My wife and I just recently returned from a 8-day whirlwind tour of the southwest. A few people asked for our itinerary so here you go.
DAY 1. Fly into Las Vegas. Flights are relatively cheap with lots of options. If you are coming from the East, you can gain a few hours as well. Don't get side-tracked in the casinos or your goal of a cheap tour goes out the window :). We borrowed a car from friends of ours who live out in the Vegas area but rental cars should be reasonable in cost. If you can get an SUV, it will make travel that much better.
If you get into Vegas early enough, you can drive straight toward Zion National Park. It is a 2 1/2 hour drive through beautiful (but barren) landscapes. Book a night in the La Quinta or one of several other nice hotels in Springdale, UT (right outside the western gate of Zion). If you are not too tired, go ahead and get a few hours of late afternoon/early evening touring of Zion. This is an ideal time because the weather will be cooler and you should be able to find a free parking spot within the Park (otherwise you will pay $20-30 to park outside the gate). Buy a National Parks annual pass for $80. Ride the Zion Shuttle bus all the way to the end of the route to get a great overview of the park (and listen to the whole narration on the tour bus). Hike to the Narrows and go as far as you want into the Canyon. This is an amazing hike but you will need water shoes and a good walking stick. Then if you have time, ride the shuttle back toward the visitor's center, get in your car, and go to the Canyon Overlook trail to catch the sunset.
If you can purchase or bring a small cooler, it will come in handy often on your trip. Buy a bunch of bottled waters, Gatorade, and/or soft drinks, along with some sandwich meat, cheese, bread, and protein bars. Use the hotel ice machine for the ice. Keep it in your car as your "main supply" and then bring a backpack to take your sandwiches, protein bars, and water bottles on your hikes.
DAY 2. Eat an early breakfast at the hotel and then try to get into the park before 8am…again to find a free parking spot in the Park. It will fill up quickly, especially in the summer. Whatever you do, don't forget your favorite pillow in the hotel :). Bring a backpack with waters, sandwiches, and protein bars. Ride the shuttle bus to whichever hike(s) you want to do in Zion. There are numerous good ones! We hiked to Weeping Rock and then hiked up toward Hidden Canyon which was unfortunately closed (along with Angel's Landing which is one of the primo hikes in Zion) due to a flash flood that hit the area a few weeks earlier. We still hiked high enough on the trail to get some great views. You can continue on toward Observation Point but this is a 4-mile hike up about 2000 feet in elevation. (There is a better way to get there which we will cover later.) We rode the shuttle bus back to the Zion Lodge where we ate our sandwiches and then hiked to the Emerald Pools (more like algae pools with lots of mud) but a decent hike nonetheless. We then rode the shuttle bus back to the Zion Museum and watched the film on Zion and walked through the exhibits. Finally we rode back to the Visitor's Center and drove out the eastern gate of Zion toward Kanab, UT.
We checked into our hotel in Kanab. We stayed at the Canyons Boutique Hotel which was very nice and relatively inexpensive. There are several hotels owned by the Canyons group which all seem to be fairly nice but the Boutique Hotel is probably the best. (Parry Lodge also looked nice as well as some of the major chains on the main drag of Kanab.) We walked to the Kanab Pharmacy which has a great ice cream shoppe and then walked around downtown Kanab. It is a great little town which sits right in the middle of Zion, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, and the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Kanab was also the site of many old Western movies and TV shows, including Gunsmoke, the Lone Ranger, F Troop, and the Outlaw Josey Wales. When you see the surrounding landscape, you'll understand why. We ate dinner at the Iron Horse which was adequate but nothing to write home about.
DAY 3. Eat breakfast at the hotel and then head toward Bryce Canyon National Park, about 75 miles from Kanab. Stop at the Forscher German Bakery in Orderville, UT for some great pastries and coffee along the way.
Once in Bryce (using your National Parks pass, otherwise you will pay another $35), go to the first viewpoint exit which is Sunrise Point (near the horse stables and the Bryce Lodge). Take in the incredible views of Bryce from the rim and then hike the Queens Garden/Navajo loop starting at Sunrise Point (you can go the opposite direction around the loop but we think this way is best). This is an awesome hike into the canyon with up close views of the hoodoos and unique topography of Bryce. When you get toward the end of the loop, you will have a choice between the Two Bridges trail and the Wall Street trail. We almost took the Two Bridges trail (since it sounded more interesting) but another couple told us to take Wall Street and we were not disappointed. Wall Street takes you through a slot canyon that feels like Petra in the Middle East (watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). The worst part is the switchbacks at the end that take you back to the top of the canyon. It is a hard climb so take plenty of stops and make sure you have plenty of water. The other option of starting the loop at Sunset Point, in my opinion, will lessen the initial view of Wall Street and give you a more gradual but much longer trek back up the canyon in direct sun.
After your hike, go eat your sandwiches in the beautiful, air conditioned lobby of the Bryce Lodge and check out the gift shop if you want. Then take the drive to the end of Bryce Canyon National Park to Rainbow Point. Take in the views and then on the drive back stop at some of the other viewpoints such as Agua Canyon, Natural Bridge, and Fairview Point.
On the way back to Kanab, stop at the Thunderbird Restaurant in Mount Carmel, UT for dinner. It is a historical little hotel and restaurant with a unique history and a 9-hole golf course. Their pies and chocolate brownie sundae are great too! (The homemade bread, which they advertise prominently as "ho-made bread" was only so-so.)
DAY 4. Eat breakfast at the hotel and then head toward the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park, about 80 miles from Kanab. This will be another 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive with beautiful sites but little civilization, except the Jacob Lake Inn (which we will get to on the way back).
Use your National Park pass to get into the park. The traffic should be sparse and the crowds a lot less on the north rim…but the views are just as spectacular, if not more so than the south rim. Go to the North Rim Lodge and Visitor Center and get an overview of the trails and viewpoints. We were not much in a hiking mood so we did the short Bright Angel Point trail which takes you out to a peninsula overlooking the Grand Canyon. It will be impossible to take in what you are seeing but try to anyway.
From there, we hopped back into our car and took the winding scenic road toward Cape Royal. We stopped at Point Imperial, the highest point in Grand Canyon National Park, along the way. We ate our lunches overlooking the canyon. Quite a view! The rest of the drive to Cape Royal seems like it takes forever with many blind turns and a few chipmunks that dart in front of you from time to time. Cape Royal has a nice little trail to a great look-out point where you can see Angel's Window. We also stopped at Walhalla Overlook and Roosevelt Point on the way back. All of them give you a "big sky" view of the canyon. It is awesome to see thunderstorms rolling in over various parts of the park, some probably being 50-100 miles away.
After taking in all the viewpoints (and taking a multitude of insufficient panoramic shots on my Android), we headed back to Kanab. We stopped at Jacob Lake Inn for dinner. Great stop with good food and absolutely wonderful cookies!
DAY 5. You have so many options in this part of the country that it is mind-boggling. We contemplated re-visiting one of the national parks, hiking to Buckskin Gulch, taking an ATV tour to Peekaboo Canyon, or canyoneering in a slot canyon with Zion Ponderosa Ranch. We opted for the latter. Zion Ponderosa Ranch is a great outdoorsy resort on the east side of Zion National Park. They have a ton of lodging options (including glamping) along with a variety of amenities and tours. They have a 1/2 day canyoneering tour, full day, and now a Jeep tour with canyoneering thrown into the mix. We opted for the 1/2 day.
We ate a quick breakfast and then headed out to Zion Ponderosa Ranch, about 30 miles from Kanab. We met our guide (Sam), who taught us the basics of rappelling and then gave us a practice run on their 50 foot climbing wall. Then, with another father and daughter in our group, we headed out to Huntress Slot Canyon for a good 3-4 hours of hiking and rappeling through the canyon. We absolutely loved it…except for the tredging through red sand and the one rappel that landed in a small cesspool of water at the bottom of the canyon. No way to avoid the stinky water at the bottom so Liz and I opted to rappel barefoot in order not to ruin our shoes (which were already sort of ruined from all the red sand on our hikes but landing in nasty cesspool water seemed like the end of them). The barefoot strategy worked well until I somehow stepped on a hornet when I stepped out of the cesspool. That sure woke me up!
After we got back to Zion Ponderosa, we ate our sandwiches under a shaded canopy and then enjoyed a mocha milkshake from their coffee shop. We toured around the ranch for awhile and then headed back to Kanab. That afternoon we rested, did laundry at the local laundromat, and then ate dinner at Lotsa Motsa Pizza. The calzones were actually pretty good and relatively cheap. We were happy…and had clean clothes again.
That night we drove out to the countryside to view the stars. Someone told us that we could see the space station in the sky at 9:31pm at 10 degrees in the horizon toward the NNW. We think we might have seen it. But if nothing else, the moon was full, the stars were plentiful, and my date for the evening was beautiful :).
DAY 6. This happened to be Sunday for us. So we went to Calvary Chapel in Kanab for worship. It is always awesome to meet other believers and realize how much you have in common because of the grace of God, the death of Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!
After church, we again had a multitude of options for hikes and activities around the Kanab area. However, during the canyoneering adventure, we learned that Zion Ponderosa had a trailhead to Observation Point in Zion National Park. From within the park, this is a 4 mile hike up 2000 feet of elevation. However, from Zion Ponderosa, it is a 3 mile hike with relatively little elevation change since you start near the top of the mesa. We thoroughly enjoyed the hike. It was quiet with peeks of the beauty of Zion along the way. Once we made it to Observation Point, the view was incredible…though the sheer edges with the 2000 foot drop were a little unsettling, especially when you see people sitting on the edge and leaning out to take pictures. No wonder there are an average of 160 deaths in National Parks each year! Surprisingly most of these deaths do not occur in Zion nor from falling off cliffs but rather from drowning and car accidents.
We hiked back to Zion Ponderosa in the late afternoon and then got back to Kanab in the early evening. Sunday night in Kanab means that there are not many restaurants open. We ended up at Luo's Chinese Restaurant almost by default…but the food was good and the fortune cookie said that "Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook on life." Not a bad piece of cookie wisdom! And when your outlook includes an humble awareness of God's awesomeness in creation and a sure hope for the future because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ then you have a good foundation for joy.
DAY 7. If your time was short, you could use Day 7 to drive back to Las Vegas and fly back home. Not a bad trip, seeing three national parks, enjoying some beautiful hikes, and having a little adventure canyoneering. But we had an extra day so we decided to take the long way back to Vegas, driving to Lake Powell and then driving around the Grand Canyon to the south rim.
We ate breakfast, checked out of our hotel, and drove toward Lake Powell, about 70 miles from Kanab. We stopped at the Wahweap Overlook to get a good view of Lake Powell and then stopped at Glen Canyon Dam to take in an engineering marvel. If you love water sports, you could spend a day at Lake Powell. We also heard that Antelope Canyon was a site to see but by the time we looked up the tours, everything was booked. Instead we enjoyed viewing the dam (all the tours were booked here as well) and then took a brief excursion to Horseshoe Bend. This bend in the Colorado River around an enormous rock creates an incredible site, great for pictures.
For lunch, we stopped at Big John's Texas BBQ in Page, AZ and then headed down one of the most desolate stretches of highway I have seen…Hwy 89 from Page, AZ to Cameron, AZ (80 miles) and then Hwy 64 to the South Rim (33 miles). The only thing between Page and Cameron are some side-of-the-road Indian jewelry tents and a lone gas station in Gap, AZ. We were thankful for that gas station!
In the afternoon, we were able to hit the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park. This is certainly not a park to try to do in one afternoon but we did it anyway. We stopped at the Desert View, Lipan, Moran, and Grandview points. Again, the sites were breath-taking and awe-inspiring…though in our case, the haze in the sky (possibly from the wildfires) limited the full scope of our view. We then stopped at the Visitor Center, enjoyed some great ice cream, and then walked out to Mather Point.
That night we drove to Flagstaff, AZ…another relatively long drive through beautiful, unpopulated areas…and stayed the night in Sleep Inn. The cool weather of Flagstaff was a welcome relief as we walked to a local Your Pie for some great pizza.
DAY 8. We ate breakfast at the hotel, enjoyed a long talk with a Vietnam Vet from Kansas, and then headed down to Slide Rock State Park. I had visited this park with my oldest son when he turned 13 and wanted to see it again. The drive is gorgeous through a forested canyon and the state park is unique. It is a virtual natural water park with water slides created from cold water descending through the mountains. The water is ice cold but feels refreshing when you are done.
Sedona is just a hop and a skip down the road from Slide Rock but we decided to get back on the road to Las Vegas. Along the way, we ate a late lunch at Siren's Cafe in Kingman, AZ (on historic Hwy 66) and then made an afternoon stop at Hoover Dam. Here we were surprisingly able to get tour tickets, which were well worth the $15 each. The engineering expertise that it took and the construction challenges that they faced in building Hoover Dam were fascinating, especially considering that it was built during the Great Depression (1931-35)!
The heat at the Dam was oppressive, being around 108 degrees when we stepped out of the car. It practically took my breath away. They can talk about dry heat not being as bad as humid heat but when it is 108 degrees it simply doesn't matter!
When we got back in the car and headed back to Vegas, we were so exhausted and dehydrated that Jamba Juice became our dinner of choice.
We stayed the night in our friends' condo and then flew back home the next morning.
Eight days. Six national parks (including the two dams). One state park. 1200 miles. 600 pictures. And a myriad of memories. All for around $2000 total (including airfare, food, lodging, recreation, and gas). Not too bad!
