Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef National Parks

[ZZ828]

Heading out to Utah the first week of April for a spring break trip with the wife and kids, and hitting Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion. We'll spend the most time in Zion.

Staying in Torrey while at Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon Lodge while at Bryce and in Springdale while at Zion.

I pretty much know about the well known hikes, and both kids are really good hikers. They hiked all over Yellowstone and Grand Teton last summer at distances from 1-2 miles up to an 11 mile hike.

For those who have been, looking for recommendations on good eats or hikes/things to do that might not be completely well known.

 

[goldmom]

I will say that Zion was my favorite of those three, but my most favorite is Arches which you didn't list.
Bryce Canyon's "hoo doos" are pretty cool, though.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Heading out to Utah the first week of April for a spring break trip with the wife and kids, and hitting Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion. We'll spend the most time in Zion.

Staying in Torrey while at Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon Lodge while at Bryce and in Springdale while at Zion.

I pretty much know about the well known hikes, and bot

Heading out to Utah the first week of April for a spring break trip with the wife and kids, and hitting Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion. We'll spend the most time in Zion.

Staying in Torrey while at Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon Lodge while at Bryce and in Springdale while at Zion.

I pretty much know about the well known hikes, and both kids are really good hikers. They hiked all over Yellowstone and Grand Teton last summer at distances from 1-2 miles up to an 11 mile hike.

For those who have been, looking for recommendations on good eats or hikes/things to do that might not be completely well known.

h kids are really good hikers. They hiked all over Yellowstone and Grand Teton last summer at distances from 1-2 miles up to an 11 mile hike.

For those who have been, looking for recommendations on good eats or hikes/things to do that might not be completely well known.

Honestly, you're on the wrong side of Utah. As nice as Zion, Capitol Reef and Bryce really are, Canyonlands (especially Island in the Sky), Arches and Goblin Valley are much better imo. And so in that I would halfway agree with Goldmom, in that you should recalculate your trip over to the east a bit and disagree in that Zion was my least favorite of all of the Utah parks.

I'll post some pics from my most recent visit out there (about a year ago give or take a few months) as you happen to catch me when I'm on the actual laptop rather than my iphone and it's really easy to cut and paste some pics in.

But the most important takeaways I would say quickly are:

1) Cafe Diablo in Torrey is not only the best restaurant in Utah, it's one of my favorite restaurants anywhere. It's a five star fusion restaurant playing with things like local wild caught rattlesnake meat and antelope.

2) The BEST views are from the Island in the Sky in Canyonlands and is ALMOST equal to the "East Rim"/Desert View of the Grand Canyon for best view anywhere on Earth.

3) The BEST singular park is probably Arches so in that I agree with Goldmom. Canyonlands and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument have the best views and Goblin Valley State Park has the most interesting formations, but Arches combines the best hikes, some great views and some interesting formations for probably the best overall experience. If you had to do one and only one park for some reason, it should be Arches imo.

4) The BEST place to play with your photography skills is Goblin Valley State Park. A frequently overlooked park as people rush from Arches and Canyonlands to get over to Zion and Capitol Reef, but it has some amazing formations.

5) The best place to see Bryce Canyon is to get up an hour before sunrise and shoot from slightly down the path at SunSET point. The rocks and jagged interesting formations at Bryce are ordinarily a boring reddish brown. But starting about an hour before sunrise and until maybe 15-30 minutes before sunrise the light peaking over the canyons right BEFORE sunrise causes the rocks to grow a really cool radioactive reddish-orange. There's no real place to see the actual Sunrise at Bryce as it's heavily forested to the east and all of your views of the sunrise itself is blocked, but the rocks light up in an amazing way especially Thor's Hammer in the hour before sunrise. I'll show you some pics of Bryce in ordinary sunlight and in the hour before sunrise.

 

[FSUTribe76]

So apparently I never bothered to go back in and post my pics from my real camera, so these are all just from my then iPhone 5S camera. I need to go back in and upload all of my real pics at some point.

But anyways, here's what Bryce looks like in ordinary lighting conditions (this is early last April and yes it had snowed a bit the day before and there was still some sticking)

And here's what it looks like in the hour before sunrise

 

[FSUTribe76]

Here was our meal at Cafe Diablo including some rattlesnake cakes, a yellow tomato and canary melon gazpacho in an ice bowl, chili rubbed antelope steaks,and local trout with pumpkin seed with a savory quinoa and tarragon waffle.

 

[LesClaypool]

Was there ever a chance that Tribe wasn't going to open this thread and suggest an alternative itinerary?

 

[FSUTribe76]

Here's some iphone pics from Goblin Valley. Like I said, I really need to dig up my real camera pics and post them as cool as these are the real camera pics are 1000x better.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Was there ever a chance that Tribe wasn't going to open this thread and suggest an alternative itinerary?

Yeah, if the OP said I'm going to Arches, Canyonlands, Goblin Valley, Grand Staircase and Bryce and skipping over Capitol Reef and Zion.

 

[FSUTribe76]

BTW, here's what the top of the Island in the Sky of Canyonlands looked like on April 15th....freezing cold and covered in snow.

But the views from it were amazing.

 

[billanole]

We had a helluva great trip to Zion and Bryce a few years ago. An uncrowded entrance into Zion is the Kolub Canyon area off of Interstate 15. Underrated...

 

[Hayduke GW]

Heading out to Utah the first week of April for a spring break trip with the wife and kids, and hitting Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion. We'll spend the most time in Zion.

Staying in Torrey while at Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon Lodge while at Bryce and in Springdale while at Zion.

I pretty much know about the well known hikes, and both kids are really good hikers. They hiked all over Yellowstone and Grand Teton last summer at distances from 1-2 miles up to an 11 mile hike.

For those who have been, looking for recommendations on good eats or hikes/things to do that might not be completely well known.

Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder (an hour south of Torrey) is a great place to eat and drink.

You're not going to have an awful lot of time since you're covering so much ground but you're going to drive right by Calf Creek Falls (about ten minutes south of Boulder, right before you cross the Escalante River). It's a great hike up the canyon in the middle of this photo:

Probably a four hour walk if your kids can hike so a nice break while driving.

Escalante country is my favorite spot in Utah, spend a week there every winter. Dozens of spots to park the car and wander off but you won't have time for that.

If you ever have more time around Escalante you can spend days down the Hole in the Rock road. Great slots in that area like Spooky Gulch. This wasn't even the tightest spot.

 

[goldmom]

Utah has the most amazing scenery of any state, IMO. I'd go back in a heartbeat. We did some far western Colorado and then swung up and over into western Wyoming through Jackson Hole, the Tetons, and Yellowstone and then into southern Montana and over to eastern Idaho. I admit we were moving pretty fast to cover what we did in 12 days but you never get tired of spectacular.

 

[Hayduke GW]

You'll also drive right by the Haymaker Pictographs near the Escalante River. About a two mile hike (no signs and mostly slick rock trail so requires a little navigational skill).

 

[FSUTribe76]

Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder (an hour south of Torrey) is a great place to eat and drink.

You're not going to have an awful lot of time since you're covering so much ground but you're going to drive right by Calf Creek Falls (about ten minutes south of Boulder, right before you cross the Escalante River). It's a great hike up the canyon in the middle of this photo:

Probably a four hour walk if your kids can hike so a nice break while driving.

Escalante country is my favorite spot in Utah, spend a week there every winter. Dozens of spots to park the car and wander off but you won't have time for that.

If you ever have more time around Escalante you can spend days down the Hole in the Rock road. Great slots in that area like Spooky Gulch. This wasn't even the tightest spot.

Wow, That slot canyon is ridiculous. I'll have to look into hiking it next time I'm there. I may have to plan something for this year or the next.

 

[Hayduke GW]

Wow, That slot canyon is ridiculous. I'll have to look into hiking it next time I'm there. I may have to plan something for this year or the next.

You really could spend a week down Hole in the Rock Road out of Escalante. That was Spooky Gulch, you can connect to Peek-a-Boo slot on that same trip, also several other slots of similar character in the area as well as a couple of pretty great arches and bridges.

I'm not much for trail guides but Michael Kelsey's books are great for helping you find the way to some pretty crazy places. The books are poorly written, the fonts and kerning are awful, he travels at marathon paces and distances (even by my standard and i move fast and light) but he's been everywhere. Even the internet hasn't really caught up to his books yet.

 

[FSUTribe76]

You really could spend a week down Hole in the Rock Road out of Escalante. That was Spooky Gulch, you can connect to Peek-a-Boo slot on that same trip, also several other slots of similar character in the area as well as a couple of pretty great arches and bridges.

I'm not much for trail guides but Michael Kelsey's books are great for helping you find the way to some pretty crazy places. The books are poorly written, the fonts and kerning are awful, he travels at marathon paces and distances (even by my standard and i move fast and light) but he's been everywhere. Even the internet hasn't really caught up to his books yet.

Have they added any amenities (aka bathrooms/showers) to the Escalante area yet? I had heard they were going to make more of an effort to bring it up to National Park standards or at least start going that route.

 

[Hayduke GW]

Have they added any amenities (aka bathrooms/showers) to the Escalante area yet? I had heard they were going to make more of an effort to bring it up to National Park standards or at least start going that route.

The town of Escalante has a bunch of motels and restaurants that are decent enough. Only one awesome hotel in Boulder.

Some of the local clowns are trying to get the Trump admin to greatly reduce the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument so they can have their precious coal mine on the Kaiparowits Plateau (what a sustainable growth industry!) but are facing significant opposition from the rec/tourism providers both locally and regionally. Most locals have opposed the monument since it was established in 1996 so a real love/hate thing with the new tourism economy.

I doubt Escalante will develop too much, at least not for a long time.

 

[ZZ828]

Some great recommendations so far. Thanks.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Some great recommendations so far. Thanks.

Just remember to go to SunSET point at Bryce for sunRISE and not SunRISE point. They're both basically in the same area and you don't get to see the actual sunrise anyways it's just important to be there for the rocks "glow". And the formations are a little better on the "sunset" side of the ridge and the tourons all flock to sunrise point because it's in the name.

Also just south of Bryce is Pink Coral Sands State Park which is a nice little sidetrip during the day from the Bryce Lodge especially if you rent some SUVs. It's not as amazing as the Great Sand Dunes NP or White Sands but it's a better desert area than all but those two imo.

 

[Spenser1]

Heading out to Utah the first week of April for a spring break trip with the wife and kids, and hitting Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion. We'll spend the most time in Zion.

Staying in Torrey while at Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon Lodge while at Bryce and in Springdale while at Zion.

I pretty much know about the well known hikes, and both kids are really good hikers. They hiked all over Yellowstone and Grand Teton last summer at distances from 1-2 miles up to an 11 mile hike.

For those who have been, looking for recommendations on good eats or hikes/things to do that might not be completely well known.

I've done a lot of traveling over the years, and I've rarely been 'amazed.' One of the few places that did amaze me was Island in the Sky. You will NOT regret making the trip. Also very cool, a hike thru the "Grand Wash".... surrealistic.