I recently took a 9 day trip to Southern Utah for the first time. I have never seen so much magical geologic beauty in one state.
Vacation time is precious. You have to have a sense of what it is you want and what you don't want. For me I wanted something relaxing and leisurely, to get away from crowds and go off the beaten path. I didn't want to zip through each destination but spend quality time in each of the locales which meant giving up Arches and Cayonlands.
We had two choices to fly- either into Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. Although it would have been more convenient to fly to Vegas and drive to Zion, One of my husband's long cherished dream was to ride the California Zephyr through Sierra Nevada so we started and ended our journey from Salt Lake City. Next May, we will try the Las Vegas route.
1. When to go
If you don't like the heat, don't go during summer season. The shoulder seasons of spring and fall are deemed best times to go. I went late September/early October and the weather was beautiful and mostly dry with days being 65-75. Night temperatures were significantly lower with higher altitudes like Bryce being significantly colder ~40F than Zion.
Also it's good to avoid rainy season as it makes the dirt roads impassable and driving unpaved scenic backways are one of the highlights of traveling in Utah.
2. Lodging
You need a car, preferably a 4 wheel drive which will let you navigate scenic unpaved roads. Don't worry if you only have a regular car as you can enjoy a great many scenic drives that are paved. We would go on a rutted dirt road only to see a Toyota Prius and other tiny cars at the other end.
When the weather is dry, a lot of washboard roads are navigable. However when the weather is wet, even a 4x4 can get stuck on red clay roads which become impassible. On our way out of Bryce to Zion, we wanted to go via the scenic Cottonwood Caynon back road but we were told it was dicey since rains were expected and a car had gotten stuck recently so we did not take the chance.
Paying the damage collision waiver vs relying on your insurance or credit card
After hours of agonizing research one week before the trip I decided to just pay the waiver as I did not have time to get a new credit card. On credit card coverage, you have to know if rental car insurance is primary or secondary. My personal Visa coverage is secondary which means I would have to go through a personal insurance claim through GEICO first which has a steep deductible. My business Ink Visa has primary coverage but only for when used in a business purpose.
At Enterprise rent-a-car, it was 21.99 a day adding $200 more. In the end, I thought $200 premium was worth the peace of mind and not bothering to claim insurance. The lighting in the airport garage for rental car pickup at Salt Lake City (something a yelp reviewer had warned about) was terribly dim and only when we started driving away I saw a tiny 1mm hole in the windshield. My husband thought they could try to make us pay the replacement fee for the entire windshield.
The damage waiver is invalidated if the damage happened on an unpaved road. Nothing happened but next time I will probably get a credit card with primary coverage or AmEx with premium car rental protection.
Also I did not want to be hit with a $75 extra cleaning fee as the car had gotten quite dirty with a lot of mud under the wheel rim so we took it to a car wash the last day.
See:
4. Food
Culinary options generally were not great nor cheap with a few exceptions. If you are not careful, you may default to unhealthy options involving deep fry.
As we had a kitchen for the first few days, we supplied at the Salt Lake City Trader Joe's. To keep refrigerated food fresh between hotel checkouts, I had plastic water bottles full of frozen water. We had tried to buy a styrofoam cooler at Target which had sold out so I simply used an insulated Trader Joe's bag.
5. America the Beautiful Annual Park Pass
If you plan to visit more than 4 national parks this year, this $80 pass will pay for itself.
https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm
You can buy the pass at any National Park.
6. Hiking
7. Packing
Top useful items:
Useful Links
This is not meant to be a general guide but just personal notes based on my first foray into this area and undoubtedly I will be making multiple returns.
0. ItineraryVacation time is precious. You have to have a sense of what it is you want and what you don't want. For me I wanted something relaxing and leisurely, to get away from crowds and go off the beaten path. I didn't want to zip through each destination but spend quality time in each of the locales which meant giving up Arches and Cayonlands.
We had two choices to fly- either into Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. Although it would have been more convenient to fly to Vegas and drive to Zion, One of my husband's long cherished dream was to ride the California Zephyr through Sierra Nevada so we started and ended our journey from Salt Lake City. Next May, we will try the Las Vegas route.
- 3 days - Capitol Reef/Grand Escalante, Burr Trail/ Notom-Bullfrog Loop
- 2 days - Scenic Byway 12, Bryce, Kodachrome State Park, Willis Creek Slot Canyon, Red Canyon
- 3 days - Zion, Kolob Terrace Road, Grafton Ghost Town, Red Cliffs
1. When to go
If you don't like the heat, don't go during summer season. The shoulder seasons of spring and fall are deemed best times to go. I went late September/early October and the weather was beautiful and mostly dry with days being 65-75. Night temperatures were significantly lower with higher altitudes like Bryce being significantly colder ~40F than Zion.
Also it's good to avoid rainy season as it makes the dirt roads impassable and driving unpaved scenic backways are one of the highlights of traveling in Utah.
2. Lodging
- Plan early- months in advance and even a year in advance for lodgings inside the park. Best and even mediocre lodgings surrounding the national parks fill up quickly.
- Camping vs Hotels- We had originally planned to camp most nights. However the weather forecast being in the lower 30s in Bryce and the stress of trying to find camp sites made me change my mind at the last minute. Most of the camping spots inside the National Parks looked a little cramped (tents cheek by jowl). The state parks Kodachrome and BLM Red Cliffs looks better situated, however I found these to be also quite full.
- Location and Proximity- You drive a lot in Utah between the parks and the drive itself is gorgeous and sometimes the best part of the trip. Lodgings will be more expensive closer to the park and lodgings inside the park tend to be snapped up almost a year in advance. Driving 20-30 minutes actually is not that big of a deal. I found there is no benefit trying to be close to Bryce if you are not in the park itself. In hindsight staying in Tropic or Cannonville would have been perfectly fine.
- High-end vs motels - We stayed the gamut from motels to nicer boutique hotels forced by availability. The most I paid was $300 a night for 2 bedroom cabin outfitted with a kitchen and an outdoor grill.
- I spent $2000 for 9 days which in hindsight we could have saved serious money by camping but I did not regret enjoying spectacularly sited pools and hot tubs.
You need a car, preferably a 4 wheel drive which will let you navigate scenic unpaved roads. Don't worry if you only have a regular car as you can enjoy a great many scenic drives that are paved. We would go on a rutted dirt road only to see a Toyota Prius and other tiny cars at the other end.
When the weather is dry, a lot of washboard roads are navigable. However when the weather is wet, even a 4x4 can get stuck on red clay roads which become impassible. On our way out of Bryce to Zion, we wanted to go via the scenic Cottonwood Caynon back road but we were told it was dicey since rains were expected and a car had gotten stuck recently so we did not take the chance.
Paying the damage collision waiver vs relying on your insurance or credit card
After hours of agonizing research one week before the trip I decided to just pay the waiver as I did not have time to get a new credit card. On credit card coverage, you have to know if rental car insurance is primary or secondary. My personal Visa coverage is secondary which means I would have to go through a personal insurance claim through GEICO first which has a steep deductible. My business Ink Visa has primary coverage but only for when used in a business purpose.
At Enterprise rent-a-car, it was 21.99 a day adding $200 more. In the end, I thought $200 premium was worth the peace of mind and not bothering to claim insurance. The lighting in the airport garage for rental car pickup at Salt Lake City (something a yelp reviewer had warned about) was terribly dim and only when we started driving away I saw a tiny 1mm hole in the windshield. My husband thought they could try to make us pay the replacement fee for the entire windshield.
The damage waiver is invalidated if the damage happened on an unpaved road. Nothing happened but next time I will probably get a credit card with primary coverage or AmEx with premium car rental protection.
Also I did not want to be hit with a $75 extra cleaning fee as the car had gotten quite dirty with a lot of mud under the wheel rim so we took it to a car wash the last day.
See:
- http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/10/20/avoid-getting-taken-rental-car-company-damage/
- https://www.autoslash.com/blog-and-tips/posts/a-quick-primer-on-car-rental-insurance
4. Food
Culinary options generally were not great nor cheap with a few exceptions. If you are not careful, you may default to unhealthy options involving deep fry.
As we had a kitchen for the first few days, we supplied at the Salt Lake City Trader Joe's. To keep refrigerated food fresh between hotel checkouts, I had plastic water bottles full of frozen water. We had tried to buy a styrofoam cooler at Target which had sold out so I simply used an insulated Trader Joe's bag.
5. America the Beautiful Annual Park Pass
If you plan to visit more than 4 national parks this year, this $80 pass will pay for itself.
https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm
You can buy the pass at any National Park.
6. Hiking
- Always have a map- either from the Visitor Center. Know exactly where you are going and where you are on the map.
- Plenty of water.
- Snacks
- Hat
- Shoes.
7. Packing
Top useful items:
- thermos
- refillable water bottle (64oz)
- coconut water powder - tap water does not taste great and adding some pineapple coconut powder makes it palatable. Also when husband got stomach troubles, it was good for him to have electrolytes.
- peppermint/ginger candy for soothing carsickness/queasiness from windy roads, stomach troubles
- 4 USB charger
- Lonely Planet Zion & Bryce Canyon Guide - I rarely find Lonely Planet guides useful anymore due to mobile internet access. However, this volume was worth all the maps and hikes letting you do last minute trip planning.
Almost useful:
- Battery After a day of non-stop photo shooting, the battery. But since cell phone reception was unavailable or spotty and I was running in airplane mode most of the time. It was more useful for not having to plug in the device to the wall.
- Navigation- My friend lent me his tom tom but when within cell phone range, using google maps. When out of cell phone range, the roads were simple enough to use a map.
Useful Links
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g28965-c177493/Utah:United-States:Tim.And.Lisa.Utah.May.2016.html
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