Utah national parks trip in June

[mark52]

We will be visiting a few of Utah's national parks in June for the first time. Over two weeks, we will be staying in Zion, Bryce, Grand Staircase/Escalante, and then Arches/Moab (in that order). Reservations have already been booked a couple of months ago and we would just love to get some ideas on some sights to see, short hikes, good 4WD trails, Etc. I did purchase a book on the parks and have a few ideas already but would love to hear of personal experiences. Thanks!

[Busskipper]

Thank You,

Always good to get a Trip Report, really nice summation of your trip.

Thanks Again,

Edit; - Interesting, as after driving RT 12 once, I'll drive 100+ miles out of my way to drive it, some spots are Just that Great.

[mark52]

We are back from our trip and had a great time visiting Southern Utah's national parks. Thought I'd share a few experiences from our trip in case anyone else stumbles across this and is going to be going there. We did a "sampling" of 4 different places at 3 nights each.
1. Zion - The Narrows was one of the coolest things we did on our trip. We rented boots, neoprene socks and walking sticks from Zion Guru in Springdale where we stayed. We hiked for about 2 1/2 hours up the narrows and then back out. The scenery was awesome and it only seemed to get better the farther in you go. The Emerald pools hike was fun as was the short hike to weeping rock.
2. Bryce canyon - The Queen's garden hike was probably the highlight of the Bryce canyon stay. Its one of the best ways to hike through the Hoodoos without having to take a super long hike. I think it was about 2 miles long if you hike the trail down into the canyon and then take one of the Navaho loop hikes back up the canyon. Both Navaho loop trails have steep zig zagy parts as they go back up the canyon. beautiful hike! Rubys inn campground gave us one of there best spots overlooking a field and small lake. Pronghorn would come down to the field and graze every day that we were there.
3. Grand Staircase / Escalante - The cotton wood narrows was a cool hike that we only saw one other family on during the hike. Kodachrome state park was really cool though we only drove through it to see the sites. it looked like there were some good hikes there. The petrified forest hike near Escalante was really cool. Its not a whole forest of petrified trees, just the remanence of some petrified trees but we really enjoyed the hike.The highlight of our Escalante stay was the Dry fork slot canyons. Not an easy trek but well worth it. You do have to hike a ways don into a wash to get to the slot canyons. We first hiked the dry fork narrows trail as far in as we could go and then back out. We then hiked peek-a-boo. Entering this slot canyon is NOT EASY. Once in you are pretty much committed as you don't want to go back down out of the entrance. The slot canyon is beautiful but not easy to navigate. You eventually have to hike up a rock face out of it and a trail leads you back to the main wash. Im not going to lie. this slot canyon had us a little nervous as it was pretty late in the day when we started it. On the way out to these slot canyons, along Hole in the rock road was Devils Garden. Really cool rock formations here.
4. Arches N.P. / Moab - We towed our Jeep to the Jeep mecca of the U.S. - Moab, UT. I didn't wand to take it on one of the many hardcore trails and have something bad happen too us while 850 miles from home so I found a cool 3.2 mile moderate Jeep trail (as they are called in Moab) to Tower Arch within Arches N.P.. The trail was a lot of fun. Arches was very busy with people but we did get to see several of the awesome arches -Double arch, Delicate arch, Balanced rock and more. The easy Jeep trail to Gemini Bridges was also a lot of fun. A short hiking trail leads you to massive double natural bridges that are well worth seeing.
All of the places had something different to see and it was well worth going to all four places. And oh -as discussed in earlier posts, HWY 12 between Escalante and boulder IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. Especially in a big ol motorhome. Coming from an experienced mountain driver and a MH owner of about 13 years now, I can honestly say I will probably never take that particular route again. There is one point where you are driving at the tip top of a very steep mountain on a very narrow two lane road for about a mile or so. I swear my lane was about as wide as our MH with no guard rails and a shear drop off right past the solid white line to my right. Of course i drove down the middle of the road when I could but ended up meeting two cars during it. There was absolute silence and white knuckles grasping the steering wheel during that stretch. HWY 12 was absolutely beautiful though. So much different scenery along the way but you do have to watch out for the many cows that will be in the road. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post.:)

[4runnerguy]

2gypsies wrote:
Here's an interesting web site for the Southwest. Slot canyons are awesome & you can find some around the town of Escalante. Stop at the Visitor Center. Note: Only go into a slot canyon after having checked the weather even as far as 50 miles away. A flash flood can occur fast in a desert and if you're in a slot canyon when it occurs there's no way out. Otherwise... enjoy! Some are very short walks.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/index.html

Actually the whole American Southwest website is full of great information. You can go to the individual states and get lots of info on many of the parks and regions.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/

[huachuca]

mark52 wrote:
Regarding highway 12, I think we'll give it a try. I have a lot of experience driving on twisty mountain roads and just like when we are diving through the Mojave desert when there are high winds, we'll take it SLOW!
A big thanks to all that have posted here!! I have carefully read them all and have been doing research on several of your suggestions.
Where are some places to visit in Grand staircase / Escalante? I'm looking for some cools places to go or fun trails to take in the Jeep. We're already going to do the petrified forest hike for sure.

House Rock Valley Road runs through Vermillion Cliffs National Monument between Hwy 89 and 89A, Nice drive with lots of hiking opportunities. You'll need a permit for some of the more popular hikes such as The Wave. Near the 89A end is where they release the Condors. Last year, we were fortunate enough to meet one of the biologists associated with that program and she allowed us to use her spotting scope and pointed out several of the birds on the cliff ledges. We saw Condors sitting on the girders beneath Navajo Bridge in late afternoon every day while camped at Lee's Ferry.

Hole in the Rock is another well known trail in the Escalante area. We've never driven it but plan to do so in a couple of weeks.

Burr Trail and Shafer Trail are fairly tame other than the steep drop offs and worth the drives. Gemini Bridges outside of Moab is a little more technical. Also Salt Valley backroad into Arches NP is an alternate way to reach Devil's Garden,

Calf Creek Falls is a nice 5-6 mile in and out hike with a beautiful waterfall and pool.

If you see a green 4dr Tacoma with a roof rack and NC tags, give us a wave or stop by to chat. We'll be camping at Lee's Ferry, Kodachrome Basin SP, Zion, Bryce and a few yet to be determined boondocking sites from mid May to mid June.

[2gypsies1]

Here's an interesting web site for the Southwest. Slot canyons are awesome & you can find some around the town of Escalante. Stop at the Visitor Center. Note: Only go into a slot canyon after having checked the weather even as far as 50 miles away. A flash flood can occur fast in a desert and if you're in a slot canyon when it occurs there's no way out. Otherwise... enjoy! Some are very short walks.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/index.html

[mark52]

Regarding highway 12, I think we'll give it a try. I have a lot of experience driving on twisty mountain roads and just like when we are diving through the Mojave desert when there are high winds, we'll take it SLOW!
A big thanks to all that have posted here!! I have carefully read them all and have been doing research on several of your suggestions.
Where are some places to visit in Grand staircase / Escalante? I'm looking for some cools places to go or fun trails to take in the Jeep. We're already going to do the petrified forest hike for sure.

[fanrgs]

Lauren wrote:
How about parking a car in the middle of the two lane road with a rise on one side and dropoff on the other (not total shelf road) with no real shoulder and no rail. Then get out and run up - with wife and kid - the rise to take pictures of elk; as you leave the doors open.

Reminds me of working in Yellowstone in the early '70's. Remember Instamatic cameras? The ones with the tiny lens and tiny negatives? I was headed into the South Entrance and saw a woman get out of a car with New York plates. The engine still running and driver's door open, she was walking up to a bull moose with her Instamatic up to her eye. She was trying to get close enough to fill that tiny lens with the animal! I quickly went around the car and around a curve in the road, so never saw the result. Do these people think that they are at a zoo?

Apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread!

[Lauren]

Having lived in Estes Park, CO and driven up in Rocky Mtn NP hundreds of times I have truly seen most everything - things you would not imagine. How about parking a car in the middle of the two lane road with a rise on one side and dropoff on the other (not total shelf road) with no real shoulder and no rail. Then get out and run up - with wife and kid - the rise to take pictures of elk; as you leave the doors open. Someone shuts the doors and then everyone tries to go past both ways. Until someone each way - and it does not take long - will not chance it and traffic backs up. Comes back, gets in his car and just drives off amid some pretty bad language.

Yes, Drive In Your Own Comfort Zone - but be aware there are people who DO drive down the middle, and swerve back and forth as they are looking at the scenery, etc.

You have much better control of your tv or toad alone than with your rv. You have no control over stupid and irresponsible.

[BubbaChris]

Did Highway 12 two years ago and going back again this year. Not a big deal if you do other twisty roads.

For The Narrows in Zion I highly recommend going to an outfitter in Springdale (there are several) and renting the boots, socks, and hiking poles. It will make your day better. The Kolob Canyons area (exit 40 off I-15) just closed for most of the year for road construction and other improvements). You can go up to the Kolob Reservoir area (Lava Point) via the town of Virgin. A pretty drive, but not much hiking if you don't get a Wilderness Permit first.

With Zion the town of Springdale has mostly kept out chain restaurants, so do a little Yelp or TripAdvisor searching before planning to dine out. Oscars is eclectic, fun, and serves large portions. Bit and Spur is one of the better places.

Utah has a ton of Jeep accessible exploring. If you don't want to hike, seeking out petroglyphs is also fun.

[Busskipper]

2gypsies wrote:
There's nothing bad about Hwy 12 for big rigs. The road is not narrow. It's a standard highway width. You can easily make the turns. If you look at aerial views of it you'll see that it's not a straight down dropoff in that small area. It has a gradual contour. A dropoff would be Hwy 550 in Colorado. We've done that one, too - multiple times. Don't avoid Hwy 12. It's an absolutely gorgeous drive. Stop for a night or two in Escalante and take your vehicle to do more exploring. That area is fascinating. Hike some of the slot canyons. Ask at the Visitor Center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S3siTrjUJk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXTjiXA8M5Q

For a few RT 12 is a "Danger Zone" but for many others it one of those places we drive out of our way to go over it again and again.

I drive over the Bay Bridge Everyday here in Maryland, often with two way traffic, and in the thousands of trips I have yet to hit the Guard Rail or an oncoming Car or TRUCK.

Amazing ---- so driving a road like RT 12 for me is actually one of the more relaxing things to do in Utah.

BUT, if you are like Lauren and sure more cars are out to get you, as you drive down your side of the highway, then Please.... Do Not Take a chance and drive roads without Guardrail???? Actually you probably should only drive on the Divided Highways and Interstates!

Sounds ridiculous, yes I agree it certainly does, both my reply and Laurens.

But what I think Lauren's is trying to say is Stay in Your comfort Zone - if Beautiful drives on two Lane Roads make you nervous in the RV then PARK it and Make the Drive in the Toad or The TV but see it, as it is truly one of the Great Drives in all the Country.

JMHO

[Lauren]

2gypsies and I don't always agree and this is one of them! 🙂 I do NOT recommend driving the Hogsback section with any kind of an rv; no matter how much mountain driving experience you have. This is the really dangerous part of Hwy 12.

It is standard width (kinda) asphalt, basically no shoulder, no guardrails but reasonably straight. You have control over everything and can do it, right? Then you are up there and the guy coming against you is right down the middle and scared poopless. Or, yes, so scared he / she is weaving back and forth.

You do NOT want to be in an rv in that case.

It is a beautiful drive with all kinds of diverse scenery.

Be safe.

[trailertraveler]

2gypsies wrote:
...Don't avoid Hwy 12. It's an absolutely gorgeous drive. Stop for a night or two in Escalante and take your vehicle to do more exploring. That area is fascinating. Hike some of the slot canyons. Ask at the Visitor Center...

This is always my recommendation as you will be able to see and do a lot more than if you just drive through with the RV. If you decide not to take the RV on UT-12, go North on US-89 to UT-62. Turn right. In Koosharem, turn right on Brown's Lane to UT-24. Turn right on UT-24 to Torrey/Capitol Reef. It is good two lane with no real steep slopes or steep drop offs. It is more miles, but will not take that much longer.

[2gypsies1]

There's nothing bad about Hwy 12 for big rigs. The road is not narrow. It's a standard highway width. You can easily make the turns. If you look at aerial views of it you'll see that it's not a straight down dropoff in that small area. It has a gradual contour. A dropoff would be Hwy 550 in Colorado. We've done that one, too - multiple times. Don't avoid Hwy 12. It's an absolutely gorgeous drive. Stop for a night or two in Escalante and take your vehicle to do more exploring. That area is fascinating. Hike some of the slot canyons. Ask at the Visitor Center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S3siTrjUJk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXTjiXA8M5Q

[mark52]

dedmiston wrote:

fanrgs wrote:

dedmiston wrote:
Last year . . . my wife suggested we continue driving on the "Scenic Byway" on Highway 12. That sounded interesting.

Oh man.

Yes, it was scenic, but that Hogsback stretch of ridge line wasn't pleasant at all. It's a narrow ridge with sheer drops on both sides of the road and no guardrails. Not my cup of tea.

Heh, heh, UT 12 on that knife-edge ridge is one of my favorite scenic drives in Utah! We did it twice, with and without the trailer, and stopped at one turnout for photos. Unfortunately, the photos don't do it justice--we should have taken a 360-degree video.

Wow. I can't imagine towing a trailer on that road. Our 45' toy hauler would have been over the line most of the time on that twisty road. Good for you though.

You guys have me a little freaked out now. We have a 33' MH towing a jeep and we planned on taking 12 all the way through. After Escalante, I was going to take 12 to 24 and up to 70 to get to Moab. Is this safe? Should we plan a different route? Where's the bad part?