Road Tripping to the Utah Big 5 National Parks: Notes from an Email to Bob F

 

Here are some notes from our latest road trip, starting in Reno with renting a tear-drop trailer:

• We really love the "bleak" landscape of Nevada, and getting across the state on US50 rather than I-80 is worth it to us.
• Our first night was at Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in the teardrop.  Middlegate has a hole-in-the-wall joint right at the intersection of 50 and the small road to Berlin, NV...great burgers!
• We then headed south to US95 & 93 to head over to Cathedral Gorge State Park just west of the Utah border.
• We then (day 3) headed to our hotel (we split about 50/50 teardropping and hoteling) in Springdale for Zion Natl Park.
• Zion's shuttles start at 7am, so we got to the visitor center at 6:30 and still had to wait a bit (we got on the 4th shuttle)...no cars in the main canyon unless you are staying at the Lodge.  We hiked to the Narrows and the Emerald Pools that day, but still a lot of people on all the trails.
• An interesting side trip is to the northwest corner of Zion at Kolob Canyon, which is north on I-15 for a bit .  Not as many people and good hiking and views.
• Utah Highway 14 is a stunningly beautiful drive to get to Bryce.  Cedar Breaks is also a worthwhile detour...another massive amphitheater of hoodoos like Bryce.
• Bryce: took in the sunrise from Sunrise Point, then hiked the Queens/Navajo Loop trail down in among the hoodoos
• The Thunderbird at Mount Carmel Junction has wonderful pie.
• We then popped into the North Rim and stayed 1 night in the teardrop and one in the cabins at the Lodge.
• The Vermillion Cliffs out to Lee's Ferry are also stunning, and the Navajo Bridge over the Colorado has nesting condors that hang out under the bridge.
• We stayed in Page, AZ and checked out the Glen Canyon dam visitor center, then took one of the Navajo-led Antelope Slat Canyon tours.  I thought it out be cheesy touristy but it was actually very well done and the guides handled the crowds efficiently.  Worth it!
• Horseshoe Bend WAS touristy and felt like a rip-off for the cost (we did that on the previous trip in 2020).  Skip it
• Navajo Nation runs the Monument Valley hotel and cabins...great 17 mile drive among the "mitten" formations and worth it.  We took in the sunrise from the balcony of our cabin.  Then took a hike into the valley (Wildcat Trail).  Worth it!
• Then headed to Canyonlands Needles Unit...stunning!  Worth it!
• Moab hotel...so we went to Arches to catch Delicate Arch at sunrise with a hike in the dark.  By sunrise Delicate Arch was crowded and we went to some other arches and left by noon or so.  We hiked Devil's Garden the last trip, as it was the only parking lot available...all the rest were packed.
• The rest of that day we went to Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands Islands in the Sky unit.
• Next day we left the Moab Hotel and got the last first-come-first-served campsite in the Needles Unit.  It was so spectacular we went back a second day to stay there.
• From there we took Utah Highway 95 from Blanding to Hanksville Ut...probably one of the best drives we've ever been on...as good as Avenue of the Giants in the redwoods.  We made a quick stop at Goblin Valley State Park as the weather was turning...cold wind and rain/snow moved in that night as we set up camp in Capitol Reef.  We hoped to take a dirt road north to Temple of the Sun but the road was a muddy mess, so we kept to the paved roads in the park and some of the shorter hike as the weather had really gotten colder.
• We were planning on staying in Great Basin Natl Park on the way back and continue on US50, but I didn't feel like towing the teardrop in the snow, so we headed to Elko on 80 and dropped the teardrop off in Reno the next day.