I haven't posted in ages, not since we moved to the US in summer 2016. Not because we haven't been anywhere but overall travel has been pretty much straigh forward. Plus there's Covid, still. Since there's a quite a few steps in this trip, in a very different time of year when the parks are generally quiet, I thought it may be worth writing a quick overview.
Three kids: age 17, 15 and 15
Tickets booked on UA: Chicago - Denver - Moab and Las Vegas - Chicago
Rental car through Alamo, very expensive due to one way and limited supply. May be slightly better to start in Las Vegas instead of picking up in Moab (not a lot of one-ways allowed). Standard SUV (Nissan Murano).
Hotels: booked directly via the hotel websites. We used points for the SpringHill Suites in Zion. Had rooms for 5 at all hotels. SpringHills Suites had the largest rooms (we had a room with a twin over full bunk in Moab and a larger suite - upgrade - at Zion), the room at the Best Western had 2 queens and a sofa as well but just one space. The Red Sands was the smallest (we got an extra bed, for some reason I though they had a sofa too; they do have connecting rooms but for the one night we just went with the extra bed).
Hikes: most of the hikes we did were 1-1 1/2 hours total, easy and moderate. Nothing too streneous or too long. We rather do several shorter ones than really long ones. Too much to see!
Day 1: Chicago - Moab - Denver, picked up a rental car, and drove to SpringHill Suites Moab (3 nights). Hotel's outdoor pool closed but hot tubs are open. Went to City Market supermarket for some supplies. Had dinner at The Trailhead Public House & Eatery. Was fine, very American, huge portions. Decent.
Day 2: Arches National Park. Purchase Annual NP membership ($80) at the entrance. Drove all the way in the Park to hike Devil's Garden Trailhead and then made our way back stopping at viewpoints and doing short hikes. Went back to town to pick up sandwiches at Sweet Cravings + Bistro. Ate at the hotel before heading back to Arches to the Windows section (Double Arch trailhead, Windows trailhead, Balanced Rock, etc.). Had dinner at Singha Thai Cuisine. Loved it (went back the next day).
Day 3: Canyon Lands (Island in the Sky section). Again started in the back and hiked the amazing Grand View Point trail. Then hiked the Mesa Arch Trail. Stopped at all major viewpoints. We brought lunch (bread and deli meat) from Moab and we ate near the visitor center picnic tables. In the afternoon we went to Death Horse State Park where we mostly did some short hikes and overlooks before heading back to Moab. Dinner see day 2! There are 3 Thai restaurants in Moab but this sure looked like the most authentic one.
Day 4: Left Moab and headed towards Capitol Reef National Park. Then hiked the Hickman Bridge Trail once we arrived. We then had our sandwiches near the Historic Fruita School. After lunch we headed all the way into the park and went onto the unpaved road into the canyon to the start of the trail. We walked for a bit but not very far. We headed back out, stopping at view points on the way and headed to Panorama Point and Goosnecks Overlook for some stunning views before going to our hotel in Torrey, the Red Sands. They have an indoor pool. A simple but comfortable hotel with a slightly more modern twist than your average place especially in somewhere off the grid. Not a lot of restaurant options, basically none so one of the few options in Torrey was the Mexican restaurant, La Cueva. Decent, nothing special but definitely not horrible.
Day 5: Left Torrey after picking up subway sandwiches to take scenic route 12 towards Bryce Canyon. A beautiful road through different landscapes with high elevation (luckily no snow expected when we drove). Stopped at various overlooks and viewpoints on the way. Did a hike near Escalante in the Petrified Forest SP, had lunch and continued our way to Bryce. As snow was expected and the scenic road into Bryce can get closed we decided to explore the part after mile 3 on the scenic road before heading to the hotel (Best Western Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel). Some short walks and view points, not a lot of hiking unless you go into the canyon and because of the snow you should have good hiking boots and crampons to avoid major accidents. Lots of people used hiking poles too. We basically explored for an hour or so and went to the hotel. Dinner options in winter are very scarce and some of the Bryce Canyon options had very poor ratings so we ended up at a BBQ restaurant in Tropic (i.d.k. barbeque). More like a fast food type set up but food was good.
Day 6: Explored Bryce Canyon some more (snow was pushed back til later). First we went out of the park to Mossey Cave for a short hike to the falls and "cave". We then headed back to Bryce Canyon towards Bryce Point and Inspiration Point where there's some great view points of the amphitheatre with short little hikes. Then explored Sunset Point before heading for lunch at Bryce Canyon Pines, one of the few nicer places and we went back for dinner. After lunch we stopped at the Visitor Center and attended a Geology Talk at Sunset Point after which we walked to Sunrise Point and back. It was getting cold and it started to snow. We did go down into the canyon for a couple hundred feet but since we didn't have crampons we didn't go far but far enough for some nice pictures and a slightly different point of view.
Day 7: It snowed lightly overnight and picked up very heavily in the early morning. Our plan was to go back to Sunset Point to see the amphitheater with more snow but there was no view, we could hardly see the road. So we decided to head out to Zion. Road 12 towards the 89 was completely whiteout. It's not a difficult stretch apart from a small downhill piece so we drove slowly on the snow until snow turned into rain right before we high 89. It rained more and more but once we headed into Zion via the Eastern entrance (beautiful entry) we quickly stopped at the Visitor Centre as it would be closed the next day due to Christmas. We then had lunch at Soleil, a small cafe with sandwiches. Since more places were bound to be closed we headed to Sol Supermarket and picked up some lunch necessities for the next day. We checked in at the SpringHill Suites Zion. We then decided to go back to the east entrance and explore the area a little more since the rain had stopped. We hiked the Canyon Overlook (the most crowded trail we faced on our entire trip) for some great views of the canyon. We stopped at different view points, went through the tunnel twice before heading back to the hotel. We had dinner at Camp Outpost Co. Again, not a lot of options this time of year. It was tasty and quick.
Day 8: Merry Christmas! Zion didn't allow private vehicles during this slightly busier week of the year so we parked and took the shuttle all the way to the end of the canyon where we walked a part of the Riverside Walk Trail. Unfortunately part was closed due to falling ice (rain and snow from the days before). We worked our way back in the bus stopping at the other stops and then hiked the Kayenta Trail up (visiting the lower, middle and uper emerald pools) and made our way back to Zion Lodge via the Middle Emerald Pool trail (because we used the bus we didn't have to worry about a one way trail instead of a loop). We ate our lunch near the Lodge in the sun and we then headed to the Court of the Patriachs Viewpoint for a mini hike). We got our car and parked on the northside of the Pa'rus Trail. The south side isn't very interesting and we were lucky with parking so we walked another 25 minutes and then turned around and went back to the car. I made a dinner reservation at King's Landing (booked 2-3 weeks before) for Christmas as there were basically not a lot of options, so prepare accordingly!. Good food at a higher price level but worth it for Christmas.
Day 9: left early to head to Las Vegas for our 12.45 pm flight. Vegas is in the Pacific Time Zone while Utah is in the Mountain Time zone. However since the kids wanted to drive the Strip, we had to fill up the car (and a shuttle to the terminal) we allowed plenty of time. It was raining as well when we left Zion. Took about 2 1/2-3 hours with our stops. Had Burger King for lunch before boarding our flight. Everything on time. Smooth!
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