UTAH question

“I know someone here was just talking about Utah, but I cannot find it.

I'm considering taking the family to southern Utah this year for a car camping vacation. Zion, Bryce, etc.

When is the best time to go?

Can anyone recommend places to see? Off the beaten path type places with good dayhikes preferred. And popular places if they are a must see.

Thanks in advance.”

“The Luna Mesa Cafe just outside of Fruita is a must see! What a cool place to catch a bite. I heard the fleas in Bryce may have the plague. Nothing serious, though.”

“We here in the SW have been getting a lot of snow this year, so unless it's a really warm spring, I don't think things will dry out in the upper elevations till early May.
The shuttle system in Zion runs May 1 through Oct. 31. Which also matches the busy season around here. It's o.k. but if you want a more flexible schedule while in Zion come before May 1.
Brcye is at a much higher elevation than Zion and even in the middle of summer the night time temps are quite cool.
Escalante is also beautiful, though a high clearance or 4x4 is recomended to see the good stuff. Spooky and Peakaboo Gultch are great slot canyon day hikes. Also lower coyote gultch would make a great day hike.
If you want to put in some long day hikes, Pine Valley is definately worth checking out. High alpine meadows with aspens are a great reward for the 2500 ft. elevation gain. Be on the look out for cougars though.”

“We here in the SW have been getting a lot of snow this year, so unless it's a really warm spring, I don't think things will dry out in the upper elevations till early May.
The shuttle system in Zion runs May 1 through Oct. 31. Which also matches the busy season around here. It's o.k. but if you want a more flexible schedule while in Zion come before May 1.
Trail to check out in Zion:
Angels Landing, Hidden Canyon, The Subway, and of course The Narrows.
Brcye is at a much higher elevation than Zion and even in the middle of summer the night time temps are quite cool.
Never hiked there though.

Escalante is also beautiful, though a high clearance or 4x4 is recomended to see the good stuff. Spooky and Peakaboo Gultch are great slot canyon day hikes. Also lower coyote gultch would make a great day hike.
If you want to put in some long day hikes, Pine Valley is definately worth checking out. High alpine meadows with aspens are a great reward for the 2500 ft. elevation gain. Be on the look out for cougars though.
I haven't been to Arches, Canyonlands or Capitol Reef so I can't help you there.

Here's some links to help you out.

Bryce[/a]

BLM - Grand Staircase [/a]

Zion[/a]”

“Talk to Utahiker. She KNOWS places to go and has great trip reports!!!!

Now I was just there in mid to late October. It was very nice then, for the most part....well...actually it was nice in Colorado and Arizona. Then when we got to Utah there was a blast of snow at Bryce (included in three days of unlikely nice, gentle rains from Zion to Bryce to Capitol Reef to Lake Powell's eastern end to Canyonlands -- which had the Fremont River raging and prevented some 4WD trips)

Recommendations:

1. Hovenweep on Colorado/Utah line. Old Pueblo ruins, many built ON boulders. Strange and great to see. There's a nine mile hike from campground to some outlying ruins (or can drive to those with a 4WD and do short hikes there). Also around a 1.5 mile hike right by monument headquarters. It's way off the beaten path and that's one reason I liked it so well. You had to WANT to be there...and then marvel at the ancient engineering!

2. Anything in Capitol Reef is great. It's a little used park. Try Hickman Bridge or Cohab Canyon trails. Great campground with a fruit orchard. And I've never been to Luna Mesa Cafe. Where the heck is it, Flyguy6x???

3. Saw this at DARK, but Natural Bridges has a hiking trail taking in all the bridges. A beautiful area surrounds it (saw THAT in daylight)

4. Canyonlands. WOW!! Hike anywhere here. Three sections. I was briefly in Needles and in Island in the Sky. There's a lot of space here. I wanna see MORE!!!!!

5. We didn't hike here, but for "out of the way" in red rocks, try Lee's Ferry N'tl Recreation Area on Colorado River. There looked to be a number of hikes available. We camped there. Good mid-point between Grand Canyon south and G.C. North. Watch rafters "put in" the river. Good fishing, too, I guess.

6. Kolob Canyons section of Zion N'tl Park. Middle Taylor Creek hike is gorgeous. Less used than main part of park.

6.5 (hehee) Be sure to drive the road from Virgin to Lava Point in Zion. It climbs to a great overlook above all the towers of Zion. Hiking trails in that area too. Can camp there, or continue on that road to camp at Kolob Reservoir.

7. Snow Canyon State Park, St. George. A number of trails. Lava rock in some areas. Orange rock. Sand dunes. A pretty area.

8. At Bryce a "must-do" is the Navajo Loop. Will take you down "Wall Street" (narrow canyon) and past Thor's Hammer. But you will be hiking down into hoodoo amphitheater and back out. Huff and puff. As easy trail at the end of scenic drive runs about a mile.

9. Calf Creek Falls. On BLM land between Escalante and Boulder. Hike around 5 miles roundtrip in a red rock canyon, by ruins, to a big waterfall pouring over the canyon edge. Can camp there too. Popular.

10. On Highway 12, stop at the bridge over Escalante River and hike either upstream or downstream as far as you want and then come back.

11. As reptiles said, lots of great trails at Zion, but crowded. I've dayhiked the River Trail (Very VERY popular, surfaced); Hidden Canyon; Overlook; and Angel's Landing.

12. Cedar Breaks. Trails there, plus a trail down into the hoodoos on adjoining BLM land.

13. Red Canyon. Between Panguitch & Bryce. Lots of trails. BLM land.

There's some ideas!!”

“null”

“Le Subtil,

Sorry, I don't know how to make links, but this is an interesting chat site about Bryce.

http://www.bryce.canyon.national-park.com/wwwboard/brycchat.htm”

“A couple more (you KNEW that couldn't be it, right??)

1. Arches. We went to Arches and it was nice, but it didn't trip my trigger. Don't know why. We probably shoulda done the hike to Landscape Arch (on Utah license plates), but didn't.

2. All along the highway from Natural Bridges to Blanding, I think it is (but maybe Monticello??), there are Indian ruins, which have trails to them, probably on BLM land. We didn't do them, but I bet they would be nice and probably not so overused. (I could be wrong, too. :-)

So many places to see....SO LITTLE TIME!!!!”

“Thanks for the info from me too. I'm hoping to get out there next year myself. I'll keep all this info in mind.”

“...to answer yer question...NO, polygamy is NOT legal anymore!”

“LeSubtil, you mentioned car camping with the family...are there any young children? Was just wondering what type of hikes would be best for all of you. I definitely have some links (well a whole scroll of my favorites) regarding utah hiking but would like a little more info. I have some pics and travel reports at my msn websites which may be helpful...with more to come. Here's the link:

UTAHIKER'S WEBSITES

I am getting ready to leave for a week in Charleston, SC, but when I return will post some links based on further info from you.

Capt Ewo, if you're out there, I will post some pics from Charleston hikes assuming the weather is good over the next week.”

“Put me in for a big thank you to all also. My wife, boy and I are heading there this summer.”

“Can anyone from Utah tell me the difference between "Arches" and "Bridges" Nat'l Parks?”

“WOW, thanks for all the info everyone. I gotta look all of this up on the map now!

Utahiker - I have 4 kids the youngest is 11. I'm looking for dayhikes or maybe quick overnights which I'd be doing alone or with one of the older kids only, as well as shorter and easier hikes to do with the wife and all the kids.

Is there anytime during school vacation (june-late aug) when it's a little less crowded or the weather is better or otherwise preferrable?”

“Buddur, bridges refers to Natural Bridges National Monument - a cool place to visit - see:

Natural Bridges NM

Arches refers to Arches National Park (subject of Ed Abbey's book, Desert Solitaire) - another great family destination:

Arches NP

They are both must see sights in utah!”

“oops! try again..
Arches NP”

“Luna Mesa Oasis: 435-456-9142, Mile marker 101 Hwy 24, PO Box 140, Caineville, UT 84775. Open Feb-Oct, Closed Sundays, 8 a.m. - 9 p.m., beer available. Offers Mexican and American style food, BBQ ribs. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Teepees in the back, rock shop etc...
About 10 miles outside Capitol Reef.”

“You will be traveling during the busy season and it can get quite warm in the daytime at that time of year. I would lean towards early June, Late June through Mid Sept. is "flash flood" season. Though rare and localized these cloud bursts are hard to predict and can pop up almost anywhere.”

“Arches are just that, but Bridges are arches that span across stream valleys.”

“flyguy6x.... I bet we went right by it then. It was RAINING (typical for that part of trip) and we had WINDSHIELD WIPER PROBLEMS (of course!! who would figure you'd need them three days running in UTAH????!?). I just wondered if it was that way, or in Torrey. We didn't go into Torrey.

Buddur...good, you looked it up. A while back, I was getting Natural Bridges mixed up with Rainbow Bridge, which is on Lake Powell. Here's something I just found talking about how that (and other bridges in the Colorado Plateau) were formed.

http://www.nps.gov/rabr/rabrfrm.htm

Le Subtil... The most recent trip was in October. I've also been to Urah as "early" as the first week of April (it snowed some on my trip, but could just as easily have been 80!)... also trips in late June, July and early September. There's supposed to be less rain in early summer. All I know, however, was a downpour kept me out of Grand Wash and Capitol Gorge at Capitol Reef Park.

Eary summer was a nice time to visit, but I prefer less crowds. Does your school have a "spring break" for its kids, with a week or so off? (The school here started having that a couple years ago and because of that and all the snow and ice we've had that's closed the school, they're gonna be going until mid-June!!)

If you go in spring, check Utah college websites to find out when their spring break is. It's my understanding they all are off at the same time -- and southern Utah is THE PLACE TO BE. (Lots of partying in St. George, I've read.)

Visiting in late August/September also was nice. Again, we ran into rain. This time BIG thunderstorms. However, it was lovely seeing "new" waterfalls pouring over the cliffs at Zion from a normally "dry" wash above. The scenery is very stunning with the dark colors of a stormy sky. And then if the sun peaks out--oh, it's heaven!!! (However, you have to stay off the dirt/clay roads.) That time we headed on to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There were piles of white along the road -- hail leftover from the storm the evening before!!

Depending on how you go out, if it's on I-70, two recommendations:

1. Colorado N'tl Monument by Grand Junction. Easy to get to. You will drive UP around 2,000 feet to reach the top of a plateau. It gives a taste of Utah red rocks to come and has hikes, some going down into a valley. A number of day hikes. It is the beginning of the Colorado Plateau you will be on for much of your trip. (However, don't do it to the point of leaving some other Utah park out. We stopped on our return trip and camped overnight, kind of a "good-bye" to the world of red rocks.)

2. Beau Jo's Pizza in Idaho Springs, Colorado..........YUMMMMMMMMMMMY!! (If flyguy6x can recommend restaurants, so can I!!)”

“Actually Lizs, I've been to and studied the Colorado Plateau first hand. Awesome place. The study culminated with a 4 day 3 night rafting trip from near Moab to Lake Powell, getting back via a small 6-man plane flying back over the Colorado river and canyons we were just in. Hope to do something like that again...someday!”

“Wow, Buddur, that was a "study" and not just a vacation???!? (c'mon tell the truth) That does sound great. Who lined it up?”

“An old Prof who loves the area. The whole trip was 2 weeks, and he made sure we saw EVERYTHING. He rounded up enough old students to fund the trip. Had a roadguide/textbook made up, and it was serious business...till the end of the day!”