Southern National Parks in the spring

[JCasper]

So here is our tentative plan. We've been busy so I have not been doing much planning but I need to get on the phone Soon and make some reservations.

 

[JCasper]

Making reservations now

So our plan is to leave on May 2nd.



Stay one night in Eastern Oregon

One night around Salt Lake

Two nights at Arches National park

Two nights at Bryce

Two nights at Zion

Two nights at Page AZ

Three nights at Grand Canyon



Then maybe head through Vegas, the middle of Nevada to Reno and out to I-5 home.

 

[RedRamer]

If you know for sure what night you'll be in the canyon, make reservations because the CG with electricity is full all the time and the overflow CG has none and you could have to wait 2-3 days without electricity.

you might want to look into buying a National park card. We paid $50. 00 but I think they went up in price. The canyon entrance by itself was $25. 00 2 yrs ago!

happy trails.

 

[JCasper]

If you know for sure what night you'll be in the canyon, make reservations because the CG with electricity is full all the time and the overflow CG has none and you could have to wait 2-3 days without electricity.

you might want to look into buying a National park card. We paid $50. 00 but I think they went up in price. The canyon entrance by itself was $25. 00 2 yrs ago!

happy trails.

Thanks for the heads up. I made reservations yesterday for the majority of our trip. I hate being on a schedule as I have never been to any of these places, but the way it is anymore with campgrounds I felt I had to get the reservations made.



I so far have reservations made for:



Arches

Zion

Page

Grand Canyon



Bryce doesn't do reservations until May 15th and we will be there before that.

 

[BarryG]

Sounds like a great trip. Are you staying in the Arches Campground? That is a scenic campground. After you do the arches loop make sure and get over to Dead Horse Point SP (from the HWY you can be at DHP in 30 minutes or so, sunset or sunrise is best). It is one of the best views anywhere. Looking out over the goosenecks and the incredible view down into Canyonlands National Park. And if you have the time while up there might as well do the Canyonlands Island in the Sky loop. If you only have time to do one of those choose Dead Horse over Island in the Sky. And if you arent hauling your trailer and still have a couple hours take the Shaefer Trail down and back out to Moab. You come out on the Potash rd just south of Arches entrance. You will see the Shaefer trail below you when looking out over Dead Horse Point. It is not that bad of a road (have seen many cars on it) but the going is slow and will take a couple hours to get back to Moab.



From Moab you are heading to Bryce? Going back to I-70 then to US24 to Hanksville then Loa to HWY 12? HWY 12 is a scenic backcountry rd. It is probably one of the top 2 roads for scenery I have ever been on (and is good road). If you take 12 make sure and do a couple of the viewpoints towards the top of the mountain you can see forever,. In fact you will easily be able to see Navajo Mountain which is down by Page. If you arent going that way think about it at least the hwy 12 part there are other ways to get to 12 that are more scenic than I-70/US24 but they will take longer. US 24 also goes through the heart of Capitol Reef NP nice scenery as well.



Bryce is one of my favorite places and the trails are good if not a bit steep in places as you have to get down into the canyon however you have to get back up as well. They have several options for short hikes down into the canyon.



From Bryce through Red Canyon and down 89 to Carmel Junction the east side of Zion is certainly less crowded than the west side and while not quite as dramatic is still unbelievable. On the east side of the Tunnel at Zion is a parking area and short hike to the canyon overlook. It is quite a view. Make sure and notice the very nice slot canyon right below you (Pine Creek Slot) on the short trail out to the view point. Zion Canyon proper not sure if you will need to use the shuttle in early May or not but just make sure and take water with you on it. The shuttle does do a good job of getting you around. The campgrounds in Zion, only one has hookups and it is only power but water is available from large spigots at each restroom so you may have to haul some water if you pull in dry which you may if you stay in Bryce NP proper as they are dry as well or were last time I was there.



Page- the Glen Canyon Dam tour is pretty neat. Used to be a self guided tour but I think with 9/11 it has switched to a guided one. Also just east of town is Antelope Canyon (upper and lower). They are worth seeing even if you only do one of them. You have to pay to get in but very very scenic slot canyons that are very easy to get into. The upper one they will shuttle you up in a van (only a mile or two) and you walk right in. The lower one you can walk right to (after you pay) but it does have some ladders you have to negotiate.



Grand Canyon is awesome as you are already aware. If you can stop at Desert View and check out the tower it is a truely neat building (one of the first as you enter the park). It might be called the Desert View tower cant remember for sure but it is a really cool building to go into it is just a tourist trap on the inside but the building itself is quite remarkable. Same with the Hopi building (I think that is name of it) in GC Village. It also is really just a store but again the building itself is worth seeing. Make sure and take the shuttle west of the Village and if you have the time and inclination hike between some of the viewpoints out there. You will run across few people and the trail runs along the rim (it is flat and very easy) and is so much less crowded than the rim trail by the village and east of it. You can catch the shuttle at any viewpoint. It is only seven miles or so from the farthest west point back to the village but you can hike between one or two of them and catch the shuttle again.



Make sure and take something that you can haul water (5gal container) in for your trailer as several of the places you are staying have water available but no hookups if you are staying in the parks proper. Also make sure and take water with you every where you go especially for the little ones. And last but not least be very very careful with your eyes. There will be several days where they may ache at the end of the day from all of the eyeball busting scenery they are going to see. :-laf

 

[JCasper]

BarryG, thanks for all the great info.



I will look at those routes when I am at home and see about taking them.



I will also print this thread out to take on my trip.



At Arches I reserved the KOA. It looked to be close and had hookups which come in handy with the little ones.



It sounds like a busy trip, but for some reason that's just how we end up doing vacations. We run like crazy and see as much as possible.



I'll have time to rest later in life. LOL

 

[JCasper]

WoooHooo, only a month to go.





May 2nd is just around the corner

 

[JCasper]

So we are getting close to leaving and were wondering one thing.



Are trip looks busy and although we travel that way a lot, we were also considering cutting out Bryce canyon and staying an extra day in Arches and an extra day in Zion.



Any suggestions to that plan?

 

[Grey Wolf]

I think that's a great plan I always enjoyed Zion way more than Bryce, they both have their merits I just enjoy Zion more. Just my 2 cents worth

 

[jkidd]

Arches and Moab are great, and on the way (longer) to the grand canyon.



if you end up going through NW new mexico there are is an Ice cave and a bunch of dormant volcanoes there about 20 miles off the main road.



Stay away from meteor crater. can't believe I spent money to go on a dumb tour and see a hole in the ground. the volcano hike/ice caves was much cheaper, less commercial and better scenery.

 

[jkidd]

capitol reef is nice/ near zions

also monumant valley might be neat for the little one. It is the scenery that disneys CARS used.

 

[BarryG]

JC:

If you are still going to take hwy 12 (which I do highly recommend) to 89 then down to Zion then you will literally drive right by Bryce. While Bryce is one of my favorites it is one you can get the general gist of by spending only a couple hours there. Go in to Sunrise Point, park, hike down at Sunrise Point back out at Sunset point or vice versa. It is only a couple miles at most. You will come up a couple hundred yards from your parking spot and you get the real feel for the park in just that one short hike. Even if you dont do the hike and just walk between those couple viewpoints it is worth the hour it will take and you will still get to Zion well before dark that day. I think Bryce to Zion is approx 100-120 miles ish. On the other hand if you dont take hwy 12 you can take I-70 to I-15 down to Zion in about 5 hours or so. However the scenrey starts out great on I-70 once past Green River and going up on the San Rafael Swell but once down the other side it gets less and less so until you hit 15 then it is well not much scenery until you turn off to go to Zion and even that is not great until you get there.

 

[JCasper]

JC:

If you are still going to take hwy 12 (which I do highly recommend) to 89 then down to Zion then you will literally drive right by Bryce. While Bryce is one of my favorites it is one you can get the general gist of by spending only a couple hours there. Go in to Sunrise Point, park, hike down at Sunrise Point back out at Sunset point or vice versa. It is only a couple miles at most. You will come up a couple hundred yards from your parking spot and you get the real feel for the park in just that one short hike. Even if you dont do the hike and just walk between those couple viewpoints it is worth the hour it will take and you will still get to Zion well before dark that day. I think Bryce to Zion is approx 100-120 miles ish. On the other hand if you dont take hwy 12 you can take I-70 to I-15 down to Zion in about 5 hours or so. However the scenrey starts out great on I-70 once past Green River and going up on the San Rafael Swell but once down the other side it gets less and less so until you hit 15 then it is well not much scenery until you turn off to go to Zion and even that is not great until you get there.

My wife wants to go to Bryce still so we will camp there for 2 nights.



I am going to try and take your advice on routes. I like to see as much scenery as possible even if it is from the truck.

 

[JCasper]

Leaving tomorrow afternoon around 3:00

 

[BarryG]

Goodluck JC and have a great trip. Wish I was heading out this afternoon.

 

[JCasper]

Today we came out of Moab up 191, to I-70 then to UT-24. We stopped to eat and missed our turn on UT-12, The GPS showed us some other road. Let me just say, when you hit gravel you should turn around. We didn't, and an hour later we were back on the correct UT-12 and headed the right way. Truck and trailer filthy.



Tonight it is pretty stormy here at Bryce. We did drive up to the Canyon and we saw 12 antelope and 11 deer.





Overall the trip is going great and Arches and Canyonlands are awesome

 

[Grey Wolf]

Thanks for the update, have you seen any wild flowers on the trip so far? Enjoy your trip

 

[StricklandJ]

Monumant valley is a great place to go, I went there last summer.

 

[JCasper]

Thanks for the update, have you seen any wild flowers on the trip so far? Enjoy your trip

We've seena few so far.



Having a great time.



I would of loved to go to Monument valley but time just didn't allow.



We are in Page now for a couple nights and then headed off to the Grand Canyon

 

[CUMMINZ]

We to are planning a trip from central NC to that area for first three weeks in June. We are starting out around Estes Park, Co. working our way to Penrose then straight across the state to Moab then down to Gallup then back east on I-40. We are counting the days.



Next weekend we will be camping at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the All-Star races.