Grand Canyon North Rim, Zion, Bryce Canyon

My opinion is {I start that way because people have ideas that vary} Yes avoid the tunnel, but after you park drive back up to and through it. We spent one full day at Bryce and three full days at Zion. We did not take any of the long hikes in either place. Others will give better ideas of time needed if hiking is in your plans. I know that Arches is on the other side of the State but we loved it also. Our trip to Utah was in a car so I cannot help with campgrounds. We have talked a lot about our trip to Southern Utah and consider it one of our best. Hope you have a great trip.

Yes, we have already done arches, so we thought we would just concentrate on those three parks. We do like hiking. We will have our children ages 19, 17 and 12 with us. I'm still not sure of the route.

Zion will be very hot in August, so stay near Mt. Carmel Junction
(Bauers Canyon Ranch RV Park 90 E Center St Glendale, UT 84729)
and day trip to Zion. Allow more days at Bryce than the North Rim.

The difference is whether you are a hiker or a scenic turnout viewer with maybe a short walk of less than a mile.

Bryce can be done in a full day, 2 nights. North Rim also a full day, 2 nights. Zion a full day, 2 nights.

If you are a hiker, then no telling how long you need.

Veebyes wrote:

Bryce can be done in a full day, 2 nights. North Rim also a full day, 2 nights. Zion a full day, 2 nights.

This was our experience too. If you have excess time, a run up to Mesa Verde might be an incredible experience for you and your kids. We didn't expect that to be a high-point on our journey, but it was. Two days at Mesa Verde would be about right - we tried to do it in a day and that wasn't quite enough for us. Unlike the other beautiful sites, people actually lived at Mesa Verde and that made it unusually interesting for the kids (ages 16 & 18).

Longer at Grand Canyon North might be a good thing to do, it will be nice and cool up there, much cooler than down in lower elevations in Utah. Many years ago, my family & I did Utah. We stayed by the North Rim Area first, then went to Bryce. I believe we stayed two nights. Didn't do any hikes. My regret was we didn't take our two kids on a horse back ride into the canyon at Bryce.

It being so warm at Bryce, we moved to Panguitch Lake (not too far from Bryce). Later when leaving the area, we went to Fish Lake then on to Capital Reef Nat'l Park as well as Bridges Nat'l Monument. Both very neat. And not too far on to
Mesa Verde Nat'l Park.

We went to Fish Lake and Panguitch Lake because we had a canoe with us and wanted to use it. We made a day trip from Panguitch Lake to Zion via the Dixie Nat'l Forest & top part of Cedar Breaks National Mon't because it was so hot in Zion (100 degrees or so)and in those days we did not have a generator for the A/C. These would be off 89 as well. We were not fishing, but I believe these lakes are noted for fishing.

Should be some hikes at Cedar Breaks as well.
"Visitors traveling north/south on U.S. Highway 89 can take either Utah Highway 143 from Panguitch to Cedar Breaks, or Utah Highway 14 west to Utah Highway 148, and north to Cedar Breaks National Monument." We did a short one to see an ancient Bristlecone Pine. Very high elevations up at the top of the Monument area. Nice and Cool. http://www.desertusa.com/ced/

We did do some splashing around in the water at Zion on that hot day. Cooled us down nicely. A nice small river runs through it.

There is a very nice Shuttle System now at Zion, I have read. The Tunnel is on the East Entrance. The side by US 89 & Bryce.

We left Zion by going to Cedar City on our way back to Panguitch Lake. We entered via the Tunnel.

A few thoughts for you - We visited the North Rim and Bryce Canyon in late May 2012. We drove through Zion on route 9, but did not stay there. It was already very hot at Zion, much cooler at both Bryce and the North Rim.

We stayed at the Forest Service campground at Jacob Lake for the North Rim. There is also a FHU campground at Jacob Lake Kaibab Camper Village. The North Rim can be done in a day with some short hikes. Don't miss the drive to Cape Royal and Point Imperial for great views, IMO better than at the Lodge area.

From the North Rim to Zion (avoiding the tunnel) take route 89A to Fredonia then routes 389 and 59 to Hurricane then route 9 to Zion.

To get to Bryce from Zion (avoiding the tunnel) backtrack to Fredonia and take routes 89A and 89 to route 12.

The scenic turnouts along the rim at Bryce can easily be done in a day. If you want to get up close and personal with the hoodoos, you will need to hike down into the canyon. Just remember that it's a long hike back up to the rim. (been there, done that)

Some easy day trips are possible from Bryce. Kodachrome Basin State Park is nearby and route 12 from Bryce to Boulder is one of the most scenic drives in the west.

Hi neighbors, I just took a look at the map based on your plans and some of the posts which follow. The LONG leg of your trip is from home to the North Rim. That would be a bit over 1200 miles. We do like the North Rim. It should be cooler there and there are excellent views. We spent a delightful evening at the Lodge on the rim at Sunset and had a memorable "supper." We did not have reservations, just checked in early in the evening. We left our fifth-wheel out at Jacob Lake on the highway. It is a long drive in to the Canyon but we just enjoyed the drive and when we were ready to leave our location was convenient.

We stayed at Bauer's Ranch as someone has mentioned in a post above. We only spent a day in Zion, but felt we had a good visit. It is only 100 miles from North Rim to Glendale.

From there it is only 50 miles on to Bryce. Of course, you could drive up there, but it seems that moving the camp on up to Bryce would be on your way.

Now, I am going to suggest some possibilities. From Bryce, we drove up to Torrey pulling our 34' fifth-wheel on Utah 12. It remains one of our most pleasant memories. It is not for "making time," and does require ordinarily careful driving, but we did not feel it was in any way difficult. That is only 72 miles. These short miles, in effect, give you almost an extra day at you arrival.

There are a couple of good possibilities from Torrey (Capitol Reef National Park): one would be to go over to Mesa Verde as some have suggested. The other would be to go on through Grand Junction, CO and Montrose and drop down into Ouray for a visit. That would put you in cooler climate and, if you have not been there, Ouray would be a great place to spend some time. I figure it would be a bit over 300 miles from Torrey to Ouray.

From Ouray, one possibility would be to drop down to Santa Fe. The map shows a very direct route, but one which I have so far chosen not to follow (Ouray to Silverton to Durango); instead I go back up to Montrose and through Gunnison before dropping south into New Mexico. From Santa Fe you would have an easy one night stop to get back home.

Just some possibilities for you to think about.

It sounds like a lot of you are suggesting visiting tons of places over our time, but to be honest, we have gotten where we like to see less and more in depth. We like staying places for 3 or 4 days at least. We really enjoyed our last family camping trip to Henderson Beach State park and just enjoyed staying there all week. We like hiking, playing games together, enjoying the campfire and visiting. I don't want to spend all the time in the car going from place to place like we did when the kids were younger. So.. if you had to pick two places to camp, which would you choose?

padredw wrote:
Hi neighbors, I just took a look at the map based on your plans and some of the posts which follow. The LONG leg of your trip is from hom



Just some possibilities for you to think about.

We are neighbors. We plan to take 2 1/2 days to drive there and 2 1/2 days to drive back which gives us 8 days in the middle.

Colorado is our normal place to go camping in the summer because it is cool, but oldest requested somewhere different. We've been to Grand Junction many times. Our favorite places to camp Grand Mesa and Taylor River. We generally go to Taylor River and just camp at a no electric one on the river for 4 or 5 nights and then up to the one that does have it for another 3 or 4 nights. As I mentioned, we've gotten to where we don't want to be going to a different place every day. Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to look them up.