My husband planned a thrilling 17 day adventure of Nevada, Utah and Arizona. We visited 6 National Parks, 3 State Parks, 2 Navajo Nation Historic sites and 1 National Park site. I will post the highlights and how we spent our time.
Las Vegas: We flew into Las Vegas and met up with our friends from Texas. We had scheduled 3 days here and stayed in the Palazzo Tower at the Venetian. We were able to explore and take in a magic show during our stay. In my opinion 2 days would of been plenty. If you have been to Vegas before, you might even decide to skip this stay and head on out on your adventures straight from the airport.
We left early in the morning on our 3rd day, due to Zion National Park being a 5.5 hour drive and you lose an hour when you enter Utah. We stopped for groceries on our way out of town because once you get into the National Park areas, you will be limited to convenience type stores. So a cooler, ice, drinks, snacks, breakfast and lunch supplies are a good idea to pack for your adventure.
Valley of Fire State Park: 1.5 hours into the drive from Vegas there is a lovely State Park. We visited several of the rock formations (The Beehives, Atlatl Rock, Windstone Arch) and 2 smaller hikes (White Domes Loop and Elephant Rock. We had a picnic lunch in the park before heading on to Zion.
Zion National Park: We left Valley of Fire State Park and headed to the Kolob Canyon section of Zion National Park. The drive was 2.75 hours. We hiked the Timber Creek Overlook trail in Kolob Canyon and then headed to the main entrance of Zion National Park. The main entrance is one hour away from the Kolob Canyon section of the park.
We had 3 nights and 2 full days in Zion. We had a permit to hike Angels Landing the next morning but much to our disappointment, Angels Landing had been closed the day we arrived, due to some chains breaking and we were not able to do that hike. We were able to hike The Narrows, which is a hike not to be missed in Zion National Park. We also hiked the Emerald Pools, the trailhead was directly across from the lodge.
Kodachrome Basin State Park: The drive was 2 hours and 20 min from Zion. We passed Bryce Canyon National Park to head into Kodachrome Basin State Park. We decided to do a hike to Cool Cave and have our lunch there. The day we were there was extremely hot and this area is very much a desert. Please keep this in mind. After the hike most in the group were weary, due to the heat. But we saw lots of nice rock formations on the hike.
Bryce Canyon National Park: We backtracked to head into Bryce Canyon National Park, a 45 min drive. We had 2 nights and 1 full day in Bryce. There is a small town outside of the National Park entrance. We had dinner there since our room at Bryce Canyon lodge was not ready yet.
The next day we did the scenic driving tour with the whole group. After getting back, 4 of the group decided to hike down into the hoodoos on the Queens Garden-Navajo Loop trail.
Capital Reef National Park: After leaving Bryce Canyon National Park we drove to Capital Reef State Park, a 2.5 hour drive from Bryce. Scenic byway 12 has been touted as one of the most beautiful highways in the world. We stopped at many of the overlooks (Chimney Rock, Gifford Homestead, Fruita Schoolhouse, Fremont Petroglyphs and Behunin Cabin) on our way to Moab. Gifford Homestead is a must, for their homemade pies and ice cream, there is a picnic area there.
Moab: The drive is 2 hours and 40 min from Capital Reef. Moab is Utah’s epicenter of adventure and is a great hub to visit Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point State Park and Corona and Bow Tie Arches. Mountain Biking, rafting the Colorado River, rock climbing and hiking are a few of the activities available in Moab. We spent 4 nights and 3 full days here.
Monument Valley: The drive is 3.25 hours from Moab. Monument Valley is on the Navajo Reservation and all activities are governed by the Navajo Nation. We got to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and had a back country park tour scheduled for 1p. Our guide Bobby was fabulous. We spent one night at the View Hotel.
Antelope Canyon: The drive is 3 hours from Monument Valley. We were able to tour the canyon and still head to Horseshoe Bend on our way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
North Rim of the Grand Canyon: The drive is 2.5 hours from Antelope Canyon. We spent 3 nights and 2 full days here. We did several scenic drives and hikes here (Bright Angel Point, Transept trail, Walhalla Overlook, Cape Royal and Point Imperial)
Vegas: The drive is 4.5 hours from the North Rim. So make sure you leave in plenty of time to gas up your rental and get checked in at the airport.
