winter break thru Utah's Grand Circle
 

We have already visited Zion, Bryce, and GC the last few years and loved them all. We're planning to visit the "other half" of Utah's Grand Circle. this Christmas. Here's our tentative itinerary:

12/24-12/25 Monument Valley (Goulding's Lodge)
12/26-12/30 Moab (BW Canyonland or Holiday Inn Express, any preference ?)
12/31-01/01 Torrey (Days Inn b/c BW is sold out)

Momument Valley and Torrey may be swapped. Any recommendation on whether to tour Utah by driving clockwise or counterclockwise as far scenery is concern.

Hopefully we won't encounter any major storm during that time of year.

Our itinerary is set in stone, so any recommendation for sites / stops along would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much in advance!

I've driven all directions in this area and it really won't make any difference. I've never been in winter but would love to go. I hope you will come back and give a trip report.

What I've been told is Torrey, Utah at 6,830 ft. elevation has very cold winters. Moab, Utah at 4571 ft. elevation I've heard is kind of in a banana belt and they don't get as much snow as surrounding areas.

Utahtea

Thanks for the info.

Is it reasonable to drive between Torrey and Cedar City in a shorter day in Dececmber and still enjoy the drive of Hwy 12 ?

I would check road conditions before I drove Hwy 12 because it goes over Boulder Mountain at over 9,000 ft. elevation.

You should have enought time. Once you leave Hwy 12 which route were you taking to Cedar City? There are a couple of choices and again, I would check before driving any of them. Hwy 20 is going to be the fastest, then Hwy 14 and Hwy 143 will be a toss up. Did you plan to stop at Cedar Breaks National Monument?

Utahtea

Utahtea, thanks for the advice.

Like you suggest, this drive really depends on the weather at the time. Given time & weather condition, we would prefer to drive Hwy 14 to visit Cedar Breaks NM.

If the weather is really poor, we would just spend additional nights in Moab, skip Capitol Reef & Hwy 12, and just catch the I-15.
We live in Los Angeles and the SW Utah is relative close for an extended day weekend trip of Cedar Breaks, Hwy 12, and Capitol Reef at another time.

thanks much!