HeyJude,

Yes, you need to check you map. Escalante is south of Capitol Reef, in between Boulder and Bryce Cayon.

It is NOT a short drive from Torrey and Capitol Reef to Escalante. If you stop for photos and a short hike, it will take a minimum of 1/2 day.

Moab is far southeast from both.

So the best plan for a week would be to: Fly into SLC and drive to Torrey for a couple of nights 2 or 3,
Then drive on to Moab for 4 or 5 nights
Then drive back to SLC to fly home.
Any suggestions about adding other places to visit either coming or going?

Hi HeyJude,

With a week, I would do

2 nts Torrey
1 nt Boulder or Escalante
4 nts Moab

There is so much great hiking plus other things to do that it's hard to choose when dividing up your time.

Have fun!

Thanks for the suggestion. After looking this up on a map, it might be better to try and get a flight into either Grand Junction or Durango. Possibly we could head from Durango to Mesa Verde and then on to boulder, then Torrey and finally on to Moab and possible fly out of Grand Junction. Any thoughts?

Are you camping? If so: Goblin Valley State Park, which is about 25 miles south of I-70 on Highway 24. I went on a 3 week road trip of utah and wyoming, and it was one of my favorite places. Very desolate, but unlike anything you've ever seen before (different from Arches etc.). The rocks and dried mud form these things that look like...large snowmen. Very cool. Google it to get a better idea.

Thanks for posting. No we are not camping. So far we are flying into Durango and driving to Mesa Verde(one night in Durango and one in Cortez) and then on to Moab where I have booked 4 nights and then have 2 more nights to plan giong back to SLC before flying out the next afternoon. I had posted on another site and gotten some good suggestions for Durango and Moab lodging. So this is where I am now. Any suggestions for spending the last two days from Moab to SLC. One posted said that Capital Reef was really out of the way for driving back to SLC. Any ideas???

Hi again Mike,

Going to Capitol Reef would not be a straight shoot back to SLC, but it would be very reasonable with 2 days.

From Moab to Capitol Reef is about 2 hours drive w/o stops. If you wanted, you could stop off at Goblin Valley as another suggested. It's a very unique place good for a short stop, but it is about 25 mi off hwy 24.

Another special place enroute off hyw 24 is Horseshoe Canyon in the Maze Dist of Canyonlands. You can hike to the Grand Gallery for one of the best petroglyph sites in the world. However, once again,it's a 30 mi drive on dirt road to the trail head and is impassable if wet or recent rains.

April will be cool in Capitol Reef as it's a bit higher in altitude than Moab. Perfect for hiking and the fruit trees in the campground might be blooming. Lots of lodging choices in Torrey. Cafe Diablo will probably not be open in April. They are summer season only.

From Capitol Reef to SLC is about 4 1/2 hours.

Thanks to eeryone. We have finalized our itinerary which is:
Day 1:Fly into Durango, stay at the Rochester Hotel,
Day 2: Mesa Verde, stay at Best Western at cortez
Day 3: Drive to Moab, stay 4 nights at Cali Cochitta
Day 7: Drive to Capital Reef stopping at Goblin Vally, stay 2 nights at Best Western in Torrey
Day 9: Up early and drive to SLC airport for a 2:00 flight.

Any suggestions? I booked at BW in Torrey in case we change our itinerary , you can cancell 24 hors before. Does anyone think we should stay closer to the airport the last night? Also are we really missing out on SLC? We really like nature and beautiful scenery. I didn't want to skip Capital Reef but I could cut it short. Thanks

Heyjude,

Your itinerary sounds just great. I think you can drive to SLC the morning of your flight. Just be sure to allow plenty of time for the unexpected, get up early!

You might want to visit SLC and Park City in conjunction with a future Yellowstone/Tetons trip!

Have fun!

Thanks Dayle. We have done the Yellowstone Teton trip 2 years ago. But for some reason we never seem to visit a city. I think we'll be ok driving too. It's a sunday and I hope traffic will be minimal.

No you won't have any weekday traffic and as long as you aren't traveling on a holiday weekend (Easter?) you won't have people returning from southern Utah. If it is Easter weekend, you will have some traffic, but shouldn't be slow.

SLC is a very nice city, but not a place to go just for a visit on it's own. Many of the surrounding places like Park City and Snowbird/Alta are great places for an active vacation.

Give us a trip report when you get back.

Thanks. Will do!