Utah Nat’l Parks & Page, AZ Itinerary

4 friends, 5 locations, 6 days, unlimited memories

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Below is a high-level itinerary for my girls’ trip to Utah/Arizona Sept 12-18, 2019. I share best practices, trails, and timelines. This is all based on a heavy amount of research and reviews prior to booking/going. There is also a separate lengthier post for each location for more details! Locations: Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Lake Powell/Antelope Canyon/Horseshoe Bend, North Rim Grand Canyon

First: Packing tips will be a separate post! Book cabins and lodging at least 5 months in advance and look at best times of year to travel (mid- Sept was PERFECT when kids were back in school! Buy an annual National Park Pass to get all the people in your car into all the national parks and save a LOT of money.

Day 1 (travel day): arrive to Las Vegas, get rental car & drive 1.5 hours to St. George, UT for the evening. Swing by grocery store in town to grab water & lunch/snacks in bags for Friday hiking. We stayed at TownePlace Suites as I’m a Marriott point junkie (and they had a great free breakfast) before we left to hike.

Day 2 (Zion): breakfast @ hotel, leave hotel by 6:00 am ready to hike, go straight to Zion National Park (45 min drive, park in Zion Nat’l Park at Visitor Center, catch free Zion shuttle to stop #6). Hike Angel’s Landing-5 hour hike (eat packed lunch during, added time to stop for pictures), 5.4 miles round trip (https://www.nps.gov/zion/learn/news/upload/Spring-2019-Tearsheet-Print-Ready5-3.pdf) After Angel’s Landing, visit Lower Emerald Pools (short/easy walk)- Upper pools were closed. Get back to car, eat dinner in Springdale. Then drove 45 min back to Hurricane, to check in to our AirBnB for the night, ($100 booked AirBnB -Desert Sky home in Hurricane-it was perfect for 4 people and the host was lovely!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

Day 3 (Zion): leave around 6:00 AM (15 min drive) to run half marathon, back to AirBnB by 10, shower/eat/check out by 11. Head to Zion National Park-ride Zion shuttle through park to last stop (#9, Temple of Sinawava), then hike- Narrows easy hike . We went about 2 miles in for beautiful sites, highest water level at one point was waist deep. Left park a few hours later for a late Lunch in Springdale at Whiptail Grill (burrito was amazing!). Then drove the beautiful and scenic route to Bryce Canyon (1 hr, 45min from Zion National Park) to stay in a cabin at-Ruby’s Inn RV Park and Campground, – Bryce Canyon, UT—CABIN w/ 2 double beds (bunk beds-needed blankets/towels), Cabin #5 was perfect location: ($73).

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

Day 4 (Bryce Canyon): Pack up car before hiking, Leave Ruby’s Inn campground at 7:45 to get on first 8 am shuttle across the street, Bryce Canyon all day. Viewpoints: START at Bryce Point (this is the highest point of elevation in park so by starting here, you decrease elevation overall), walk along rim to visit Inspiration Point, at Sunset point, Hike down Wall Street to the hoodoos then hop on the Queens Garden Trail, (stop halfway on trail to eat packed lunch). Leave by about 1-2 pm, drive 2.5 hours to Page, AZ to Lake Powell Wahweap RV & Camping Site to pitch tent & sleep ($30/night tent,). Hang out at beach (on Lake Powell) at the campground for a few hours to relax! Dinner in Page, AZ, at State 48 Tavern- delicious jalapeño margaritas!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

Day 5 (Horseshoe Bend/Antelope Canyon): Page, AZ adventures! Left campground at 7 AM for Horseshoe Bend (20 min drive from campground /then a 1/2mile hike to the overlook). Then, we then went straight to Ken’s Lower Antelope Canyon (TOUR scheduled for 4 people at 10 AM AZ time, Pacific daylight). I researched a TON prior and saw this was the best slot canyon tour to take! Make sure you do the LOWER canyon! After this, we looked for kayaks on Lake Powell to explore Antelope Canyon via water. We booked WazSUP Kayaks with Bill who delivered 4 of them to us at the ramp for a $60 fee (so $15/person delivery fee) plus the kayak half day rental. We left around 3:00 pm, drove 2.5 hours to North Rim Campground to pitch our tent. STOP at Jacob’s Lake Inn to buy some cookies (so delicious!) Watched the sunset over the Grand Canyon then had a prickly pear margarita at The Saloon then an 8:00pm dinner reservation at Grand Canyon Lodge, tent site #26 purchased: ($18/night)

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

Day 6 (North Rim Grand Canyon): Went to lodge to watch sunrise and drink coffee, go back to take down tent, pack up car. Left campground around 7 AM to hike for 5-6 hours. Campers have access to Transept Trail (unpaved trail that travels along the rim to visitor center & lodge) & Bridle Trail (cuts through the forest & connects with the North Kaibab Trail). The North Kaibab Trail descends into the Inner Canyon & is a short walk from the campground. We did not do these trails though, we drove a half hour and went to Cape Final, and Cape Royal which had amazing vistas over the Grand Canyon and were easy hikes (~7 miles in total). Left ~2pm for 5 hr drive back to Vegas to return car & relax, Stay in Vegas on strip, Dinner and a show before flying out on Wednesday morning.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

This is a very detailed itinerary BUT I hope all my research prior to booking my own trip helps you make your experience as absolutely amazing as ours was. It truly was the best adventure ever. For more details and photos on each specific location, see separate posts!

-Go explore friends