Utah Road Trip

I got back from a much needed 11-day road trip earlier this week. After over a year without travel during the pandemic (except for a few short camping trips), this vacation was a release of a lot of my pent up energy. On the road trip, I was able to do a weekend in Vegas, attend a friend’s wedding in LA, and visit all five Utah national parks (+ Death Valley) which I’ve been really wanting to do for a while.

My unofficial ranking of the Utah parks:

1. Zion
2. Capitol Reef
3. Bryce Canyon
4. Arches
5. Canyonlands

Highlights from each stop of the trip below.

Yant Flat

This was a cool little hike we did near Zion. Beware that the last 30 minutes drive to the trailhead is on pretty rough road. My SUV handled it fine, but left coated in a fine layer of Utah dust. Yant Flat is nicknamed “Candy Cliffs” due to the coloring on the rock structures.

We went in the late afternoon/near sunset and I loved hiking and exploring all over the cliffs (reminded me of Badlands in that sense).

Zion National Park

Zion was a bit of a zoo in terms of crowds, but it is worth it. We had to wait around a hour to get a shuttle out to the trails each day (though you can avoid this by getting there super early in the morning). Zion is home to two of the most unique hikes I’ve ever been on.

The Narrows might be my favorite hike. We got our feet wet and hiked upstream on river rocks through a gorge with walls a thousand feet tall.

Angels Landing was also a great hike with a lot of elevation gain and the use of chain cables along the cliff side. At the top, we were rewarded with a breathtaking view of Zion Canyon.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce is known for its hoodoos (tall, thin spires of rock)! There were gorgeous views of them from above the canyon rim, but you could also hike down alongside them. There were much fewer visitors here than Zion and the summer weather was cooler as well, which made for a more relaxing trek through the weird and interesting landscape. Felt like another world.

Capitol Reef National Park

I hadn’t heard much about Capitol Reef before the trip, but really enjoyed it and think it’s underrated. The park had a fantastic balance of length/difficulty of hikes versus reward. Another great day exploring red rock cliffs, canyons, domes, and bridges. The highlight was standing on top of Cassidy Arch (see if you can spot me).

Canyonlands National Park

With massive canyons carved by rivers, it’s easy to see why they called this place Canyonlands. Mesa Arch was like a beautiful natural picture frame. We split one day between Canyonlands and Arches, and while it was doable to see the main spots, I want to go back in the future to do some of the longer hikes.

Arches National Park

Arches, arches, arches everywhere. If you are into arches, this is the park to visit. There are some truly epic arches and rock formations here.

Death Valley National Park

It is not recommended to visit Death Valley in the summer, which we found out when we were welcomed by 123°F temperatures near sunset on the day we visited. We might as well have been walking on the sun… at the hottest place on Earth and lowest elevation in North America. Nonetheless, I was struck by the beauty and variety of landscapes. I thought it would just be one large desert, but there were cool canyons, rock structures, sand dunes, and even many plants.

And that’s a wrap on an amazing road trip through Utah and back! 6 national parks in 7 days. I had an awesome time traveling and hiking with my friend Steven who I’ve known since the beginning of high school. It’s crazy that we’ve been friends for 18 years (a whole adult!)

We ended up doing about 77 miles of hiking/walking all total, but every mile felt great. On to the next national park :)