Most recently updated January 18th, 2022
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
Recently I did some hiking in Utah, specifically visiting several of the famous Utah National Parks. The trip to southern Utah was primarily to hike, but also to take in the beauty of the desert in the Spring.
Photos can’t convey the scale of the mountains and desert, or the multitude of colors and rock formations we drove through while crossing southern Utah – but I tried anyway.
A few of my pics are in the text below, and you can see more in my detailed posts about Arches National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.
This was our itinerary, maybe it could work for you!
LODGING
This trip was not with a group or a travel company, just That Man and myself. We chose not to camp, as we needed to fly to our starting point, and it was easier to not have to ship and transfer gear. Instead, we stayed in local hotels, park lodges and cabins along the way; we booked well in advance and all of the accommodations worked out just fine. We also purchased an annual pass to the National Parks.
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Because we would be hiking in so many National Parks it would save money, and also save time at each park entry. You can learn more about National Park passes here.
HOW TO PACK FOR AIRLINE TRAVEL
I almost always pack defensively, especially when flying to a hike destination. Vital electronics, documents and meds travel in my carry-on in the plane, and I travel in boots and clothes I could hike in, just in case any checked bags are lost.
On this trip, we checked one bag each for our personal gear. We also each carried-on a backpack and packed additional empty day-packs in our checked bags to convert quickly into hiking day-packs once we had landed and secured our car.
Our plan was to do some hiking along the way to break up our long first day’s drive out of Denver.
Fortunately our bags arrived when we did, but I have been on trips when they didn’t! In this case, we were landing in Denver, and planned to drive across Utah and on into Nevada.
Our return flight was out of Las Vegas, so we had a lot of ground to cover and couldn’t afford to lose time waiting for lost bags.
THE UTAH WEATHER
We landed in a snowstorm at the Denver airport, so it was a beautiful drive through snow-covered mountains for the first couple of hours. But by the time we got closer to the Glenwood Springs area, the snow was completely gone.
As each day passed and we traveled further West, the weather grew warmer and more dry.
By the time we reached Las Vegas the high temperature was 95 F, and there was no denying we were in the desert – we were glad we were visiting in April and not later in the summer when it would get even hotter!
THE ROAD TRIP ROUTE
We planned to take a week to drive from Denver to Grand Junction to Moab to Zion to Las Vegas, stopping along the way to hike and take in some famous sights. Below is a quick summary of the national parks and sights we saw on each leg of our journey.
Denver to Grand Junction, Co.
The majority of visitors to the Utah National Parks choose to fly in to Salt Lake City or even to a smaller airport near Moab. Flying in from our home close to the East coast to get as far as Denver was already a 5-hour event, so we chose to get on the ground in Denver and drive west through the Rockies and enjoy the Colorado landscape, rather than spend more time in the air.
The drive from the Denver airport to Grand Junction takes about 5 hours if you push straight through. We put some miles behind us, then took a 30 minute break at a rest area just off Hwy 70, with a surprise greenway that followed the Colorado River for a mile or so. It was a lovely place, and we ran into some other travelers – and their four-legged friends – that were stretching their legs, too.
Further down the road we stopped in Glenwood Springs to take a short (but steep) hike up to Linwood Cemetery, with memorial headstones for cowboy gunslingers Doc Holliday and Kid Curry.
Just about 10 miles east of Grand Junction is an area called Little Book Cliffs Herd Management Area, where there are hiking trails and wild horses roaming the canyons. We were racing the sun and didn’t have time to hike very far, but almost as soon as we started down the first trail we came upon a pair of wild horses grazing. They didn’t seem to mind us at all, but also didn’t come too close.
A few minutes later, a third horse – a grey stallion – came into view and ventured closer to us. We lingered for a while, but had to find our way back to the highway before we lost the light. This would be a good place to explore if you have at least an hour or two to spend before the sun goes down.
Grand Junction to Moab
I’m sure Grand Junction has it’s own attractions, but we didn’t get to see any of them except the local grocery store, where we stopped to pick up a cooler, bottled water and trail food on the way to our hotel. We got a late dinner, repacked for the next day and dropped into bed.
Early the next morning we hit the road and made it to Arches National Park, just outside of Moab, before 9:00 am. We would stay at a hotel in Moab for the next couple of nights, exploring Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, as well as some local dining.
Moab to Zion
There are two main ways across the desert from Moab to the Zion Canyon/Springdale area.
- You can head South from Moab, then go West along the southern edge of Utah, passing near Natural Bridges, Rainbow Bridge and Grand Staircase Escalante parks, and enter Zion National Park from the Southern end of the canyon near Springdale, close to the park’s Visitor Center.
- Or, you can cross the desert more quickly going West along Hwy 70, and head South on 89 to get to Bryce Canyon before finishing the last hour or so West to enter Zion Canyon from the Northern end, which is what we did.
Either route is a good choice, with a lot to see and do each way. There is also a 150 mile “no services” zone in the middle of the desert no matter which route you take, but taking Hwy 70 gets you through it more quickly.
We stayed for two nights inside Zion park, then one night at a very nice hotel in Springdale after we left the park. That night we enjoyed the company of some fellow travelers at the cozy fire ring seating near the hotel pool, for a convivial end to our time in Zion Canyon.
Springdale to Henderson/Las Vegas
We started out early the next morning to make it to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (about 45 mins outside of Henderson) for an hour or so of scrambling before it got too hot, then over to the Old Railroad Tunnel trail for a very warm hike overlooking Lake Mead.
Hoover Dam was close, and I had never been, so it was on the itinerary. The Old Railroad Tunnel Trail goes all the way to the dam, but it was already noon and a blistering 95 F, so we were sensible and only hiked 5 miles and drove the rest of the way.
Leaving Las Vegas
After grabbing a late lunch and getting cleaned up, we met some friends for dinner at a local casino and got a taste of the night life. Our flight left at 6am the following morning from the Las Vegas airport, so there was not much sleeping going on until we boarded the flight bound back to the East coast.
AU REVOIR, NOT GOODBYE
A week is not nearly enough time to see what Southern Utah has to offer, so we made note of things we didn’t have time to see and do this trip; those missed opportunities will be the basis of a whole new itinerary for our next visit.
For more detailed information about the parks we visited and the hikes we took, please click the links in the post above – they will take you to the park websites or internal posts where I focus on what we did in each park.
If you’re looking for some travel pointers or ideas for your next adventure, check out my Travel Resources page.
Please leave a comment about your own experiences in the Utah parks, or if you have a question I will reply as soon as I can. Thanks for stopping by – see you next time! LJ
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LJ has spent much of her free time as a single Mom – and now as an empty-nester – hiking in the US and around the world. She shares lessons learned from adventures both local and in exotic locations, and tips on how to be active with asthma, plus travel, gear, and hike planning advice for parents hiking with kids and beginners of all ages. Read more on the About page.