital Reef Park. The Griffin House and all that jazz was pretty lame to us, but the pies looked good. Also very nice shaded picnic areas here to have our sandwiches. We hiked out to Hickman Bridge (an arch) which was ok but very hot as it was already late afternoon. This is not a must do but fine if you have time. Overnight in Torrey at Red Sands Hotel (didn’t like, rude, dated), drinks on patio at Rim Rock patio (below the restaurant and lodge), lots of people ordering pizzas here-looked good! Then dinner at the Saddlery which was excellent. They have saddles as barstools in some places which is corny and awesome. Great bartender and really good food, had giant cobb salad and sandwich.

Up to head to Moab/Arches. Stopped in Goblin Valley, about 45 min total for us to stop but you could easily spend longer (15 min each way off hwy, 15 min in park). Kids may love it but it was a must see fur us adults too, and so strange and interesting. Then to Arches. Another WOW! I didn’t expect to love this park as much as I did. Just beautiful. Drove into park and hiked the Windows (3 arches: North, South, Turret) and across the parking lot hiked up to Double arch. Drove rest of park and checked out close in areas and viewpoints. About an hour to drive through with quick stops. 2 nights in Moab at Bowen Hotel (nice, quiet, great location). Caught some football at Woody’s Tavern and good Asian food from Szechwaun Chinese next door. Next day had the 10am Fiery Furnaces tour, excellent, excellent, excellent. Our guide Holly was great and shared geology info and kept the pace going and it was so interesting. I was nervous about the narrow areas and they weren’t a big deal, though some of the rocks slides and jumps and ledges caused a bit of consternation  Most on the tour were actually older (50-60s) and did just fine, need to pay attention and go slow. Then headed to Landscape Arch, pretty easy hike and a beautiful arch. Town of Moab was packed as it was a Friday, we just walked around, bought some shirts and drove a bit to edge of town for burgers and shakes at Milts stop and eat-pretty good!

Up and out early to hike Delicate Arch the next morning. Even at 7am we shared the trail. This is def. the must do hike at Arches. Until you are up at the arch the size and beauty is hard to understand. It did hurt later that day and the next on my legs after the descent to get back to the parking lot! But worth it. We had saved the best for last with that and had to head home. Did have a last overnight in SLC and went Temple Square and then on Sunday morning attended the Tabernacle choir event at 9:30am that was amazing.

I did not realize how beautiful Utah was, and the parks are all different so I can’t pick a favorite. They are all worth a visit and spend as much time as you can. I felt we could have probably stayed a bit longer in Zion and do some of the off the beaten path hikes. It’s beautiful and we are so happy to have spent our vacation here!!