I have a total of 7 nights. Originally I was gonna stay in Vegas the last 2 nights and cut either a night at Bryce or Lake Powell out. I have since been thinking to stay just the last night in vegas and more time in the loop. Any advice?

Landing in Vegas Sept.1 and going to Zion, Bryce, North Rim and possibly Lake Powell. Suggestions on the itinerary in this order.
Sept. 1 & 2, 2 nights zion
Sept. 3 & 4, 2 nights bryce
Sept. 5 1 night lake powell
Sept. 6 1 night north rim
Sept. 7 1 night vegas.

or
Sept. 1 & 2 2 nights zion
Sept. 3 1 night bryce
Sept. 4 1 night lake powell
sept. 5 1 night north Rim
Sept. 6 & 7 2 nights Vegas

Or 2 in zion, 2 in bryce,
drive 89 east to go through lake powell and continue to the north rim for 1 night
and over to vegas for 2 nights.

Hi, Z. I imagine you've taken your trip already since you post is dated 8/01. We did a similar trip three years ago. You seemed to have missed the most beautiful area Escalante, Utah. Of all the areas you mentioned, Escalante was the most breathtaking. Please reply if you're interested in any more info.

Hi Dennis,
My family and I are planning on visiting Kanab,Grand Canyon North Rim, Bryce, and Zion in that order. We will be flying into Vegas for our trip in May. We had considered visiting Escalante but were concerned about the roads in that area. Could you give us any insights to the road situation in that area. We will be renting a minivan since there will be six of us. From what information I have been able to glean from the internet, it appears to be a very scenic area to visit. Also, have you ever visited Coral Pink Sand Dunes Park? We thought we might visit that area too while we are staying in Kanab. Thanks for any information you can help us with.

Hi Misty! The Coral Pink Sand Dunes are nice, but a small area. There is a nice nature trail you can take out into the protected area of the dunes. It's sand walking though, lots of work.

The thing I don't like about the area is that it's a ATV campground. Most of the visitors are local weekenders/vacationers with their noisy, destructive vehicles.

If you are driving past, which you will be, it's good for maybe a lunch stop.

Hi Dennis,

By all means go to Escalante. The roads are in very good condition. The roads are just like all the other roads in the area. I would suggest going all the way to Boulder, Utah if you REALLY want to see some magnificant scenic views! This web site has some nice pictures of the area. http://www.so-utah.com/hwy12/homepage.html

You mentioned going in May. I hope you realize that the North Rim is closed until Mid-May. You might consider doing your trip in reverse...ie Zion, Bryce and then the North Rim to get there as late in May as possible.
http://www.nps.gov/grca/grandcanyon/trip_planner/index.htm

Have a good trip. May is an excellent time to visit. The weather isn't hot like it is in the summer. I will warn you that the evenings will probably be on the cold side.

Utahtea

Hi Dayle and Utahtea,
Thanks for the info. We will be going on our trip the last week in May so hopefully the weather will be ok at the North Rim then. From what I have read the weather can pretty unpredicatable. Glad to hear that the roads are in good shape to Escalante. We will definitely try to work that drive in with our schedule. Thanks a lot.

Misty,

If you are going to be in the area on Memorial Day weekend, be advised that there will be a LOT of people on the road!

Yes, the weather can be unpredictable. Back in the early 70's on our first trip to Bryce we had a warm sunny day and the next morning we woke to freak snow storm. This was over Memorial Day weekend. Last year we were in the area at the end of May and it was warm to almost hot.

Utahtea

Misty - you better hurry & get some lodging reservations! You are probably already too late for Memorial Weekend!

Thanks again Utahtea and Dayle! I am from SC and the weather here has been pretty unpredicatble too. The weather has been really nice and many of the flowering trees are starting to bloom but yesterday I awoke to a heavy frost. Fortunately, the blooms on the trees seems to have withstood the frost okay. Dayle, I have already made reservations. I made reservations for the Grand Canyon early in February. I wanted to get one of the western cabins but they only had the frontier cabins available which I reserved. I checked back a couple of days later to see if a western cabin had become available and they did not have anything available at all. So I guess I was lucky that I reserved when I did. I imagine it is going to be pretty hectic at the parks around Memorial Day but I had to plan my trip during the time my daughters are out of school and I wanted to visit before the weather got really hot. Utahtea, thanks for the websites. Really like the so.utah website. I also read a thread on Fodors about another website www.kaneutah and its pretty neat too. Utahtea and Dayle thanks for all your help. Have a nice day!

Misty,

We going to be in Greenville, SC this spring!

Do you have any recommendations on most scenic way to travel from New Orleans to Greenville, SC. I'm having a difficult time trying to decide on which route to take on this part of our trip. We also like history & waterfalls.

Utahtea

Misty,

I also forgot to tell you to check about 8 to 10 days before you trip to see if there were any cancellations for the Western Cabin. 10 days seems to be a magical number for people who cancel.

Have a good trip. I know you will enjoy the area.

Utahtea

Hi Utahteah!
I haven't ever been to New Orleans so I can't tell you about the best route to take to Greenville. I live in the lower part of the state (Pee Dee region). I have went through Greenville many times since my daughter is a freshman at Clemson University which is only appx 40 miles to the west of Greenville. We also go through Greenville when we go to the mountains in NC. If you have 2 or 3 days to spare I would recommend going up to Brevard, NC (from Greenville I believe this is hwy 276) and then at Brevard go west through Highlands, Cashiers all the way to Franklin.This is hwy 64. The area around Highlands has some of the most beautiful waterfalls. Macon,Jackson and Transylavania counties have the highest concentrations of waterfalls in NC. We went up there 3 years ago and enjoyed the drive. If you have time also visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I have a Falcon guide book titled Scenic Driving North Carolina by Laurence Parent which gives information on the many drives you can take up in the NC mountains and I recommend this guide book if you decide to head that way. Also you can check out the website
www.itpi.dpi.state.nc.us/caroclips/wfalls. I hope you enjoy your trip.

Misty,

Thank you for the information. I printed it out and will be looking at my map. We had planned on going to the Smokey Mts. after Greenville.

Thanks again!


Utahtea

Hi Utahtea,
Be sure to let us know about your upcoming trip. My family and I had considered going to New Orleans for vacation last year but we got a good travel deal in Montreal, Canada and went there instead. Hope you a great time!

Hi again Misty! I meant to tell you that you that Mem w/e is very crowded at all the Natl Parks. Suggest getting reservations for the others too if you haven't already!

Have a great time!

Hi Dayle,

Yep, we have already got reservations planned for all of our trip. From Vegas, we are stopping over in Kanab for one night and then heading out to the Grand Canyon early the next morning. We have reservations at Ruby Inn at Bryce, BW Zion Park Inn in Springdale, and our last night we will spend at Paris Las Vegas. I hope these will be good choices of places to stay.
I appreciate yours and Utahtea's help. Thanks a lot.

Great, then you're all set! You'll have a wonderful time. It's really beautiful that time of year...

Hi, Misty. You won't regret visiting the Escalante area. The conditions of the roads were great. Of course, some of them are winding and you must take care. Don't miss Hell's Backbone/Posey Lake and The Burr Trail. You didn't mention Capitol Reef NP, a less traveled but beautiful park. I believe the end of Burr Trail takes you into the back entrance of Capitol Reef through a maze of switchbacks. I might give a second thought to the North Rim and perhaps spend the extra time in Escalante/Bryce/Zion. If you want any more details you can contact me directly since I sometimes neglect to visit this site. Hope this has been a help. I we don't chat again have a wonderful trip and let us know what you thoink when you get back.

Hi Dennis, Thanks for your advice. I am planning on going all the way from Escalante to Boulder. I don't know if I will have time to fit in Capitol Reef or not. How far a drive is it from Boulder to Capitol Reef? Thanks again!

Just (03-27-02) drove from Capitol Reef to Bryce via Boulder and Escalante It is not that far about 30 miles from Torrey to Boulder, you do go up to 9400 feet great views.