Lessons from road tripping the Utah National Parks

My Mum and I road tripped 5 of the National Parks in Southern Utah a few years ago and here are my takeaways and tips I would give to someone planning this trip! Watch the highlights video here.

E-biking through Zion National Park. Video here.

If you plug in “national parks” to Google Maps it will show you the loop they are in. Zion is the most popular which will need reservations and the most planning so use that as your schedule guide.

Zion

So much red rock in Utah!

1.      The most famous hike is Angels Landing. The drive into Zion is spectacular but the main road in the park is shuttle or e-bike only. You are at elevation so prepare for that with any hikes you take – Mum and I e-biked the main road and it was a highlight. The other famous hike is the narrows – if the water is up you rent water boots and a stick and walk up the stream through the canyon. If there’s no water, (too late into summer drought season) it’s not really worth it. No reservations are needed for equipment until you are there – the rental place is at the very front gate. There are lots of very cute hotels in the town (Springdale) just outside of Zion. And there is an ice cream shop with great lemonade in town also.

2.      If you want to take longer you can drive into the top of Arizona and stay at glamping tents with beds inside. We stayed at Zion View Camping – it was a big canvas tent with a bed inside and nice bathrooms.

Bryce

The famous hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park

1.      The most interesting park in my opinion – there’s a lot of trees in this park despite it being a rock-based park. The hoodoos are here and they can be mostly viewed from above in the parking lot but you can hike down and around them.

2.      A special view point here is the Natural Bridge

3.      Highway 89 runs North/South just West of here and the towns have hotel options

Capitol Reef          

1.      Airbnb cabins are a good option this far out – and having a kitchen is easier than finding meals out. This portion of Utah barely has coffee shops.

Never underestimate your iPhone in night mode!

Arches

1.      This park is huge and there is one road with a very long climb so arrive early or very late. The arches look very cool at sunset/night time.

2.      Best place to stay is anywhere in Moab – there is also world famous mountain biking trails in Moab. The other option is Green River but there really is only one decent hotel in that town and one place for dinner (Mexican food truck) so I wouldn’t advise it.

3.      The best hikes are out to massive arches so google search which ones you want to go see in person.

Canyonlands

1.      Great place to hike and there is a great educational center. I would pick a home base to stay between Arches and Canyonlands and spend a few days doing both parks and the general area.

Escalante

1.      We stayed at a wonderful glamping location that has luxury cabins at a great price, plus pool, drive in movies and hiking trails with slot canyons just down the road. It used to be called Stay Yonder, its been renamed OFLAND and was a highlight of our trip.

a.      The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is right nearby with incredible slot canyons you can easily hike to and other great hikes.

OFLAND glamping, formerly called Yonder. Video tour here.

Other parks and areas of interest:

Red Cliffs National Conservation Area

Sand Hollow State Park

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Kodachrome Basin State Park

Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

Manti-La Sal National Forest

Lake Mead

Hoover Dam

Video tour of our glamping tent near Zion National Park here.

Additional Information:

-        We did all 5 parks in a week and so did my best friends on their honeymoon. I would recommend including the Grand Canyon and Nevada on the loop if you are trying to extend your time out there.

-        Take a cooler as not all places have cold drinks or fridges and the heat arrives very quickly

-        Cabins in Utah are best found on Airbnb

-        I had the best luck with Booking.com for hotels – be weary of booking rental properties that are privately owned (homes) on Booking as this is a known issue of fake properties. Also, if you receive direct messages from the property on booking for additional money after you have paid or agreed to pay on-site do not reply – this is also a known scam on 2nd party sites right now. Contact the property directly.

-        You really will not need much cash anywhere – reservations are done through recreation.gov for national parks

-        If you want to take a big loop home cut through Colorado and Wyoming but know that Highway 25 (north/south Wyoming) does go through high desert and bald mountain areas so it’s not as lush as Idaho/Montana

-        State Parks have day fees that differ from state to state and there is no pass that covers them all so you are best to just purchase upon arrival

-        Your camera roll will be a LOT of photos of rocks by the time you are done south Utah but it’s otherworldly to experience – like Mars on Earth!

Happy road tripping!