We have been twice to Utah, in September of 2013 when major flooding was going on and also again in august of 2015 and again a lot of rain. So we have been to Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Arches and canyon land, but seriously haven't had the chance to hike much in any of them. Both times most trails were closed because of flooding. This year we are going middle of June. Hopefully better weather. We have reservations at Arches campground for 3 days now we really don't know if we should try to make the loop again. takes us 3 days to get out to Utah and 3 back home so that leaves us 11 days. So we would appreciate ideas from those of you that go out there. We enjoy easy and moderate hiking. We thought after Arches maybe Kodachrome Basin State Park then Bryce, then Capital Reef. That seems like a lot of driving and less hiking. So suggestions please. Thanks Tara

Hmm don't have any idea why sentence split like that, sorry. Went to edit it but was fine. Tara

IMO the best hiking is at Bryce. It is higher altitude and much cooler. Hiking back out of the canyon is rather tiring but worth it. The trails are well graded and excellent. Arches will be hotter than Hades, get up very early and get your hiking in early before 10 or 11 AM. Carry lots of water. Zion has good hiking but the altitude changes are even more extreme than Bryce and it is hot too. Capitol Reef is also quite warm but there is a fantastic drive you can take. A high clearance vehicle is best but we saw passenger vehicles making the trip which is down a well graded dirt road. Ask the rangers about how to do the Cathedral Valley drive. There may be water running over the road is some places but it is only a few inches deep. Walk across the water first before driving. This is an all day trip. Check out this gallery: My photosAnd this is what you see at the end:This is the sign at the beginning of the road:

Bryce Canyon NP has easy, moderate, and strenuous hikes. There's a rim trail that is probably the easiest of the bunch, with the Peekaboo Loop, Navajo Loop, and Queen's Garden all in the up and down category, and they all intersect. The Fairyland Loop is long. The Welcome Center Rangers have all the info on which are which as far as degree of difficulty. It's a good idea to touch base with them before heading out. If you don't mind some serious vertical trails, I'd take BCNP over any of the others. I guess I'd say Bryce has the best variety of hike options for every skill level. Last time we were there they were working on adding asphalt trails from the town into the NP, presumably for walking/cycling/roller blading??? They raised the camping fees to pay for it.I'm not a great hiker, I just like the hoodoos.

Cathedral Valley drive is long but awesome.I would recommend you decide if there are certain hikes you really want to do and then figure out the route more than focusing on the parks. For example, Zions has the Narrows, Angel's Landing and Arches has Devil's Garden. If you want to shorten the travel time, you can find similar hikes but in closer proximity to your route or area. E.g. you can find narrows without going all the way to Zion. If you want hoodoos you can find those too. If you want rappelling, you can find places to do that. Petroglyps, etc, are all over Utah. I would also recommend breaking it up and doing some non-hike things... rent a side-by-side in Moab. The Monitor and Merrimack trail is an easy beginner one. Do the horseback riding in Bryce Canyon as well as hiking there. Bryce and Capital Reef are known for star gazing if you're into that.There's a bunch to do around I-70/Green River like Goblin Valley state park, San Rafael Swell, etc. My BiL says Capital Reef has all that Zions does, just more rural, smaller, less crowds.

Capitol Reef is very rural. Low in altitude, probably very warm in June.Natural Bridges has a lot of hiking options, and Canyonlands Needles area isn't too far away. I recall a spiders web of roads/trails going every which way, leading to hiking and horse trails.

SW Utah | Good Sam Community

linnemj
Explorer
Jan 07, 2018
We just did the loop and the two parks we liked the best for hiking and beauty were Zion and Bryce. Our least favorite was Capitol Reef but we still enjoyed the 4 day’s we spent there.

Kodachrome State Park was a great choice for visiting Bryce but it is about 30 minutes from the park. We stayed at Watchman Campground in Zion which was a nice campground and the accessibility to the park shuttle system made it the best choice. Both of these campgrounds were sold out our entire stays so reservations are needed. If you are good with dry camping, you could skip reservations are find a place to stay.

Enjoy Utah! We loved our 6 weeks there!
caysea7254
Explorer
Jan 07, 2018
Thank you everyone for your advice & suggestions! Very much appreciated! After reading your replies we are leaning towards after Arches going to Bryce then up Byway 12 (which we love)to capital reef. There is so much in the area! Dh retires in Feb. 2019 then (God willing) we will sell everything and begin our fulltime adventure. We can't wait to be able to travel with no reservations and not be on a time limit! The only time so far we have traveled without reservations was in 2016 when we went out to Grand Tetons & Yellowstone, but the campgrounds we wanted to stay in were 1st come 1st served. Last year was Colorado and stayed at RMNP for a week & Colorado Springs area for a week. We have done the western part and southern part of Colorado so decided on east side last year. Colorado never disappoints us!!! Thanks again everyone!! Tara
caysea7254
Explorer
Jan 07, 2018
Great pics Agesilaus!! Twice being at capital reef and both time road was closed to Cathedral! Hopefully this time we will make it! Tara
agesilaus
Explorer III
Jan 07, 2018
caysea7254 wrote:
Thank you everyone for your advice & suggestions! Very much appreciated! After reading your replies we are leaning towards after Arches going to Bryce then up Byway 12 (which we love)to capital reef. There is so much in the area! Dh retires in Feb. 2019 then (God willing) we will sell everything and begin our fulltime adventure. We can't wait to be able to travel with no reservations and not be on a time limit! The only time so far we have traveled without reservations was in 2016 when we went out to Grand Tetons & Yellowstone, but the campgrounds we wanted to stay in were 1st come 1st served. Last year was Colorado and stayed at RMNP for a week & Colorado Springs area for a week. We have done the western part and southern part of Colorado so decided on east side last year. Colorado never disappoints us!!! Thanks again everyone!! Tara

Not sure what you are driving but be sure to add the Alpine Loop to your CO to-do list if your vehicle can do it. The View from Cinnamon Pass was beyond spectacular. We had no problems doing it with our 4WD F-350 tho Engineers pass was partially closed.
caysea7254
Explorer
Jan 09, 2018
Sounds good Agesilaus! We have a 2014 3500 HD Silverado. It should be fine.
huachuca
Explorer
Jan 10, 2018
We enjoyed Calf Creek Falls in Capitol Reef. About six miles with a minor bit of scrambling.
agesilaus
Explorer III
Jan 10, 2018
Darn we missed that one, but will add it to our list.

Ah that's why it's in the Staircase off Hwy 12 not in CRNP
Lauren
Explorer
Jan 11, 2018
Bryce and then Cap Reef - forget North Rim.
lbrjet
Explorer
Jan 11, 2018
They are all good. We like the hiking in Capitol Reef the best, but they all so different it is hard to compare. If it was me I would go somewhere in Colorado that you haven't been to yet. Utah is our favorite, but Colorado has more offerings and is a bit closer.

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