St George, UT to Cannonville, UT (Bryce Canyon Trip)

[ReallyBigMax]

Okay, back in October last year we started planning this trip, and I asked about getting from the Grand Canyon, South Rim to Sedona.(Here was my original question back in 10/2019) I got great feedback on that thread, and I thank profusely all that contributed. Now, time has passed, and we've been planning and preparing, and we leave in about 10 days! Wohoo!

Plans, however, have changed, due to weather, poor timing on our part, and whatever, so here I am coming back to the well again. We've dropped the whole Grand Canyon stop until next trip. This trip we are heading to St George, UT to spend time at Zion NP and that area. From there we are heading for two long stopovers up at Bryce Canyon. The first stop is at Bryce Valley KOA at Cannonville, just East of the park. The second is at Ruby's, up in Bryce Canyon City at the North end of the park.

We are leaving St George on April 8th. Which route is best for the signature rig, or for any rig for that matter? I see a couple of obvious options, but don't know anything about them.

Route A) North on I-15 to Hiway 20, then East to Hiway 89 at Bear Valley Junction. Going South from there on Hiway 89 to Hiway 12 East would take us right past Bryce (turnoff for Bryce Canyon City), and down to Cannonville. This looks like the most "major road" route of the two, but is a bit farther around.

Route B) North on I-15 to Cedar City, and then head East on Hiway 14, picking up Hiway 89 North at Long Valley Junction. Heading North from there on Hiway 89 intersects Route A above when we hit Hiway 12 to go East, still taking us right past Bryce (turnoff for Bryce Canyon City) and then to Cannonville. This route seems a bit more direct, but over less major roads. In fact, I suspect I might be a bit nuts to consider this one, but hey, I already admitted I don't know the area at all, so what the heck. I'm game to hear that and be advised if it be the case.

Did I miss a more obvious and direct option? What do you think of these options in mid-to-late April?

Thanks in advance!
ReallyBigMax

[pitch]

TenOC wrote:
Dry camping on BLM land East of Zion

N37° 15.039' W112° 45.558'

and

N37° 15.584' W112° 46.113'

If this is the same place I know, you really need to pick your path carefully to get in rock strewn boulder field.

It is a decent place with plenty of fire rings but getting in will give you pause.

[ReallyBigMax]

Thanks, everyone, for all the great feedback and info. I appreciate it. Being pretty conservative, I’ll probably go up to Hiway 20 and then in from there.

Because it is very early in the season I expected some comments about that an$ the weather. Guess we’re not quite as early as I thought. It will be cold, I know,but as long as I can get propane at th3 parks, and the heater holds up, we won’t freeze. I hope.:)

Thanks again.
ReallyBigMax

[TenOC]

Dry camping on BLM land East of Zion

N37° 15.039' W112° 45.558'

and

N37° 15.584' W112° 46.113'

[Busskipper]

TenOC wrote:

accsys wrote:
I would, and have, taken the road (UT-9) from Zion and straight through the tunnel to Carmel, then north on 89 to 12. That saves a lot of time and only costs $15 for the rangers at Zion to stop the traffic through the tunnels so only traffic going your direction is in the tunnel and you have the whole road to ride the centerline.

May 2018 when we drove the tunnel there was no longer the $15.00 fee. The traffic was alternating one way for everyone.

A note: Zion parking lots are FULL by 10:00 AM. You will need to park in the town and take the bus into the park.

^^^^^^^^^^ Good advice. ^^^^^^^^^^

[TenOC]

accsys wrote:
I would, and have, taken the road (UT-9) from Zion and straight through the tunnel to Carmel, then north on 89 to 12. That saves a lot of time and only costs $15 for the rangers at Zion to stop the traffic through the tunnels so only traffic going your direction is in the tunnel and you have the whole road to ride the centerline.

May 2018 when we drove the tunnel there was no longer the $15.00 fee. The traffic was alternating one way for everyone.

A note: Zion parking lots are FULL by 10:00 AM. You will need to park in the town and take the bus into the park.

[padredw]

Route A) North on I-15 to Hiway 20, then East to Hiway 89 at Bear Valley Junction

We made this exact route several years ago from near Los Angeles to St. George and then on to Bryce. I had good reason then to think that 20 was a better route than 14. We were towing a 34' fifth-wheel with a Chev. diesel 2500 and had no trouble at all with the route.

I'm not sure how it fits into your route but our favorite part of the trip was towing over Utah 12 from Bryce to Capitol Reef. It is a beautiful drive.

[MDKMDK]

Agree with accsys, to try UT-9 from Zion to Mt. Carmel.I haven't driven UT-9 for a long while and don't remember how bad it was, but the alternatives I drove 2 years ago.
I think you'll find 14 and 20 challenging at 9% and 7.5% uphill grades and about the same on the downhill sides. Don't even think about trying 143 east from Parowan.
Try using Google Earth Pro to do a "Directions" mapping between the places you want to go, then right click the map and display the elevation profile. I use it all the time to see how much up/down a route presents.

[Busskipper]

ReallyBigMax wrote:
Okay, back in October last year we started planning this trip, and I asked about getting from the Grand Canyon, South Rim to Sedona.(Here was my original question back in 10/2019) I got great feedback on that thread, and I thank profusely all that contributed. Now, time has passed, and we've been planning and preparing, and we leave in about 10 days! Wohoo!

Plans, however, have changed, due to weather, poor timing on our part, and whatever, so here I am coming back to the well again. We've dropped the whole Grand Canyon stop until next trip. This trip we are heading to St George, UT to spend time at Zion NP and that area. From there we are heading for two long stopovers up at Bryce Canyon. The first stop is at Bryce Valley KOA at Cannonville, just East of the park. The second is at Ruby's, up in Bryce Canyon City at the North end of the park.

We are leaving St George on April 8th. Which route is best for the signature rig, or for any rig for that matter? I see a couple of obvious options, but don't know anything about them.

Route A) North on I-15 to Hiway 20, then East to Hiway 89 at Bear Valley Junction. Going South from there on Hiway 89 to Hiway 12 East would take us right past Bryce (turnoff for Bryce Canyon City), and down to Cannonville. This looks like the most "major road" route of the two, but is a bit farther around.

Route B) North on I-15 to Cedar City, and then head East on Hiway 14, picking up Hiway 89 North at Long Valley Junction. Heading North from there on Hiway 89 intersects Route A above when we hit Hiway 12 to go East, still taking us right past Bryce (turnoff for Bryce Canyon City) and then to Cannonville. This route seems a bit more direct, but over less major roads. In fact, I suspect I might be a bit nuts to consider this one, but hey, I already admitted I don't know the area at all, so what the heck. I'm game to hear that and be advised if it be the case.

Did I miss a more obvious and direct option? What do you think of these options in mid-to-late April?

Thanks in advance!
ReallyBigMax

Some Reading for you on the Area.

More on the area with Two Gypsies giving good insight:)

Don't forget Kolob part of Zion National Park - often Missed but Beautiful!

IMHO Twogypsies will be your best advisor - Best of Luck with the Routes,

[accsys]

I would, and have, taken the road (UT-9) from Zion and straight through the tunnel to Carmel, then north on 89 to 12. That saves a lot of time and only costs $15 for the rangers at Zion to stop the traffic through the tunnels so only traffic going your direction is in the tunnel and you have the whole road to ride the centerline.

You can read the requirements for using the tunnel at https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/the-zion-mount-carmel-tunnel.htm.

[craig7h]

Can not answer your question at all, I am planning canyon trip for next year and came across this site. https://grandcircle.org/ I thought the map would help you out.