South West USA national parks road trip

[casanovawa]

I’d been thinking for a while about doing a road trip around some of the amazing South Western USA national parks, specifically in Arizona and Utah.

Part of the inspiration had come from pictures of the natural beauty of spots such as the Horseshoe Bend in the Colorado River in Arizona and Zion National Park in Utah, partly it was because who doesn’t love a good road trip and partly because earlier in the year I had bought a cheap return fare flying out of New York to South Africa and if I was going to use the fare I had to be in the USA first anyway.

With all of that going for it all that was required was to come up with which USA national parks and sites were doable and then work out a plan to make it happen.

My original thought was to hire a car in Las Vegas and drive it to Denver over about a week and stop in as many parks and landmarks as I could see, but a quick look on a few car hire websites indicated that the one way drop off fee was going to be at least the price of the actual hire charge, if not double!

to look for information on such spots is the US National Parks Service.

My national parks/locations in Utah and Arizona

With this plan in mind I thought a mid-sized SUV/4WD would probably be the go, something that could go off road if necessary and I could fit out with some sort of bedding in the back and go places and stay out overnight, possibly do some astro photography and pretty much move at my own pace stopping where I wanted to.

I found a deal using the car hire company Sixt for 5 nights for about US$200, booked it, and made my flight arrangements as part of the larger holiday itinerary. USA road trip here I come!!

I flew into Las Vegas and had a walk around of the city, the strip always has plenty of interesting things to look at and photograph.

Las Vegas at night
Las Vegas at night

I'd booked a room at the Circus Circus Hotel and after sleeping off a bit of jet lag and making some last minute preparations I took a shuttle to McCarran Airport and then got the free shuttle bus to the car hire centre where all the rental companies are located to pick up my ride.

They don’t have any SUVs/4WDs available! Would I like a sedan? No I wouldn’t like a sedan, I had booked an SUV and been counting on getting an SUV! So proceeded a couple of hours of me messing around trying to get what I had booked or seeing if several of the other car hire companies had anything available.

Of course a couple did and of course a last minute car hire was going to cost around US$500! After a bit of fuming and a bit of thinking about options I just went back and got the sedan from Sixt and while the guy there tried to be helpful I sent their Facebook page a fairly uncomplimentary message about the whole episode!

So travel teaches you a bunch of things including being able to think on your feet and to be resilient and bounce back from a few hard knocks or changes of plans.

Here's what I was going to be touring in.

Hyundai Sonata

With that it was time to head off on the road trip.


More photos here South West USA national parks road trip

 

[casanovawa]

[h=1]South West USA national parks road trip – Zion National Park[/h]
First stop, Spingdale, Utah, a town just outside of the gate of Zion National Park and the logical place to stop over if Zion is your intended destination.

There are other towns along Route I-15 out of Las Vegas that also have places to stay so you might want to look at a map for town names and check with whichever hotel booking site is your preferred one to get a sense of prices and availability.

Springdale is roughly 159 miles (255 km) from Las Vegas if you take I-15 and US-89 and about 2.5-3 hours depending on traffic and how fast you drive.

The drive from Las Vegas to Springdale/Bryce Canyon


I hadn’t made any hotel reservations as I had been planning, and sort of looking forward a bit, to roughing it and having the freedom to go where I wanted when I wanted, so this was now going to be a bit of a pain each night, without much internet access, of rocking up at places to see what accommodation options were available and what the going rates were.

In this particular case it was no dice, everything seemed booked up at the couple of places I went in and asked at Springdale.

Seems it was a long weekend off for Utah school kids and there had been a local Red Bull event and the park was going to be very busy, so after curling up in the car and catching a bit of sleep (thanks again Sixt!!) I was at least right and ready to head straight into the park.

I had previously thought a bit about which was going to be the most cost effective way of getting access to the range of parks I intended to visit. Most of them had a US$20-30 per car access fee and seeing I was going to be visiting several of them this could start adding up.

However, the National Park Service also offers an US$80 annual pass which gets you into most national parks in the country as far as I understood it, so this seemed to be the obvious option to take.

National Park Service Annual Pass (supplied)


If you want to find out more about this pass and others offered see the National Park Service site.

So at the gate I asked for the pass, handed over my credit card and not long after I had my annual pass in hand and off I proceeded.

The annual pass by the way has spots for two signatures on the back so it can be used by two different people (not at the same time) and all that needs to happen is each person signs the back of the card and then are required to hand over the card and provide identification on entering parks.

With the amount of visitors that want to see Zion they have instituted a free shuttle system into the park that visitors can take. You can drive your car a certain distance into the park along US-89 before it then veers off and takes you out of the East Entrance of the park and further east into Utah.

Here is a map of the Canyon.

Beyond this turn off point access is either hiking in or taking this shuttle which consists of buses going into the Zion Canyon (which is part of the larger Zion National Park) that stop at several spots where visitors can hop on and off.

These stops are all marked on a map that you are given when entering the park and have hiking trails branching off of them with ratings of Easy, Moderate and Advanced. Each trail has a brief description of what sort of terrain and change in elevation will be faced allowing visitors to choose the hikes that suit their abilities.

I attempted several of them, one climb up to a lookout at Weeping Rock providing some spectacular views of the canyon, another walking alongside the river/creek that meanders down through the canyon and up to a couple of pools at Emerald Pools and at the end of the canyon at the Temple of Sinawava.

Here are some of the photos of the beautiful scenery within the park.

Zion National Park Entrance

Lookout from near Weeping Rock down into the Canyon

Lookout from near Weeping Rock down into the Canyon

Riverside Walk in Zion National Park


After 5-6 hours it was time to start making a move so I caught the shuttle back down to the visitor centre, found my car and drove up into the canyon and then turned off along US-89 and settled in for the drive to Bryce Canyon.

More photos at South West USA national parks road trip – Zion Natonal Park

 

[casanovawa]

[h=1]South West USA national parks road trip – Bryce Canyon National Park[/h]

From Springdale to Bryce Canyon National Park via US-89 and then UT-12 is approximately 72 miles (115 km) and about 1 hour and 20 minutes or so depending on traffic and road conditions plus how fast you like to drive.

Zion Canyon to Bryce National Park


There’s some pretty country that you drive through shortly after getting off US 89 and onto UT 12 including some natural bridges around Red Canyon.



However, the closer I got to Bryce Canyon the darker and stormier it got. A weather system had come into the North Eastern states of the US and was bringing a whole lot of rain and even some thunderstorms in a southerly direction with it, nature just didn’t seem to be wanting to play along with my park tour.

Anyway, the closest location to Bryce Canyon National Park that offered accommodation was Bryce Canyon City, Utah, a cluster of motels, gas stations and a few other businesses, on the turn off from UT-12 into the park.

There are also a few other towns close by, Tropic, Utah was one of them where some accommodation was available.

For more information on the Bryce Canyon National Park, how to get there, facilities and maps etc check out the National Parks Service website on the park.
Being nice and close to the park sounded good and so after asking at a couple of places in Bryce Canyon City I found a motel with a bed and settled in for the night ready to make a start the next day.

The next day I awoke to rain and drizzle. Ok, not the greatest but off I go. What I didn’t realise in my driving is that Bryce Canyon is at an elevation of 8,000-9,000 feet.

With the poor weather about this meant that driving into the park I was actually driving through the clouds and this pretty quickly meant that in many places visibility was minimal, it was like driving through thick fog.

Just keeping an eye on the car in front became the name of the game. The clouds caused the spectacular views that Bryce Canyon is well known for to be completely blotted out.

A clouded in Bryce Canyon National Park


I stopped in at the visitor centre and at a lodge in the park to get some idea of what the prognosis was for the weather (here I also had an interesting conversation with a lady at the lodge who had served in the United States Navy and been posted to Western Australia where I live for several years and was wanting to come back and visit sometime).

It’s amazing what interesting people you bump into and strike up conversations with on travels and its part of what I love about travelling.

In better weather these are the amazing views of the Bryce Canyon National Park that visitors will experience.

Its not actually a canyon but a series of naturally formed amphitheatres full of geological structures called hoodoos. These are formed by weathering and erosion of the lake bed sedimentary rock.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park


But the weather didn’t seem like it was going to break anytime soon and at the visitor’s centre I was recommended that I might want to try driving along UT 12 (or Scenic Byway 12 as it is also named), which was also described as an All American Road, which winds through the Escalante-Grand Staircase National Park.

More photos at South West USA national parks road trip – Bryce Canyon National Park - Life's To Be Lived.com

 

[casanovawa]

[h=1]South West USA national parks road trip – Scenic Byway 12[/h]

With Bryce Canyon looking clouded in I thought a much better use of my time was to drive further East and North along UT 12 (or Scenic Byway 12 as it was also named), which was described as an All American Road, which winds between the Dixie National Forrest and the Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument.

The Byway has been included as an All American Road because the scenery is considered to be so amazing that driving the road itself is an experience (and the scenery along it lived up to that tag).

I didn’t really have time to drive the whole length of the Byway but travelled about 77 miles to the town of Boulder.

Scenic Byway 12, Utah


Whilst driving along I stopped at several view points which had some spectacular views into canyons and valleys as well as some winding roads again down through canyons and up over mountains.

Its hard to capture just how amazing some of the scenery was along this road but here goes.

Sign for the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Some interesting information panels along the way.

Some of the spectacular scenery I enjoyed along Scenic Byway 12


After driving as far as Boulder, Utah through several towns along the way, I turned and headed back to Bryce Canyon to see if the weather and views had improved.
Getting back to the park unfortunately it was pretty much as bad, if not worse, than it had been earlier.

This was about the only semi decent photo of Bryce Canyon I could capture with all the rain and clouds.

Bryce Canyon


As much as I wanted to see Bryce Canyon, there was no indication that the next day was going to be any better and there were several other sites I had on my itinerary that I didn’t want to miss.

So after fueling up and having a bit of a break from driving I figured the best move was to head onto my next stop – Page, Arizona.

See more photos at South West USA national parks road trip – Scenic Byway 12 - Life's To Be Lived.com

 

[casanovawa]

[h=1]South West USA national parks road trip – Page Arizona[/h]

Taking UT-12 back to where it joins US-89 and following it all the way South to Page Arizona the drive was 150 miles (240 km) and about 2.5-3 hours.

Drive from Bryce Canyon to Page Arizona


Although three hours of driving in some lousy weather didn’t excite me, I figured that doing quite a bit of the driving at night between locations would leave the days free for the sight-seeing that I had come for.

While good in theory this drive ended up taking me through a thunder storm which provided some pretty spectacular lightning flashes, but was also accompanied by quite a bit of rain and even some hail at one point which made for an interesting several minutes.

Anyway, I was able to make it to Page which was close to several sites that I was really looking forward – Antelope Canyon and the Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River – and so I found a place to stay for the night and gratefully hit the sack ready for the next morning.

The next morning I awoke to some really nice sunshine in Page and after breakfast I set off to see what I had come for.

First cab off the rank I had to go and find a tour of Antelope Canyon.

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon that photographers love and there are some amazing pictures of it on the web.

What it is also really well known for is shafts of lights that penetrate the narrow gap at the top and come down into the canyon.

It is in Navajo Nation territory and you need to hire a Navajo guide to take you into the canyon, photographers prize going into the canyon where the Navajo guides will throw sand up into the air and the beams of sunlight will bounce off the sand creating amazing effects.

After I booked the flights, but before I arrived in the States, I found out that the beams of sunlight only penetrate the canyon at certain times of the year and I had arrived just after that, so there weren’t going to be any beams to see.

That was cool, the canyons themselves looked amazing and I was happy to see and photograph without beams. There is also an upper and a lower Antelope Canyon and I was hoping to see both, but after some of the rain that had been around from the aforementioned weather system, the lower canyon was closed because of flooding or potential flooding.

At the visitor centre in Bryce Canyon one of the staff that I was talking to about my plans said there may be no visits to the canyons because of the risk of flash floods, several of which had cost some lives in Antelope Canyon over previous years.

The prospect of missing out on this had really annoyed me, but I had decided to head down there anyway and in the end was happy to at least be able to see the upper canyon.

The first tour company that I went to was fully booked for the day, this sounded a bit ominous, but after going across the road I found another tour company that had several time slots with spots for the day.

The regular tours are 1.5 hours long, but there are longer 2.5 hour ‘photography tours’ that this and other tour companies run, but for this company these were booked out for a month or so.

Lesson, if you know fairly specifically what day(s) you will be in Page it is worth booking ahead to ensure you can get on a tour with a company you may want, and for the time of the day and length of the tour you want.

Morning and especially midday tours seem the most popular with the light beams being visible around the middle of the day.
With a 1.5 hour tour booked for 1pm, it allowed me time to go and see a few other sites around the town before I had to be back at the offices for the tour to commence.

One such site was the bridge across Glen Canyon that I drove over the previous night just before entering Page.

Glen Canyon Bridge


Glen Canyon actually has a large dam wall built across it just a couple of hundred metres from the bridge forming the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area which allows for boating and other water sports in the dam area as well as it creating hydro-electric power for the state of Arizona.

The dam has a pretty good visitor centre with plenty of information on the dam and the local history of the area as well as the Colorado River and also some great views of the dam wall and bridge.

The Visitor Centre at Glen Canyon Dam


You can also go on 45 minute tours of the dam that I would’ve liked to experience, but the times I was able to do it they were all booked up, so you might want to think about it.

After spending 30-40 minutes here it was time to head to another major attraction that had been one of the inspirations of this trip, the Horseshoe Bend, which was only a couple of miles out of town and down the Colorado River.

This is another favourite amongst photographers and again you can see some beautiful shots of it on the web.

I was going to go later in the day and see it, but I thought with time to kill, going and seeing it during the day also made sense to spy it out and to see it around midday without as many shadows with the sun more overhead.

After finding a spot in the parking lot it was about a 1 kilometre walk to the cliff edge to look across at this majestic site as the river takes a 270 degree turn around a rock spur jutting out into the river.

There were quite a few people there either enjoying the view or taking photos, but then the spectacle is so large there are still plenty of places to find a spot and capture the moment.

And there it was before me!

Horseshoe Bend Page Arizona


After walking there, I was able to take in the view and take several shots from different angles and positions. After enjoying the view I walking back to the car and drove back into Page as it was time for the tour of Antelope Canyon.

The tour the company I booked with started with a person of Navajo descent showing the group a traditional dance that involved picking up hoops and dancing around with them whilst making a range of shapes out of the hoops.

On this occasion the dance started with one hoop and proceeded until eventually there were 10 hoops being used, however, the individual putting on the display said that up to 55 hoops could be used in some routines.

Navajo dancer prior to the tour leaving


This lasted about 15 minutes before it was time to break up and get onto several trucks to take all of the group to the canyon, which was about a 10-15 minute ride out of town.

There were about 4 trucks or so and there must have been about 30 people in all. When we got to the canyon there were trucks from other companies as well so that gives you some idea of the number of people going through this fairly narrow canyon.

Getting out and walking to the canyon entrance


Lesson, the canyon is popular and during the visit it really was one group after another after another etc going into the canyon. This also made it hard to get shots without other people walking into the frame (some tour guides did a pretty good job of trying to get their groups to have shots without other people getting in the background, asking others to keep up with their group in-front and directing people to move in, take their shot then move out so the next person could do so).

My tour leader didn’t seem to be quite so proactive, but then he was happy to point out the different features or the canyon that had been given names, and also to take pictures of people with their cameras.

You may get a bit more time with fewer people in the canyon on some of the longer photography tours, but being prepared to get in and take shots was what was required, no long pauses to get settings right and prepare shots.

Here are some of my photos.

Antelope Canyon tour

Antelope Canyon tour

Antelope Canyon tour


We went all the way through the canyon and out the other end, stayed for a little bit and then made our way back through the canyon trying not to get into to other groups photos.

It was then time to load up back on the trucks and head back into town.

By this time I was pretty hungry so I found a little Mexican restaurant in town and had some lunch and relaxed for a bit.

Mexican restaurant in Page Arizona


Later in the day I headed back out to the Horseshoe Bend with my camera gear and sat and took pictures as the sun started to go down.

There were a collection of other people there, both locally from the US and from other countries, enjoying the view and taking pictures, so it was nice to have some conversation and share a few jokes in a very beautiful location, just another reason why I love travel as you never know who you will meet.

With the sun set and darkness gathering it was time to head back into Page and back to the hotel I had stayed at the night before.

More photos at South West USA national parks road trip - Page Arizona

 

[casanovawa]

South West USA national parks road trip – Grand Canyon



The next morning the rain had arrived, it was a greyish day and so I was glad that I had come down and seen the sites I had especially wanted to see the day before.
Today I was heading back to Vegas, it was just a matter of how I wanted to get there.

There was the fairly direct way of going back along route US-89 and then I-15 that was going to take about 3.5 hours and would have me back in my hotel relaxing and chilling out before my departure from Las Vegas the following day.

Or there was the longer rout that would take me via the Grand Canyon. I had been to the Canyon a couple of times before, once flying there another travelling by bus, but I hadn’t driven there myself and chosen where to get out and have a look along the route.

And seeing I was here to see national parks and spectacular sites, Grand Canyon it was going to be.

Page Arizona to the Grand Canyon


Taking the routes AZ-98, US-160 and AZ-64 it was 135 miles (216 km) to get to the Grand Canyon Village taking around about 2.5 hours.

Having got there a bit ahead of schedule it was nice to be able to stop off at several locations and take the time to not only view parts of the canyon from the viewing areas, but also scramble down to some even better locations right near some of the precipes.

If you’re going to take some pictures you may as well get some of the best views possible I think.

The not so great weather did follow me a bit and made some locations a bit challenging, both a bit windy and drizzly, but I still saw some pretty amazing views. Here’s a selection:


Photos from the Grand Canyon


Photos from the Grand Canyon


With that it was time to get into the car and head back to Las Vegas. This involved taking routes I-40 and US-93 for 275 miles (440 km) for a grand total of 410 miles (656 km) in the day. And yes that was a bit tiring!

Grand Canyon back to Las Vegas


Getting back to Vegas about 9pm it was time to find my hotel, get some dinner and pack my things up ready for the early morning get up and returning of the rental car before heading back to Las Vegas airport for my flight out.

More photo at http://www.lifestobelived.com/2016/02/14/south-west-usa-national-parks-road-trip-grand-canyon/

 

[casanovawa]

[h=1]South West USA national parks road trip – Summation[/h]

So how to sum this trip up. I really enjoyed the 4-5 national parks I drove into or through, although it was a big pity that Bryce Canyon was all clouded out.
But that goes with trying to get out and enjoy nature I suppose, and even more so when you book trips overseas several months ahead, you can’t dial up the weather you want on the exact days you’ll be there.

Going more towards the middle of the year might increase the chance of sunny, fine weather but then these parks/sites are located pretty much in desert areas and so the temperatures would also have more than likely been much higher.

Your also likely to bump into a lot more people with all the draw backs that sometimes has.

But in terms of the scenery and natural beauty experienced such a trip is just hard to beat.

Las Vegas at night

Sign for the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Entrance to Antelope Canyon


I’m going to count a whole lot less on rental car companies delivering what they promise, I can’t say I’ll be rushing to use Sixt again either.

But also with travel beyond the cookie cutter, staying in hotels and swimming in the pool the whole time, you have to remain flexible and be ready to roll with the unexpected and not drop your bundle.

When parts of the plan goes astray, do some muttering under your breath and then get on with it!

The annual pass to the national parks is a winner and can definitely be worth getting if you plan to see 3 or more parks or visit several times throughout the year, but check prices before hand of the locations you intend visit to see if it will work for you.

Lastly, this sort of adventure is doable and really worthwhile, hopefully some of the pictures and information here give you the inspiration and a bit of a guide as to what you will need to consider when doing your research.

More photos at South West USA national parks road trip – Summation

 

[earlyriser]

Great trip and awesome pics! Did the Denver to Vegas drive last year and it was well worth it!

 

[irv]

Following the route so far we did in September 2015, looking forward to the journey, spectacular part of the world.

 

[ellen10]

Signing on to read later. Love those National Parks!

 

[casanovawa]

Thinking I might have to do a road trip sort of through the North of the USA next if I can find a decent rental/relocation deal, through Montana, South Dakota etc...

 

[jazza1971]

Great trip report, I did a day trip from Vegas to the southern rim of the grand canyon two weeks ago. The nine hours or total driving didn't matter one bit when you see that view....got there about an hour before sunset and it was just amazing.....

 

[Dannyism]

Nice trip blog.

What do you think about Las Vegas to Grand Canyon South rim return in one day ? It would be in a comfortable car with two drivers..

Staying overnight isn't really an option.. So the alternatives would be west rim or take a helicopter/plane.

 

[Austff]

Great trip & photos

 

[casanovawa]

Danny, its certainly doable...

I have visited the GC 3 times now, first was about 13 years ago when we were in LV and we took a plane flight out, landed at the airport near GC and got on a bus to take us to a restaurant for lunch before driving to one or two vantage points for stops...

The second time i took a coach trip out of LV so its still the long drive there and back but i guess you do it in some comfort and can look out the window or read or whatever and again i seem to recall we visited one or two stops... Maybe we had lunch with that as well, maybe we didn't...

The disadvantage of both is that there were set stops where you could get off and back on for set periods but had to move with the group...

Having your own car you can drive around and stop wherever you want and there are lots of little turn offs certainly coming in from the East side like i did from Arizona, the drive out was more Southerly so away from the GC...

I think all of those options would probably be cheaper than a helicopter ride, but obviously you get there quie a bit quicker, I'm not sure how long you get to stay there with a helicopter ride or how many places you can visit because those things get damned expensive...

So yes, hiring a car with another person to share the driving could be a goer... I would get up early, maybe plan for about 5 hours there, 3-5 hours to look around and 5 or so hours back... Whether you might also want to stop at the Hoover Dam for a look on the way down as probably dark on the way back to LV...

I have done something similar in Istanbul where i went down to Galliopli leaving Istanbul about 7am, 5 hours down, 5 hours touring and 5 hours back up returning about 10.30-11pm... Made for a very long day but if overnighting just isn't on the cards I think driving your own car will give you the most freedom to move at your own paces and see what you want to see...

There will be the hire car cost, the fuel and entry fees to get into the Park...