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Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon in a week?
Posted on 3/26/21 at 9:44 am
Posted on 3/26/21 at 9:44 am
I have reservations for three nights at the Zion Lodge this summer. Looking to also spend a day(do I need two at Bryce). Is it too much to try to fit in the Grand Canyon. Never been but I hear the south rim is the way to go.
Or should I skip GC and go to Capital Reef?
Is there a good base area to stay for touring both Bryce and Capital Reef?
Or should I skip GC and go to Capital Reef?
Is there a good base area to stay for touring both Bryce and Capital Reef?
12
Posted on 3/26/21 at 9:50 am to Cash
We were up there last year. I wanted to to the north rim of the GC but it was closed due to Covid. Zion was great, we hit Bryce for 1/2 a day. I wish we would have had time to stay longer and do some hiking. I would say the food and things to do outside of Bryce are nowhere as good as Zion. We drove through Capitol Reef and a drive through was good enough for me
Posted on 3/26/21 at 9:53 am to Cash
three days zion
one day bryce
one day capital reef
one day bryce
one day capital reef
Posted on 3/26/21 at 9:57 am to cgrand
Is Byrce and Capital Reef close enough to have common base lodging? For instance a cabin in outside of Bryce?
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:14 am to Cash
2.5 hrs apart on hwy 12 (and definitely take hwy 12)...repeat, do not miss this drive.
theres lots of places to stay in between them, or you can stay at the capital reef resort in torrey
theres lots of places to stay in between them, or you can stay at the capital reef resort in torrey
This post was edited on 3/26/21 at 10:14 am
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:15 am to cgrand
for about a 2hr detour, off 12, you can also take a dirt road to hells backbone bridge, recommend
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:23 am to Cash
quote:
Is it too much to try to fit in the Grand Canyon.
Are you trying to hike and explore these places or snap a photo or two from an observation area?
I could spend a week in Zion alone. But I’ve also taken someone to the GC and been in and out before lunch.
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:30 am to Cash
quote:
I have reservations for three nights at the Zion Lodge this summer. Looking to also spend a day(do I need two at Bryce). Is it too much to try to fit in the Grand Canyon. Never been but I hear the south rim is the way to go.
We're doing Zion, Grand Canyon, & much more on a 9 day trip in a couple months. We're not planning on hiking much, so it's very doable for just the scenic stops.
We may add Bryce Canyon in as well if the Navajo Nation doesn't open Monument Valley & Four Corners back up soon.
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:31 am to Cash
quote:Said no one ever.
Never been but I hear the south rim is the way to go.
The 45 minute entrance to the north is enchanted. The south is desert. You're about to see plenty of desert in Utah.
Go to the North Rim, then Zion, then Bryce, then go home.
You will be woefully underwhelmed by Capitol Reef after those three.
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:42 am to Cash
Ready for speed tourism. A couple of selfies and you are done.
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:51 am to bayoubengals88
We are not trying to fly through and put a bunch of stuff on Instagram. I'd rather slow down and take it in.
Would you recommend spending all my time based out of Springdale and doing day trips to the north rim and Bryce?
I was also looking at Zion Mountain Ranch for a few days.
Would you recommend spending all my time based out of Springdale and doing day trips to the north rim and Bryce?
I was also looking at Zion Mountain Ranch for a few days.
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:52 am to Cash
quote:
Zion Mountain Ranch
we stayed there, its awesome (splurge if you do). for Zion NP itself you are better off inside the park at the lodge. the ranch is several miles east of Zion, between Zion & Bryce...still a pretty good drive to Bryce from there
Posted on 3/26/21 at 10:55 am to cgrand
I may book Zion Mountain Ranch just to have and continue to research. I have three nights at the Zion Lodge, so may use ZMR to take a day trip to Bryce and a few other things.
Anyone else in agreement that the north rim of the grand canyon is worth the drive from Springdale? and skip Capital Reef?
Anyone else in agreement that the north rim of the grand canyon is worth the drive from Springdale? and skip Capital Reef?
Posted on 3/26/21 at 11:41 am to Cash
quote:we camped at Jacob lake and drove south to the north rim, but I wish we would have stayed in the valley closer to the canyon. It was unexpectedly beautiful. Lush and full of Aspens.
We are not trying to fly through and put a bunch of stuff on Instagram. I'd rather slow down and take it in.
Zion Mountain Ranch is too far from the GC to enjoy both, but definitely visit both and soak both in!
Posted on 3/26/21 at 12:29 pm to cgrand
quote:
we stayed there, its awesome (splurge if you do). for Zion NP itself you are better off inside the park at the lodge. the ranch is several miles east of Zion, between Zion & Bryce...still a pretty good drive to Bryce from there
Stayed there a few summers ago and it was great. We drove to Zion from there and also to Bryce and the North Rim. We went to Zion for just one night in February this year from Vegas and stayed in the park at Zion Lodge. With the way the shuttles are now due to COVID, that’s the best way to go for doing Zion.
Posted on 3/26/21 at 12:36 pm to Cash
Not sure if this helps your situation anyway but here's a recap I posted after our trip to Utah last summer. It includes a itinerary of how we spent each day.
LINK
LINK
quote:
Here is a general recap of what we did.
Friday June 26th - Flew into Las Vegas and drove to Moab, Utah. It's about a 6 hour drive but grinding this out on the first day makes for much easier drives the rest of the trip. From Moab you have easy access to Arches National Park and Canyonlands.
Saturday, June 27th - 1/2 Day Jeep Tour in Canyonlands & 1/2 Day Family Float Trip. We did this through Adrift Adventures. LINK
I very much enjoyed the Jeep tour. The float trip was exactly that, just a float, because of how young the kids are. There is more adventurous rafting you can take in if you have an older group. It was still very nice and scenic.
Sunday, June 28th - Arches National Park
Monday, June 29th - Canyonlands National Park and then drove to Torrey, Utah to spend the night. About a 2 to 2.5 hour drive if I remember correctly.
Tuesday, June 30th - Capitol Reef National Park and then drove 3 hours to Springdale, Utah. We hit Bryce Canyon National Park the next day. If I were to do anything different I would have maybe stayed in Torrey for two nights or Bryce for two nights instead of driving to Springdale this night.
Wednesday, July 1 - Bryce Canyon National Park...about a 2 hour drive from Springdale.
Thursday, July 2 - Zion National Park. Be sure and visit recreation.gov to get shuttle tickets. You have to login at 9 am their time to get tickets for the following day's shuttle. Tickets are very limited. If you miss out on the Zion shuttle there are private companies in the area you can hire to bring you into the park as well and you may even prefer to go that route.
Friday, July 3 - Zion National Park and then headed back to Vegas that evening. With younger kids you could probably get away with one day at Zion.
Saturday, July 4 - Spent the day walking around Vegas
Sunday, July 5 - Returned Home
Posted on 3/26/21 at 2:49 pm to Cash
You can hit up those easy in 7 days. Add in Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park for a half day. Those places are all pretty close together.
Posted on 3/26/21 at 3:15 pm to Pfft
Anyone stay in Kanab? I have to make a lodging change anyway. Easier access to the north rim, antelope canyon(if its open), lake Powell, etc.
Posted on 3/26/21 at 3:35 pm to Cash
You definitely should go to the North Rim. Most people who have been prefer it to the South Rim in my experience
Posted on 3/26/21 at 3:57 pm to Cash
Also from an earlier post, we did this last year:
Day 1 & 2: Zion (pretty much two full days and nights in Zion, we had spent the night before in St. George. Hiked the Narrows and a few other trails. Stayed on site at the NP Lodge)
Day 3 - drive to and see Bryce Canyon (really close to Zion- 2 hr. drive; we saw everything we wanted from the top/rim and hiked into it minimally. Stayed outside NP in nice Best Western hotel)
Day 4 - drive to Capitol Reef (via Hwy 12 as earlier recommended-- DO NOT MISS) and just kind of drove through it with a few pull-outs and such, then on to Canyonlands NP, saw all of that in afternoon. Again, like Bryce, most of what you want to see is from the rim. we did very minimum hiking. Overnight in Moab.
Day 5 - Arches NP (full day of driving and then hiking).
If your 'week' is weekend to weekend you'll have 9 days, which is plenty of time to do either Zion/Bryce/North Rim or (like us) all 5 Utah NPs.
If you do North Rim, flying in and out of Vegas would be the quickest option; if you do the Utah 5, flying in to Las Vegas and out of SLC would be the quickest.
The good thing for me then and for you now is that it's summer time and daylight savings time; it was light till around 9:00 PM. More daylight hours in the evening is a noticeable difference for drives, hiking and sightseeing.
Day 1 & 2: Zion (pretty much two full days and nights in Zion, we had spent the night before in St. George. Hiked the Narrows and a few other trails. Stayed on site at the NP Lodge)
Day 3 - drive to and see Bryce Canyon (really close to Zion- 2 hr. drive; we saw everything we wanted from the top/rim and hiked into it minimally. Stayed outside NP in nice Best Western hotel)
Day 4 - drive to Capitol Reef (via Hwy 12 as earlier recommended-- DO NOT MISS) and just kind of drove through it with a few pull-outs and such, then on to Canyonlands NP, saw all of that in afternoon. Again, like Bryce, most of what you want to see is from the rim. we did very minimum hiking. Overnight in Moab.
Day 5 - Arches NP (full day of driving and then hiking).
If your 'week' is weekend to weekend you'll have 9 days, which is plenty of time to do either Zion/Bryce/North Rim or (like us) all 5 Utah NPs.
If you do North Rim, flying in and out of Vegas would be the quickest option; if you do the Utah 5, flying in to Las Vegas and out of SLC would be the quickest.
The good thing for me then and for you now is that it's summer time and daylight savings time; it was light till around 9:00 PM. More daylight hours in the evening is a noticeable difference for drives, hiking and sightseeing.
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