7 Day Southern Utah Round trip from Phoenix
This trip was originally planned for 2016 but had to be put off until 2022. With traveling you should always make plans, even if you can't do it at the time you originally wanted. Katie and Scott MacKenzie joined Cindy and I in Phoenix for a couple of days prior to the trip. We had discussed the idea of renting an RV but found that the cost was almost the same as hotel rooms. The trip was segmented to have the minimal amount of driving per day. The table below shows the drive miles and time between each of the hotels.
We drove our own Nissan Rogue medium sized SUV. It held 2 large suitcases, a 32qt cooler and several shopping bags for dry things, like bread and snacks. The cooler was used for soda, Gatorade, water and cold cuts for sandwiches
Page has a lot of activities and sites to visit. Rent a houseboat on Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon and Glen Canyon Dam. We stopped at Horseshoe Bend around noon, just perfect for taking pictures with the least amount of shadows. There is a considerable hike from the parking lot to the edge of the bend. If you do this in the summer bring plenty of water.
Antelope Canyon requires advance reservations and we made ours for 9:30AM the following morning. We were all early risers which allowed us to go to grab a quick breakfast and the Glen Canyon Dam Overlook before heading out to the Antelope Canyon Tour. The tour is between 1 1/2 to 2 hours long depending on whether you do the Upper or Lower. Antelope Canyon is on the Navajo Indian reservation so please be respectful of your surroundings
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It was late morning when we left Page, AZ for the short, but scenic trip to Springdale. We stopped in Kanab, UT for a quick lunch. From the direction we were driving we had to go through a mile and half long tunnel which exited to a spectacular view of the canyon. Springdale is actually inside the Zion National Park and requires an entrance fee. We had purchased a National Parks Pass for ~$85 that allowed the whole car to any national park for a whole year. Zion has a free shuttle service that runs from town to several locations in town to the park proper. I don't normally endorse hotels but in this case we stayed at the Holiday Inn. The hotel had so much going for it: Amazing views, Free hot breakfast, and most of all, they allowed us to keep our car parked in the lot for the day after we checked out. Be prepared to do a lot of walking. We took the bus all the way to the last stop "Temple of Sinewava". From there we did a 1 mile hike to the exit of the narrows. If you want to go to the Narrows you need good hiking boots and will probably get them wet. We then took the bus to the stop at the Grotto. This is the trail head for Angles Landing and the Emerald Pools. From the Grotto to the Lower Emerald Pool is about 1 mile one way on a narrow path. If you are afraid of heights or not sure footed this is not the route to take, but the views are amazing. You can take the easier path from the Lodge to the where the paths meet at the Lower Pool. The Upper Pool is another 1.5 miles on a steeper incline with the Middle Pool just below it.
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If you leave Zion between 3 and 4:00PM you should arrive at Bryce in time to see the canyon as the sun is setting. Here again the National Parks Pass proved invaluable as we were able get in without paying the entrance fee. We stayed at a hotel that was about 17 miles outside the park as the hotels in Bryce Canyon City, just outside of the park, are a lot more expensive. The next morning we had breakfast and headed back out to Bryce Canyon. The were very little clouds and made for some excellent pictures. We checked out several of the lookout points but due to Bryce Canyon's elevation of 7600', we did not do any hiking. You can take several routes from Bryce to Moab and we chose not to do the I-70 but the more picturesque UT-12. The elevation changes on this road are very large Cannonville 5400' while the Steep Creek Overlook is 9400'. Care should be taken on this route after mid June due to monsoon thunderstorms, which can create flash floods. This Flash Flood almost wrecked our trip. Luckily we were far enough through the area, and on a paved road, that we only had to contend with one part, where the water over the road. After waiting about 20 minutes we were able to plow through and continue on our way to Moab.
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Moab is a great destination in-and-of-itself. Arches National Park (5 miles), Telluride CO, (132 miles), Grand Junction, CO (113 miles) and Canyonlands National Park (30 miles). To visit Arches you need to reserve a time to enter the park. This limits the number of cars waiting in line which I had done this before we left Phoenix. Even with this reservation we still had to wait about 15 minutes for all the traffic. We toured the area making frequent stops to take pictures. After about 1.5 hours it started raining, so we decided to head to the hotel and call it a day. The next morning we headed to Canyonlands. Again, Canyonlands was mostly done in the car with some stops for pictures. My main goal was to take a picture of Mesa Arch, made famous by a background of Windows 7. From Canyonlands we headed south towards our next stop. A short 45 minute, 45 mile side trip to Natural Bridges Monument before our overnight stay in Bluff, UT.
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Blanding Utah was on the original itinerary, but had to be change to Bluff since Blanding did not have a hotel room with 2 queen beds. The hotel we stayed at was Desert Rose Resort and Cabins and took full advantage of the indoor pool. This was the only hotel that did not come with a complementary breakfast so we drove to the Twin Rocks Cafe. We stopped in the trading post next to the cafe to pick up some souvenirs. In chatting with the clerk, he told us about Gooseneck State Park that was a short side trip between Bluff and our next stop Monument Valley. After breakfast we headed out to the 4 corners, a 50 mile drive. This drive took us through 4 different states, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. The Four Corners Monument allows you to stand in each of the 4 different states. There was a Star Wars gathering while we were there. On the way to our next stop we basically double back to Bluff, but headed west. This allowed us to see Gooseneck State Park, which is much like Horseshoe Bend with more bends. Interestingly it is the Colorado River in both places. Our next short stop was the famous stopping place of Forest Gump's run. 35 miles later we were at our hotel in Monument Valley.
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We took advantage of the sun setting to visit the Mittens in Monument Valley, AZ. The valley is located on the Navajo Indian Reservation and has an admission fee. The easiest place to take photos is from the Tribal Visitors Center. You can also choose to drive the dirt road around the valley floor. The next morning, after breakfast we headed back toward Phoenix. We took advantage of my parents having a summer house in Payson, AZ so we went there for our final night of the trip. The route took us past Meteor Crater and allowed us to stop in Winslow AZ to take it easy on the corner.
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