Canyons, Canyons, Canyons

For one week each April, the National Park Service joins the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks, to celebrate America’s treasures, with National Park Week! If you didn’t know last week was National Park Week and we took full advantage of 4 National Parks in Utah and Arizona. We visited Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon and Canyonlands. (Canyons, Canyons, Canyons)! I’ll outline every step of our road trip, give you all my tips and fun stops along the way, including Antelope Canyon! This is a long one ya’ll, so settle in.

Bryce Canyon National Park

We departed Denver on a Monday morning and made it to Bryce Canyon. Approaching the park and hotels outside the park it felt like we were on Mars, the red clay and Hoodoos are outstanding. (Hoodoos are tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and “broken” lands.)

If you’ve ever been to National Parks you know that hotels are not always the best, so just know that going into it. You won’t be getting a Ritz Carlton. We stayed at the Best Western Plus-Ruby’s Inn. Pros: It was about 1-mile outside of the park. Cons: The only restaurant within 20 miles is the restaurant in the hotel and the food was not good and the line was out the door. Honestly, I’m not sure what the answer is here, so I’ll just say good luck! I would recommend staying at the Best Western Plus-Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel as it looked less outdated.

After our dinner, we went to bed early to prepare for an early morning sunrise at Sunrise Point. We were up and parked by 6:15 AM for the sunrise and had no problem parking, in fact we got the first parking spot at the trail. We met an awesome couple from Spokane, WA who were also on a little National Park tour before heading to a vineyard in California. We started by watching the sunrise at sunrise point and began our hike on the Queens Garden Trail, which turned into the Navajo Loop Trail, which takes you the floor of Bryce Canyon and up the backside of Thor’s Hammer. Approx. 3 miles total. Warning: There are steep switchbacks at the end of this trail

After the hike and feeling super awake by 8:00 AM we stopped at the welcome center in the park and got a coffee and hit the road for Zion, which is about 2 hours from Bryce Canyon! Another spot to visit in Bryce Canyon is Inspiration Point (we forgot).

Zion National Park

Pulling into Zion didn’t seem real. It seemed like were were in a movie. The scale of Zion is everything I thought it would be, just HUGE. No picture can do this park justice, but I’ll try. We were just in awe of everything. We pulled over to hike the Canyon Overlook Trail, which was a quick and easy 1-mile trail with a breathtaking view of Zion Canyon below. Warning: Parking is super limited! Get there early! This seems to be a trend, if you get there early you get get parking, and pictures with less people in them!

We stayed at the Majestic View Lodge outside of the park. It was the nicest hotel was stayed at and the park surrounded the hotel, so everywhere you looked it took your breath away. There are many hotels in the cute town of Springdale, Utah and everything we saw looked nice, so I’m not sure you can go wrong. Springdale runs a shuttle to the park and up and down the town. Springdale, really was one of the cutest National Park towns, it has shopping, tons of restaurants, tour company’s and even a little (expensive) grocery store! We ate dinner at Bit and Spur which is a tex-mex restaurant with great food and drinks and an amazing view on the back patio.

We had planned on doing Angel’s Landing, which is one the most iconic hikes in the park, but after watching a go-pro video that night we freaked ourselves out and decided we would do The Narrows hike; also a very iconic hike. Most people believe you need a permit to hike The Narrows; you don’t if you hike from the bottom up and up to 5 miles up-river. If you plan to hike from the top down or past 5 miles up-river you will need a permit. We rented our gear (which I strongly recommend you do!) from Zion Outfitter. This included Dry pants (waist high), Adidas Hydro Lace Canyoneering Boot, 5mm Neoprene Socks and a Wooden Hiking Stick (YOU NEED ALL OF THIS) ($41).

We were the first shuttle into the park (view the shuttle system/schedule here) and the stop for The Narrows is the last stop, so approx. a 40 minute ride up there. Wear your gear on the shuttle. We weren’t sure since we were so early, but wear it and bring your walking stick. There are restrooms when you get off the shuttle. To get to the beginning of the hike you will walk about a mile along the Riverside Walk paved trail. The pavement just ends and you hop in the river! Depending on the water levels at the time you may be up to your waist in water. We only encountered one spot where it was waist deep. It mostly ankles to knees. The rocks/boulders were tricky at times to maneuver with rushing water, which make me thankful we had rented our gear.

We made it 2 miles up-river which really didn’t seem that far or hard until the last mile of the way back. We didn’t really factor the trip back, plus the mile trek back to the shuttle with really wet and heavy shoes. The shoes held a good amount of water but overall worth it.

Once we returned our gear we headed off to Lake Powell in Page, Arizona.

Lake Powell

From Zion to Lake Powell in Page, Arizona was a 2.5-hour drive. We stayed at the Lake Powell Resort which had amazing views! The rooms were outdated but overall okay. The restaurant in the hotel was great for dinner and breakfast! But don’t be fooled, you are in the desert! Lake Powell reminds me of a very large mirage in the desert, it’s very odd.

Once we checked in and walked around the property we noticed that boat tours were available. So we signed up for a 4PM 1.5-hour tour. It was nice to be on the water and we learned some Lake Powell fun facts, but overall I wouldn’t recommend it.

Antelope Canyon

The next morning we had reservations at Antelope Canyon with Ken’s Tours. Note: You will need to book a tour in advance, they do not take same day reservations and you need a tour guide to enter the canyons. You can do upper or lower tours, but my friend Lillian suggested lower, as she did both.

Let me tell you! Antelope Canyon did not disappoint. It didn’t seem real, as you can see from the pictures. Our tour guide was amazing and took my camera to adjust the settings and the different was remarkable! Overall the tour took about an hour and we learned a ton about not only the canyons but Navajo Nation, which is the land on which the canyons are.

Horseshoe Bend

About 10 minutes from Antelope Canyon is Horseshoe Bend. Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page, Arizona. It is a 1.5-mile hike to the overlook and I would say worth it. We were there mid-afternoon and it was really busy. I could barely watch some people leaning over the edges to take pictures. Be careful!

After departing Horseshoe Bend, we were off to Tusayan, AZ for the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon National Park

2 hours from Page, Arizona we reached the entrance of the Grand Canyon! Neither Justin or I had ever seen it, to to say it blew our mind was an understatement. Its ginormous!

We stayed at the Grand Canyon Plaza Hotel. Do not stay here. It was sketchy and old and terrible beds. I would recommend staying at The Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon, it was the best looking hotel in the town. If you really plan it advance look into staying at El Tovar-Inside the park, the views looks incredible! We ate lunch at a place called We Cook Pizza and Pasta and it was great! We ate dinner at Big E’s Steakhouse, also unimpressive, but I did have a good peach beer!

We got up for sunrise the next morning at Yaki Point. Note you can only take a shuttle from the Visitor’s Center to access Yaki Point. Since shuttles don’t start running until 7AM we parked and walked up there, there is a path so it wasn’t too bad and totally worth it. Leaving the Grand Canyon we saw wild horses and it was out of movie.

Canyonlands National Park

Our next leg of the trip was 6.5 hours to Canyonlands National Park outside of Moab, Utah. We LOVE Moab. Last Spring, we visited and hiked Arches National Park and if I’m being honest, Canyonlands was underwhelming compared to Arches. So if you only have time for one, do Arches. But since we hadn’t seen Canyonlands we hiked to Mesa Arch, which was a quick 0.5-mile hike and was quite underwhelming, but still beautiful. Another point to see on the way to Canyonlands is Dead Horse State Park. We had planned on staying in Moab for a night before heading home, but I wasn’t feel too good at this point so we just pushed back home to Denver.

Along the route from the Grand Canyon to Canyonlands you will/can take a road through Monument Valley State Park. Which if you don’t recognize it, it’s famous from the Forest Gump scene where Forest stops his running and says “I’m pretty tired. Think I’ll go home now.”

Overall this trip was amazing and exhausting. We hit our Fitbit steps everyday by 8AM, watched the sunrise the whole trip and saw some of the most beautiful sights. I wouldn’t have done anything differently (other than a couple hotels). My biggest tips are to get up early and be the first ones on the trail and purchase the National Park Annual Pass, it more than pays for itself on one trip alone! (Side note: almost everyone we talked to flew into Vegas and rented a car).I hope you all can get out and explore our National Parks and absorb the beauty and energy they offer.

Road Trip Map

Cheers!