I expect to be in Salt Lake City and have three days to drive down to see any national park. I will mainly be viewing places by driving, or short hikes (1-2 miles). I have no clue which park would be the most accessible without a lot of hiking and might be nicest this time of the year. The Moab area? the Zion area? Or would driving less far to Capitol Reef park be almost as scenic? Also, would any area be better than another for birding? Best to stay in a couple of different places or would one place be best? Thanks for any input.

I would take the Bryce canyon park.Take the Queen's garden trail and Navajo trail combination.You'll love it.Paul

I agree with Paul.

Bryce probably gives you the most "shock" for the buck. Many places are beautiful but Bryce is one of a kind. Absolutely spectacular.

Most people who do the hikes that he mentioned go down Navajo Loop and back up Queen's Garden. This is because Navajo loop is somewhat steeper so they do it going down.

I would also visit a few of the viewpoints but wouldn't bother going past Natural Bridge as the rest are pretty much the same.

With 3 days I would then go to Zion. Very different since Bryce is ove 8,000 feet in elevation and Zion is about 4,000 feet lower and much warmer. They are less than 2 hours apart (about 80 miles). I would recommend the Riverside Walk for a nice easy hike/walk. Beautiful scenery along the river. Shher mountains up each side. I saw some deer walking there.

You can see my photos at:

www.travelwalks.com

select the Bryce, Zion trip on the lower right side of the page.

I would do Arches National Park. My daughter and I did this over Memortial Day Weekend and it was great. We were there for 3 days and pretty much saw everything. There are several day hikes in the park. If you are adventuresome so a trip with www.deserthighlights.com This is canyoneering and it is fantastic.
Definately see Delicate Arch at Sunset (this is the Arch that you see everywhere). Also see Landscape Arch and do the entire primitve loop trail seeing all the arches along the way.
Don't miss Double Arch and Balanced Rock. Canyonland NP is very short distance away. Do drive to Deadhorse Point State Park for one heck of a view. This view is similar to Grand Canyon, but Colorado River is Goosenecking around and it is very very impressive. This view is looking into Canyonland Island in the Sky District. There is a ton of other things to do. Hummer tour is scary. Everyone bicycles on slickrock trails.
You can't go wrong with the other parks. I would pretty much concentrate my time to one park. Much of Utah has scenic drives. Utah 12 is considered the best. Bryce could get a little chilly, but I think you are going at a nice time and I would think the crowds would be light. Checkout Moab Adventure Center website also. Eat at Moab Brewery while there. Lots of B&B in area. We just stayed at LaQuinta. It was clean and a nice place, but nothing special. We didn't stay in our rooms other than to sleep anyway. Several good places to eat in town. Arches is small park and very easy to get around in. It is not overwhelming. You can pretty much see all of the highlights and none of them are just overwhelming to attempt. For red rock, there is nothing like southern Utah.

Nice pics Meyer!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Joy,

I assume you need to return to SLC to fly out, so remember the driving times. To Moab is 4.5 hours, to Zion is 5 and to Bryce about 4.

We have had a couple of snow storms and quite a lot of snow up high (8,000 ft.) this weekend. Bryce is at 8,000 ft., so you will probably have snow. It will be beautiful, but maybe not great for hiking.

Zion should be very nice. Still green as they are low enough that the leaves don't really turn until November.

Moab will be nice too, cold at night. I usually like to go in October and will be down there in a couple weeks. Utahtea is there now in her motorhome.

I think you should save Moab for when you have more time. Zion and Bryce would make a nice, mostly driving trip.
Although, to me 3 days including driving would still be short, but I'm a big hiker.

Have fun!

Thank you all so much for your input. I have a couple of other questions -- is the drive down the interstate to St. George scenic? Are any of the drives in the parks particularly difficult for someone not used to mountain driving? I especially enjoyed the pictures posted - they were great! I would appreciate any other input...

If you are driving to Zion, you will go down I15 as far as Toquerville, where you exit to go a bit east to Zion. It's a 2 lane road for about 40 minutes to Springdale. No big deal at all, it's not mountain driving.

If you go from Zion to Bryce, you will drive the steep switchbacks east through Zion on hwy 9, through the tunnel, up and out of the park. Then the drive to Bryce is again 2 lane road. Nothing difficult or even steep or windy.

From Bryce back to I15 will have a bit of mountain driving, again on 2 lane roads until you hit I15. Nothing scary at all. Driving in Bryce is no problem. No drop offs, you are pretty much on the plateau, gradual elevation gain to the far end of the park, not windy or steep.

You need to drive carefully at dusk and night, early morning too. Southern UT is loaded with deer. Zion canyon has deer and wild turkeys!

I loved Arches NP too, especially the hike to Delicate Arch.

When I go back to SLC I plan to go to Sundance - just to see it.

If you are staying IN SLC for part of the trip, consider going to a (free) rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Really enjoyed the experience.

Thanks all again so much. Can't wait to get there!

Bryce is worth it...spectacular red rock but, yes, I have camped in a measley tent during a very (I thought) unsual for the first week of October snowstorm...but was romantic & beautiful...but COOOOOLD! When you do go to Sundance you must at least stay overnight...it's earthy, cozy,romantic & rustic...and both restaurants there (forgetting names right now) are worth eating at. Have stayed at Deer Valley, Park City, Sundance many times.....enjoy!