Shanti

Southwest is having a sale on flights until tomorrow so I'll be locking in travel dates. I had hoped to have a little more time to see if I could get a few more days off of work, but Southwest's fares are really reasonable. So it looks like I'll have eight days, including arriving and departing from Las Vegas.

I'm not going to make reservations ahead of time in case I have to change plans due to yucky weather. I have to say, I'm delighted with the cost of lodging in January. And I don't think I'll have a problem finding an available room with a few days notice.

Day 1: Fly into Las Vegas, arrive mid to late morning. Drive to Kanab and stay the night.

Day 2: Drive to the Wave trail head and hike. Then drive to Page and spend the night.

Day 3: Visit Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. Drive to Monument Valley and spend the night.

Day 4: If we didn't take the drive in Monument Valley, do it this morning. Then drive to Moab.

Day 5: Arches

Day 6: Not sure. I'm wondering if it'll be too cold at Canyonlands and/or Dead Horse Point State Park. If it is too cold, drive to Zion?

Day 7: Spend the night somewhere near Las Vegas.

Day 8: Fly home.

I have a couple contingency plans. If the weather is bad around Arches, we could go to Zion on day 5.

What do you think? Thanks in advance.

emalloy

Sounds full but doable. Lodging in those areas at that time of year should be no problem. If Monument Valley is full, check out Kayenta or Mexican Hat. If Moab is full check Green River.

If you don't have a permit to hike the wave, be aware that you need one and check with BLM on how to get one at this time or on the morning of the hike.

Shanti

Thanks, emalloy. I do have permits. I posted about that on another thread but it would help to post it here, too.

spirobulldog

I always give www.deserthighlights.com a plug in Moab. They do canyoneering and it is great if you are a little adventurous. Have you been to Moab before? I would think weather would be more of a factor in Zion than Moab. But Moab requires a greater distance to travel.

Not to far from Monument Valley is Moki Dugway and Goosenecks of San Juan State Park. If you did those, you could drive up and do Natural Bridges National Monument. I would choose Moab over this, but it still could be an option.

Rainbow Bridge in Page. I don't know if they do a tour to Rainbow Bridge in the winter. I have always wanted to see it for some reason.

Bill_H

Looks like a really good plan. No problem with finding hotels that time of year in Moab or Monument Valley.

Day 6: Not sure. I'm wondering if it'll be too cold at Canyonlands and/or Dead Horse Point State Park. If it is too cold, drive to Zion?

Should be OK at Island in the Sky unit, probably cold and windy but so long as there's no snow you'll be fine. Most of the overlooks aren't far from the parking and there are some great views up there, for sure try to get up there.

hawksbill

On the way from Monument Valley to Moab, I recommend a meal stop at San Juan River Kitchen in Bluff. It's conveniently located almost right across the street from Bluff's only functioning gas station/general store.

Goosenecks State Park wouldn't be a long detour from that segment, and I think it would be worth taking the extra time if you can. It's a short stop. The views are quite similar to Dead Horse Point State Park, and in my opinion, one doesn't need to see both on the same trip. Goosenecks is by far the better of the two, IMHO. Maybe Horseshoe Bend is in the same category too, but I can't comment on it, because I haven't been there.

It would also be interesting to detour north on UT-261, as spirobulldog suggests, which could take you to the Moki Dugway, Mulley Point (spectacular views of Monument Valley with the Goosenecks of the San Juan River in the foreground), and perhaps Natural Bridges National Monument. But this would add a lot more time to the trip, if you do anything more than driving up the Moki Dugway and back down again.

In case you were wondering about it, I'd skip driving Valley of the Gods Road. It's just not worth the wear and tear on your car, spine, and itinerary. You can get good views of the VoG from the UT-261 and US-163 anyway, and you'd just be disappointed if you've already driven Monument Valley.

Shanti

Wow! Great suggestions!

I'm afraid we messed up. BF was busy yesterday so we didn't book our flights until today and, unfortunately, there wasn't as good of a selection as there was yesterday. So we're only going to have six instead of seven days. From now on, I book flights immediately when there's a good sale. OTOH, I know we'll want to go back and what we can't see this time, we'll see on another trip.

I'd still like to go to Arches. I really like the idea of going to Delicate Arch when there's not a huge crowd.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I'll have to do some research and figure out what we'll have time for.

spirobulldog

If this is your first trip to Arches/Moab, I might save it for later. Depending on what you like to do, there is plenty to keep you busy there for several days. Seems like a long way out of the way for just a day or two.

spirobulldog

I like Deadhorse and Goosenecks both. I think Deadhorse is more dramatic. However, the curves in the San Juan River(the goosenecks) are the best curves(entrenched meadandering) or example of this in the world. For me, I find them to look a lot different. I don't really consider them to be similar at all. I do agree with Hawksbill about Valley of the Gods Road. I didn't find it to be that impressive(at least compared to other things in the area). VOG B&B is really nice though.

Sipapu Bridge at NBNM is one awesome span. I think it's about as good as the stuff you see in Arches. It is just massive when you stand under it. We had it to ourselves on a Memorial Day Weekend, so you might have the entire park to yourself in Jan or Feb. The other two bridges there are pretty good, but Sipapu is the bomb.

Shanti

You have a point. We may end up saving Monument Valley and Moab for another trip. I'd love to go there this January but am trying to be realistic.

We may end up going to Zion and Valley of Fire instead. And if the weather is really awful, driving out to Death Valley instead of Zion.

InSandy

Zion in the winter has its own beauty and is worth at least a short visit.

WhereAreWe

Suggestions:

1) Keep look at Southwest's fares as they seem to have rather frequent sales. With no change fees, you might be able to add a day or more to your trip when their next sale comes up, provided you can get that time off of work.

2) Death Valley is always a good option for at least a couple of days, much better than Valley of Fire. A good trip would be to spend 3-4 days in the general vicinity of the Wave/Zion and the other 2-3 days at Death Valley. It's a huge park.

3) Or, if Arches is a must-do then skip Death Valley and Zion altogether and focus on everything beyond the Wave (distance wise). I always think that if someone is going to drive as far as Moab from Vegas, they should spend a good amount of time there and save the closer destinations (like Zion) for a shorter trip. The farther I drive, the more time I want to spend at the destination furthest from my starting point. It's pretty easy to find good airfare and a long weekend to go to Zion/Bryce for 2-4 days from Vegas on another trip.

Good thing is you're going in the off-season so you can be flexible. Also, you'll drive through Zion on the way to Kanab so you'll get a sense of what it's all about. You could try to plan on spending a few hours there depending on when your flight arrives instead of just driving straight to Kanab. I don't recall that drive as being particularly scenic past Zion, definitely not as scenic as some of the other places you're going.

spirobulldog

I like the parks in Utah better than Death Valley. However, Death Valley really suprised me at how much I did enjoy it. I wasn't expecting much, but turned out to be very interesting place.

StantonHyde

In kanab, my favorite restaurant is the Rocking V. Great variety, locally sourced, good wine list. I usually stay at the best western, but lastonth I stayed at the Treasure Trail--it was fine & cheap. Aikens lodge is also good for less $.

Shanti

Thanks for the feedback.

It looks like we'll only have six days. BF is transferring jobs about a month before the trip and it will be easier telling his new boss that he wants six days off instead of seven.

So here's my revised itinerary. I've decided to save locations east of the Wave for a future trip.

Day 1: Fly to Las Vegas, drive to Kanab.
Day 2: Hike the Wave, stay in Kanab.
Day 3: Drive to Turoweap and back, stay in Kanab.
Day 4: Drive to Zion. I'm tending towards staying at the Desert Pearl. Almost all of the restaurants are closed in January so it would be useful to have a microwave and fridge. Plus it looks like a very nice place & good rates in January.
Day 5: Stay in Zion
Day 6: Spend time in Zion then drive to Overton, NV and
visit Valley of Fire State Park.
Day 7: Spend time in Valley of Fire via Northshore Road

I could substitute a night at Bryce before Zion instead of Valley of Fire on Day 6 - but that would mean a long drive to catch a 3pm flight out of Las Vegas and I'm leery about anything going wrong and missing the flight.

And, again, my itinerary is subject to the weather. I'm hoping for a dry and warm January.

So what do you think?
Thanks!

Bill_H

The drive to Toroweap (day 3) could easily be a problem. This is a very isolated area, has a bit of elevation and isn't maintained well after storms.

Maybe check road conditions soon after you arrive in Kanab (the BLM office should know), and as a backup maybe plan on driving to Page that day, where there are enough things to do to keep you entertained.

tomfuller

You didn't say when your flight got into LV on day 1.
The direct routes from LV to Kanab take nearly 4 hours.
If you got into LV early enough, you could go to Hoover Dam and then head up the west side of Lake Meade through the Valley Of Fire and tie into I-15 near Glendale. There is no sense in risking missing a flight to see Valley of Fire.
Your reserved lodging in Kanab will be waiting for you when you get there. Sound like a great trip if you don't encounter snow at high elevations.

Shanti

Toroweap could be a big problem. Under ideal circumstances it's - how should I put it? - an interesting drive, and we won't attempt it if the road is in worse shape than usual. I have a phone number to call to find out about current conditions. If it doesn't work out, well, we'll make it there eventually during another trip.

I'm tending towards going to Bryce (assuming the weather cooperates) if we can't go to Toroweap. I'm going to a wedding in Sedona in June and am planning to add a visit to Page and that area during that trip. Plus in June we'd be able to go kayaking and visit the North Rim, too.

We're scheduled to get into Las Vegas at 11:30 am. By the time we get our luggage and rental car, we'd probably have just enough time to get to Kanab before dark. I don't want to stop at Valley of Fire on our way to Zion because I'd rather not drive in the dark.

I'm not worried about catching our flight back home if we stay in Nevada the night before. It's less than a two hour drive, if we don't stop anywhere. And we should have time to make a stop or two on our way back to the airport. I was more concerned about trying to catch our flight if we stayed in Zion on the night before we go home. It's about three hours from Zion to the airport, so we could probably make it. But if anything went wrong, we'd be in a pickle.

WhereAreWe

Toroweap would be a great trip but everything I've heard is the roads aren't great, sharp rocks and a slow drive.

I would lean towards this: skip Toroweap. Stay in Page on night 2 after the Wave, then do Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend on day 3. Drive to Bryce that same day and stay there overnight. This will give you the chance to do those things in Page that you originally wanted to do, plus will allow you to add in Bryce before Zion. Leave the rest of your days as is and you can see everything and still have a short drive to the airport on the last day.

I think getting out of Kanab will make your itinerary easier, maybe even just drive there on day 1?

tomfuller

If you are going to see Valley of Fire at the end of your trip, you could stay at the Hacienda which is the closest place to stay near Hoover Dam. http://www.haciendaonline.com/index.html
I remember seeing a helicopter tour that takes off from the corner of the Hacienda parking lot.