2020 may have prohibited us from our international travel plans, but it didn’t keep us from exploring. When considering how to travel this year, we knew we wanted to visit more rural locales, and our national parks were an obvious choice.
Only 29 states have national parks, and Utah has five: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion. Only Alaska and California have more with eight and nine respectively.
We flew into Las Vegas and were lucky to have only 15 people on our flight and to get upgraded to first class because of that so it wasn’t hard to socially distance on the way. Upon arrival we got an Instacart delivery and rented a car to make the drive to Southern Utah.
Arches National Park
Arches is one of the most accessible parks we’ve visited with a few difficult trails, a few moderate and plenty of easy trails or driveable overlooks. Depending on your pace you could visit all the sights in one day, but I definitely recommend two if you’re going to do any major hiking.
Delicate Arch is the main attraction in the park. If you are physically fit, you should take the challenging three-mile roundtrip hike right up to it. It’s mostly walking up a 30 degree rock face. Once you get to the top, you’ll traverse a wide cliff that will round the corner to the arch. At the base of the arch, the terrain doesn’t flatten out so proper footwear is imperative. However, if that’s not for you, there is a distant overlook with an easy trail that is just the length of a football field.
Delicate is a must if you haven’t seen it in person yet, however it wasn’t our favorite hike in this park. We loved the Double O Arch trail that begins at Devil’s Garden. On your way to Double O you have the opportunity for more than a half a dozen spur trails that will take you up close and personal with other arches like Navajo, Partition, Wall, Tunnel, Pine Tree, Landscape and more. But this trail isn’t about the end view. Cheesy, yes, but it’s about the hike itself. You start on a gravel and sand path for about a mile before scrambling some major rock faces. There were many occasions where the massive boulders we were on dropped 30+ feet on either side. A few times where we got to the end of the rock cliff and were sure that we made a mistake following the trail only to discover that we needed to keep going up an eight-foot cliff, down a five foot face, or hug the rocks around a corner to get to our destination. The mental attention required to navigate this one was immense and it made for an absolute blast!
This trail can be a loop or an out-and-back, and that significantly impacts your mileage. We did an out-and-back to Double O with all of the spurs except Dark Angel and it ended up about 6.5 miles. If we had made it a loop, it would have been closer to 8. But that additional section of the loop is a very primitive trail which we weren’t up for at the time. If we come back, we’ll definitely add it. This is not a trail for those afraid of heights or out of shape, but a top hike for sure. At a minimum, you should trek in far enough to see Landscape and Navajo arches, which would be just about 2.5 miles with only minor scrambling.
Other highlights of the park outside of those two hikes are The Windows, Balanced Rock, Double Arch, Turret Arch, Fiery Furnace (permit required), Broken Arch, Sand Dune Arch, Skyline Arch, and more.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Many people advise that you only need a day in Bryce and I’d agree. But there are plenty of ways to go deeper than the driveable overlooks to make that quite a chunky day. One example is to start at Sunset Point and take the Navajo Trail (take Wall Street if it’s open) to Peekaboo Loop. Once you finish that half of the figure eight, take Queen’s Garden back to Sunrise Point and then follow the rim back to Sunset. It gives a complete experience of everything in Bryce, seeing it from the top and from the bottom of the hoodoo-filed canyon. This eight-miler is tough with a lot of elevation changes, but every turn means new rock formations to admire, tunnels, views and switchbacks galore. There are even arches and windows in this park as well. This was my husband’s favorite hike of our trip because of the constantly changing views. It also didn’t hurt that there was a mini challenge to take photos at three of the checkpoints. He’ll do anything for a sticker.
The elevation ranges from 7,000 to 9,000 feet so that adds to the challenge. Take it slow and bring much more water than you think. It took us about 4.5 hours so snacks or a light lunch are important as well.
Other highlights included Natural Bridge and Ponderosa Canyon which are an easy drive with no hiking required.
Canyonlands National Park
We only spent an afternoon here and felt it was all the time we needed without going deep. There is a lovely little walk to Mesa Arch which is a beautiful arch with an impressive view on the other side. We also enjoyed Grand View Point Overlook and plan to hike Upheaval Dome and explore the southern half when we come back.
Capitol Reef National Park
We planned to visit Capitol Reef, but it’s a bit out of the way and we were feeling tired so we bailed. Next time we visit, we’ll be sure to hit a few of these recommendations from locals: Hickman Natural Bridge, Lower Calf Creek Falls, and the scenic byway 12 for a section called Hell’s backbone. While you’re there, you should plan to check out Goblin Valley State Park as well.
Zion National Park
Zion (rhymes with lion) is one of the most popular National Parks in the country bringing in hoards of tourists. There are a couple major hikes including Angel’s Landing that attract most of the visitors. However, in order to summit Angel’s Landing, there are narrow cliffsides to navigate using chains bolted to the rock. While that in itself is treacherous in the wind or dicey weather, it’s even more unsafe when you consider the crowds of hikers touching the same chains without sanitization. We determined that we would come back for this hike another time.
But our second choice wasn’t a let down at all. As one of the world’s top ten hikes, The Narrows was incredible! The “trail” starts off with a one-mile paved path that follows the Virgin River. At the end of that walk you step into the river itself and wander the riverbed for two to four miles, sometimes in waist deep water, and others traversing boulder-filled banks between 1,700-foot black, pink and and white rock walls. There are caves, waterfalls, and even a mini Horseshoe Bend. It’s magical.
We booked a tour through Zion Guru which provided us with a private shuttle, a personal guide, and all the appropriate gear. Being a winter visit, I was certainly nervous about being cold and wet, but with the dry pants, neoprene socks and made-for-water-hiking boots, we were perfectly comfortable. Don’t get me wrong, our feet were wet, but not as cold as I expected with 48 degree waters flowing at 45 cubic feet per second. Also, do not try this hike without a sturdy stick. Trekking poles wouldn’t work as well.
We had most of the river to ourselves with two other pairs hiking 100 feet or so away. However, they did not have a guide who helped navigate the river and coach us on how to negotiate each crossing. They ended up purposefully keeping distance behind us and following where our guide took us.
The intersection of Wall Street and Orderville Canyon, only five feet wide in some places, was the perfect spot to stop for lunch before returning to the trailhead. This is a must-do hike if you visit Utah and I’d love to do it again.
Other popular hikes in the park include The Grotto and Emerald Pools.
One note about Zion, March through November (and between Christmas and New Years) no private vehicles are permitted on the main road through the park. They offer an almost-free shuttle that you must book in advance. However the shuttle tickets are almost impossible to acquire so you should consider a private shuttle which might run you $40 or so roundtrip. There are other hikes not on this main road including Canyon Overlook which is a fun little two-miler and Kolob Canyon. There is also a great expert level hike called The Subway which requires a lottery permit. Be sure to also drive through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel near the south entrance of the park. Very cool.
If Zion Narrows was our crossfit-style workout, Bryce Peekaboo was a marathon and Arches Double O was an obstacle course. We assumed we would be sick of looking at rocks for almost two weeks, but were surprised how unique and different each park was. If you have to skip any parks, Capitol Reef and Canyonlands are the two, but Arches, Bryce and Zion are must-visits.
I’ve been to just under a third of the National Parks and have always been impressed with the care taken of these lands. A huge shout out to the rangers and National Parks Service team. Our America the Beautiful annual pass is well worth the $80 if you plan to visit more than two in 12 months. These landscapes are incredible.
It should also be noted that we visited in the winter so on almost all of our trips we had the place to ourselves, even on those mornings we got a late start. The weather was clear and between 35 and 55 degrees. I’ll take plenty of parking and warm layers over crowds and 115 degree heat the summer months usually bring.
Honorable Mentions
Our itinerary actually included some time in Arizona, specifically to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, adding a fifth national park to our 12-day trip. Bright Angel Point and Cape Royal were favorite mini hikes and viewpoints before heading up to Balanced Rock, Lees Ferry, and Lonely Dell Ranch, all of which we had completely to ourselves. We also stopped by Glen Canyon Dam which is the second largest dam in the country behind Hoover which was closed for coronavirus, and Horseshoe Bend, which is a popular tourist spot, but while we were able to stay distanced and masked, we didn’t stay long.
Antelope Canyon was closed for coronavirus because it’s on Navajo land, so I searched for an alternative and I’m so glad I found Peekaboo Canyon in Kanab. It’s a four-mile off road drive to get to the entrance of the canyon so I highly recommend a private tour guide with an appropriate vehicle (and deep sand driving skills). Unlike our experience would have been in Antelope, we had the entire two-mile slot canyon to ourselves. Everything had a gorgeous red glow and was such a fun and unique experience, learning about flash floods, fossils, layered rock formations and more.
There are also a few other experiences worth mentioning including Toadstool Hoodoos, Kanarraville Falls, and Dead Horse State Park.
While traveling at all during this time is risky, I don’t regret this trip because it was easy for us to stay distanced from others and adventure outdoors. If you’re interested in planning some time away, I’m happy to help you research safe experiences for you and your travel partners.