Here’s a thread from [thread=568968]2010[/thread] about our trip to NV, southern UT and northern AZ. The SDMB helped plan our trip! Being in one place for several nights in a row was very helpful.
Speaking of snow, you want to be careful traveling in the area if there is inclement weather forecast. I almost got stuck in a snowstorm in May on UT 24 driving between Richfield and Torrey. Flash flooding usually happens in late summer, but it can be an issue anytime there is substantial rainfall.
You all are being very helpful! I’m starting to think that rather than make reservations and have a cast-in-stone itinerary, it would be better to live dangerously and play it by ear so we can stay as long as we want and see as much as we want in any given area. Is lodging difficult to come by in early May without reservations?
Great thread! Thanks.
IME, you can usually find a place to stay without too much trouble. But the “nicer” places fill up pretty quickly, especially the ones that host tour buses on a regular basis. During my 3-week rambles in 2010 and 2011, I was able to get decent lodgings without a problem by booking the day before or even the same day in most places. There are a lot of bed and breakfast and “boutique” accommodations throughout the region, so don’t limit yourself to hotel/motels.
Have a beer and a burger at Ray’s; also, some of the smaller towns have no liquor stores at all if that’s of any concern. Go outside and look up at night, every chance you get.
I don’t know anything about accommodations in May, but the weather should be a lot more tolerable than when we went in 2010 - in mid-July. Many days were 100 degrees out. Zion was tolerable even with the heat - the water may have cooled things a bit, perhaps.
We actually flew into Las Vegas, then drove from there to Kanab the next day. Kanab was nice for us because most of the places we wanted to visit were within a 2 hour drive - so we did day trips.
Valley of Fire State Park, on the way from LV to Utah, was beautiful as well, even though we did learn what it was like to be baked alive. It was 115 or so, and as we were walking around, a breeze kicked up. Which, instead of cooling us, acted like a convection oven, cooking us that much faster ;).
On your way to Arches and Moab, drive down the east side of Arches, UT 128, I think. It’s far superior to the east route down US 191.
Hopefully this works…
Monument Valley is always interesting, as there have been many, many westerns filmed there. Try to see some of the Pueblo ruins, like Hovenweep.
You have to zoom down a bit to get Hwy 128 to show up. If you’re going this route, you will take I-70 East to the Cisco exit. If you do this, you will go past the near Ghost Town of Thomson Springs. Hop off there and take the only road into town, then continue North three miles and you will be rewarded with the rockart panels of Sego Canyon.
If you’re staying in Kanab and you’re an animal lover, get a tour of Best Friends Animal Society. It’s pretty amazing.
Best not to go there. I’d have to rent an 18 wheeler to bring home about 84 cats.
South of St. George and just over the stateline is an unusual stretch of Interstate 15. It is the Virgin River Gorge, and it was blasted out of the canyon in the early 70s, and scars of drilling and dynamite use are still in evidence on the canyon walls. This is freeway, but if winding roads are not for you, there is an alternate route through the Shivwits Indian Reservation.
I read that this was the most expensive stretch of Interstate in the country to build. It was called the dollar-a-foot highway. Very stark and rugged.
Traveled the Gorge for many years and never appreciated it. Until I was a passenger. Spectacular views of the river, big horned sheep can’t be enjoyed as the driver. The highway is constantly winding.
It is amazing! If you want to take the tour, I recommend you call first and find out how much walking there is. I recall a good bit of walking, but that’s not a problem for me. The OP said walking far is a problem for him.
Whenever I’ve visited an animal shelter my gut reaction was to buy a giant farm so all these poor creatures could live long lives, healthy happy and free. Best Friends is that farm!
If you’ll be traveling between Moab and Torrey, I highly recommend taking the southerly route.
Starting from Moab:
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US191 south to Blanding, about 80 miles. This stretch is not amazingly scenic, but still pleasant. Food and gas are available in Blanding.
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UT 95 to Hanksville, about 124 miles. Brace yourself for mind-blowing desert scenery along the way. Be sure to stop at the Hite Overlook; this is about 80 miles from Blanding. There are no facilities there; if you need to use a bathroom, there are toilets at the Hog Springs rest area just a few miles further, after you get into the canyon. Can’t miss it: big parking lot, toilet building will be visible. Gas and food are available in Hanksville.
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UT24 to Torrey, about 48 miles. More beauty. Gas and food in Torrey.
As others have said, Dead Horse Point State Park (just NW of Moab) would be a great stop for you, not much walking to get to the vista. Canyonlands National Park has two areas, and the northern one - the “Island In The Sky” district - is right next to DHP. This area has several vistas that are easily accessible from the parking lots, providing magnificent views for miles around.
I will add my vote to the chorus for UT 12 between Torrey and Bryce Canyon. Pure awesomeness, the entire way. All the good views in Bryce Canyon seem to be at the south end of the park. Depending on traffic this can be a tedious drive, but it’s worthwhile. Most of the overlooks are right next to the parking lots. Food and gas are available at Ruby’s Inn, right at the park entrance (just south of UT12).
Getting to Moab from the north? UT128 is definitely preferable to US191. No question.
pohjonen, my suggestion is you do a loop from Green River:
- 70 West
- 24 W to Goblin Valley and Capitol Reef,
- 12 through Boulder, Grand Staircase/Escalante, and Kodachrome to Bryce; side trip down Burr Trail in Boulder
- 89 S, then 9 West to Zion, back to 89 to Kanab.
- 89A to North Rim to Page
- then 98/160 to Navajo National Monument
- 191 back up to 70.
I used to live in Cedar City and have visited most of the areas mentioned here. I’ll let chacoguy suggest where to go in Eastern Utah since he knows that better. Here are my thoughts:
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I generally recommend staying near (or in) the parks instead of taking day trips. The best time to see Utah is in the few hours after sunrise or before sunset and this is hard to do if one has to drive a few hours first. The only exception is staying in Kanab at the Perry Lodge.
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You shouldn’t have a problem finding accommodations in May except in the parks.
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I highly recommend staying at the lodge in Zion. You can’t drive into the canyon proper unless you’re staying at the lodge (and even then only a short way). There is a free shuttle that goes in and out of the canyon but it’s easier to access if you’re at the lodge. See the Zion web site for more on the shuttle.
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Since you are going to Bryce I’d skip Cedar Breaks unless you’re looking for something to do. CB is a mini-Bryce and not as spectacular. The drive is pretty but then I think most of Utah is like that.
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Plenty of great views at the North Rim with easy walking access. Point Imperial and Cape Royal have pretty good views even from the parking lot.
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I second the recommendations for Best Friends (maybe the most impressive animal shelter in the country) and Ray’s Tavern in Green River.
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If you’re up for an adventurous drive then consider Toroweap. It’s at the end of a 60 mile dirt road.
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Capitol Reef is the least-impressive of Utah’s park and you likely won’t spend more than an hour or two there. Bryce is amazing but it doesn’t have a lot of level walking paths so you’ll probably need just half a day. If you decide to take the shuttle into Zion Canyon then you probably want a full day, especially if you have lunch there. North Rim will take a full day in part because of all the driving.
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The best shopping on the western part of the loop is Springdale (just outside of Zion), the North Rim (including Jacob Lake) and Kanab, in that order. Page is the only city of consequence you’ll go through.
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Get a Golden Eagle pass ahead of time. You’ll get through the national park entrances faster.
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It can get cold at night, especially at Bryce and North Rim. There will probably be snow on the ground.
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Other than the temperature, May is a great time to go: smaller crowds and flowers will be blooming at the lower elevations.
Nah - I assume they have home visits etc. before you can adopt any animal. Not sure how that works with them, actually - I mean, it’s not like the local shelter where you can apply, then go back a week later if you’re approved.
All that said, we visited Best Friends (on another Doper’s recommendation :)) when we were in Kanab (on our “down” day where we weren’t going to a park) and enjoyed it a great deal. There wasn’t a huge amount of walking - they drove us from place to place in a bus. You should check on the schedules of the smaller tours - the big tour visited a cat building, a dog building, and maybe 1-2 other places but we didn’t get to see the birds close up. The bird tour as it happened was in the morning - when we were on the bus tour; if we’d known that we could have done the bus tour in the afternoon.
For folks who don’t recognize it: there was a series called (I think) Dog Town on Animal Planet, filmed there.
Thanks, Deeg and Machine Elf. Those are great suggestions.
Just remembered: if you do go to Zion, the river (Virgin River - same river mentioned above in reference to the I-15 drive) is very accessible from a number of the shuttle stops. At the far end of the shuttle route, there’s an easy walking path to an area where you’ll find a lot of people paddling and splashing in the water if the weather is warm enough. We didn’t have swimsuits so we just splashed a bit (though the kids did go in the water in their clothes). A very pleasant end to the day.
And speaking of that: The approach to the park from the east involves a narrow road with a lot of switchbacks. They close it at dark, roughly. We found it challenging driving (partly due to construction) and decided to take the alternate way when we left at the end of the day. Stopped for a nice dinner in Springdale, and to visit a grocery store, then drove back - and I hadn’t realized until now just how much backtracking we did. The drive from Springdale down to Hurricane was pretty damn challenging at night (if not as downright frightening as the other way would have been if we’d been permitted to try that at night).
If I had it to do over again, we’d have just left by the original route, despite the rocky road, and gotten dinner back in Kanab.
FYI, Kanab itself is fun to spend a little time. A couple of museums and nice restaurants, a nice ice cream parlor, and though we were staying on the northwest edge of the town, nothing was too far to walk to from our motel.