The Ultimate 1-Week Utah Road Trip
WHO
Our family of four went on this road trip in March 2020, when Averhy was 16 and Eden was 13 years old. This was a great time to take a road trip because Averhy needed to finish up her driving hours before getting her license, so she had lots of opportunities to get behind the wheel!
WHAT
Because the COVID-19 outbreak and US response was happening as we took this trip, our plans changed day by day… and so our original week-long packing list (pictured here) became partly irrelevant as the week went on. Our original plan was to fly to Las Vegas to meet Sky (who was there for a work meeting), rent a car, drive to Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef National Parks, and then spend three days skiing near Salt Lake City. The day after Sky flew to Las Vegas, it became apparent that it would be unwise for us to fly out and meet him, but also unwise for him to fly home… so we loaded up the car and drove 25 hours to “rescue” him and resume our spring break hiking and skiing plans. However, once we got to Utah, all of the ski resorts closed due to the outbreak concerns… so we adjusted once again! Our duffel bag full of ski gear stayed in the van all week, collecting dust and dirt from our hikes instead. Overall, we used our three Motherlode Backpacks for the clothes we actually wore.
You will also want to buy an Annual National Park pass for this road trip. The $80 pass covers entrance fees at national parks for a driver and all passengers in a personal vehicle at per vehicle fee areas (or up to four adults at sites that charge per person). Children age 15 or under are admitted free. The pass is valid for one year from the end of the month you purchase it. So if you buy a pass on April 1, 2020 it will expire on April 30, 2021.
WHEN
We took this road trip during spring break in mid-March. Spring break is a great time to visit all of these National Parks and sites in the southwest because the temperatures are still mild. There were some places with snow still on the ground, which also led to some muddy trails. The parks were not crowded at all, which we loved!
WHERE
We stayed at a different hotel each night, since this was a road trip to see multiple National Parks. They were all good, clean lodging in great locations:
Zion Canyon Lodge (near Zion NP)
Best Western Plus Ruby’s Inn (near Bryce Canyon NP)
Red Sands Hotel (near Capitol Reef NP)
Homewood Suites by Hilton Moab (near Arches and Canyonlands NP)
The map shows the driving route we took, starting at the Petrified Forest National Park and going counter-clockwise. After Monument Valley, we headed east and got on I-40 at Albuquerque, then drove home!
WHY
We enjoyed this road trip because there were so many beautiful things to see in close proximity to one another! All of these National Parks in Utah are about 2 hours apart from each other (Arches and Canyonlands are only about 45 minutes apart) so it was a lot easier to see them all than I had originally expected. I know that long road trips can be intimidating if you’ve never done one before, but it is doable. We have done multiple long road trips over the years, starting with a 24-hour drive to Arizona when Averhy was 2 years old. The key is to be patient, flexible, and have lots of snacks! I’ll write about our strategies and tips for road trips in a future post, so look out for that…
HOW
Day 1: Amarillo, TX to Continental Divide
(Day 0 was driving 13 hours from Illinois to Texas). The girls and I got on the road for Day 1 around 8am and headed west. Our first stop was at the Continental Divide in New Mexico. There is a gas station right near the sign, so it’s a convenient stop! We stopped every 3 hours to fill up on gas and use the restrooms - we could have driven further between stops, but we liked the chance to stretch our legs!
Day 1: Continental Divide to Petrified Forest NP
After the Continental Divide, it was just a 1.5 hour drive to the Petrified Forest National Park. At the visitor center we learned that the road through the park was under construction. The south section was open, but was only accessible from the south entrance, and we didn’t have time to drive around. We spent about 2.5 hours exploring the park. You can read the details about our favorite stops in this post.
Day 1: Petrified Forest NP to Las Vegas to Zion NP
After the Petrified Forest NP, we drove through Flagstaff Arizona on our way to pick up Sky in Las Vegas. If you wanted to add a few days to this trip, it would be easy to visit the Grand Canyon during this stretch of the drive. We spent 3 days hiking to the bottom of the canyon and back out in 2016, and you can read about it here. The Grand Canyon really deserves more than a quick stop, so keep that in mind.
Day 2: Zion National Park
We woke up to some gorgeous views outside our hotel (when you arrive at 1am, you can’t see the mountains around you) and headed to Zion. There is a free parking lot at the Visitor Center; cars are not allowed in the park past the Mount Carmel highway. The lot will fill up during busy seasons, and then you’ll need to pay for parking in Springdale and take the shuttle in.
Unfortunately, the number of open trails at Zion was limited when we visited due to some rock slides. As of March 2020, the Weeping Rock Trail, Hidden Canyon Trail, East Rim Trail to Observation Point, and Lower Emerald Trail are all closed until further notice.
We chose to hike the Upper Emerald Pool Trail and walk to the start of the Zion Narrows. Both of these trails had a fair number of people on them, and I can see how they would get very crowded in summer.
The shuttle ride was also enjoyable and very informative. After getting back to the parking lot, we drove through the tunnel toward the Canyon Overlook Trail. We really liked this trail and the unique rocks in this area of the park. It was our favorite of the three trails we hiked. You can read all the details of our visit in this post.
After hiking this trail, we left the park via the East Entrance and headed to Bryce Canyon for Day 3.
Day 3: Bryce Canyon and Singing Canyon in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
At Bryce Canyon, we encountered some more closed trails - the Wall Street section is always closed in the winter, but half of the Navajo Loop was also closed due to a rock slide, turning it into an out-and-back instead of a loop. We hiked it anyway and finished in about 2.5 hours. You can read more details here.
We really wanted to see some slot canyons today, so we decided to move on to Grand Staircase Escalante after our one long hike at Bryce Canyon.
The drive through this national monument was much more awesome than any of us anticipated. The sweeping views were jaw-dropping, and the drive along the ridge was particularly impressive.
We found directions to “Singing Canyon” - a slot canyon about 35 minutes outside of Boulder UT, within the national monument. Although it wasn’t as tight as some of the more well-known slot canyons in the southwest, it was lovely and had great acoustics!
You can read about our whole day here. We finished the day by driving our hotel in Torrey, just outside Capitol Reef National Park.
Day 4: Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef seems to be one of the less-visited national parks in Utah, but we LOVED IT. The scenic drive is the only part where there is an entrance fee (covered by the National Parks Annual Pass), but there are plenty of beautiful sights if you just want to drive through on Highway 24.
Our favorite part was hiking the Grand Wash trail. You can enter it from a rough dirt road off the scenic drive (our minivan did just fine) or there’s another entrance from Highway 24.
Further down the scenic drive, there’s a road that goes back into Capitol Gorge. It’s a beautiful, winding road with immense rock cliffs on the sides. Very impressive - we said “whoa!!” around every turn.
After exploring the valleys, we stopped to see the petroglyphs along Highway 24, and then hiked to Hickman Bridge, an impressive arch not far from the highway.
You can read all the details of our day in this post. It was a good day and we would recommend this national park for sure! In the afternoon we drove to Moab UT to spend the next two nights.
Day 5: Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park
We decided to fit both of these national parks into one day to avoid some rainy weather headed our way. We spent the morning exploring Arches National Park, starting with the North and South Window arches, and the Turret arch.
Double Arch was nearby and turned out to be our favorite arch in the park. We spent the most time here, climbing up the sides and enjoying the view.
Next we drove toward Delicate Arch, and hiked to the Upper Viewpoint. We decided not to do the full 3 mile hike to the arch itself this time, but we will likely do that hike on a future visit.
Finally, we drove to the back of the park to hike to Landscape Arch. I wrote about all the details here. The clouds were starting to roll in, so we said goodbye to Arches NP and headed toward Canyonlands NP. The drive from the Devil’s Garden Trailhead parking lot in Arches NP to the Island in the Sky Visitor Center at Canyonlands NP took about an hour.
Across from the visitor center is a great viewpoint to start your visit to Canyonlands National Park. You can see a 4x4 road far below and the La Sal Mountains in the distance, beyond Moab.
Next we drove to the Mesa Arch, which has a neat view of the canyon as you look through the arch. The rain started to fall as we finished the short hike, so we drove to the Upheaval Dome and Whale Rock before heading further south.
Next we drove through the rain and arrived that the Grand Viewpoint Overlook just as the rain stopped, so we got this awesome look at Monument Basin (which looks like a giant dinosaur footprint, don’t you think?)
We followed the clouds back north, stopping at the Green River Overlook for a few minutes before driving back to Moab for the night. More details are in this post.
Day 6: Monument Valley to Illinois
We left Moab at 9am, and our last day of driving took us through Monument Valley, with a short stop at the point where Forrest Gump finished his cross-country run! We did not have time to do any of the hikes in this area, but it was a scenic drive in itself. We headed southeast through snow on top of the mesas into sunshine in Albuquerque. Driving through the night, we made it back to Illinois in about 27 hours. Whew!
Final Tips
Road trips like this one require you to be FLEXIBLE and PATIENT. Everyone gets uncomfortable being stuck in a van after a few hours, so extend some extra grace to yourself and your family.
Of all the National Parks we visited on this trip Capitol Reef National Park was probably our favorite. The hikes there offer a lot of bang for your buck, so to speak, and the Hickman Bridge is a great arch that is easy to access.
When you’re attempting to see a lot of parks in just a few days, you can’t see everything. Choose the highlights you want to see, and save the others for another visit.
What road trip questions do you have? Let me know in the comments below!
