Utah, S. East or S. West

profdant139 wrote:

Two more points about Zion: if you are a bicyclist, the canyon road is terrific -- long, gently uphill, long glide back down. For much of the year, cars are not allowed in the canyon -- I am not sure about September -- but when cars are banned, the shuttle buses are very courteous to bikes.

The Shuttles in Zion run through Thanksgiving weekend, then resume in March. I'd have to check again, but they may be weekend-only in the late fall.

Most of the deer in Zion saw tourists as soon as they popped out of their momma's, so they tend to wander around in the CG's inside the park.

Thanks everyone,

We are now trying to make our plans. Our thoughts are to hit the south western parks some time in May or June.

Ken, Thanks for the heads-up for the closure of the camp ground. We will keep this in mind when making the plans. Over the next day or two we will be calling places to stay.

Stuart

Good catch, Ken! Well done.

Seriously, you are a wealth of good knowledge, Ken.

Boy, do I know about a change of plans - done lots of that. (But keeping your input for Nephi, Logan and Heber City.)

Lauren wrote:
Ken, you are a wealth of knowledge! :-)

I just happened to know this because we were planning on going there but had to change our plans.

Ken, you are a wealth of knowledge! :-)

profdant139 wrote:
If you decide to go to the Bryce area, and the weather is not too hot, don't miss Kodachrome Basin State Park -- great hiking, great slot canyons, very nice campground (with full hookups, amazingly).

Be warned that if you end up doing this trip in June, the CG at Kodachrome Basin SP is scheduled to be closed all of that month.

If you decide to go to the Bryce area, and the weather is not too hot, don't miss Kodachrome Basin State Park -- great hiking, great slot canyons, very nice campground (with full hookups, amazingly). This is an overview of part of the park:



Here is a blog link, if you'd like more info -- this post contains some detailed trail descriptions:

Bryce, Zion, and Kodachrome

Two more points about Zion: if you are a bicyclist, the canyon road is terrific -- long, gently uphill, long glide back down. For much of the year, cars are not allowed in the canyon -- I am not sure about September -- but when cars are banned, the shuttle buses are very courteous to bikes.

Second, we have never done the Narrows hike, but we saw quite a few folks who had obtained equipment for that hike from outfitters in Springdale -- wetsuits, special shoes, etc. They all said that it was worth renting the equipment. I am not sure whether you would need all of that stuff in September, but it was necessary in November -- quite chilly at times!

Ken said it in his usual very good manner. We like Bryce more than Zion but both are beautiful.

reubenray wrote:

We will only be doing some light hiking, but may try some 4 wheeling with a Jeep at Moab. I read that Hwy. 128 (?) is a nice drive. Are there any other locations that we could drive our Equinox to see a lot of views?

With your Equinox be sure to drive the paved Hwy 279/Potash Road. It's a short pretty drive along the Colorado River and along it will be Corona Arch, Jug Handle Arch and Petroglyphs. Here's a site about it:

Hwy 279/Potash Road

Hwy 128 is paved in another direction along the Colorado River. Also take the LaSal Mtn. loop drive which ends at 128 and begins on 191.

Definitely take Hwy 313 into Canyonlands. It's paved.

If you're renting a Jeep, do drive Long Canyon trail by starting in Canyonlands. It ends at the above-mentioned 279/Potash Road. It's an easy Jeep drive. Stop at a Jeep rental or the visitor center for maps of EASY Jeep trails to get you started.

For wild adventures go on a Jeep tour with someone else driving. You'll be amazed at the ranges of difficulty some of Moab's trails are. Fins and Things is a fun trail that I'd rate medium difficulty but don't do it by yourself.

If you're not used to 4-wheeling those kinds of trails I'd really advise that you go with a group if you plan to drive yourself.

Moab's trails are awesome. We've done about 90% of them.