tagmanly

WOW! So jealous. You and your companion will have a great time. If you do spend the alotted time in Vegas, any plans what to do/stay? Afternoon Red Rock park is a great choice(west of Vegas) or..Lake Mead Recreational area about 30 min east(go past Boulder) of Vegas. $10 fee for 7 days I think. Outlet malls good too for daytime fun if that is your thing. See one of the dozen Cirque De Solei(? spelling) shows at nite. Try the new "High Roller" observation wheel behind The Quad casino/hotel.

Richym99

@Tagmanly. Pretty sure there will be some shopping on the agenda. After all, my companion is female, it's genetic. :-). Red Rock Canyon will most likely be done as well before we head out.

Love, the CdS show in the Mirage is a definate, and I want to see Jeff Dunham's show if there's time. She wants to do the NY coaster (rather her than me). Other than that, the dolphins will get fed, The TI show watched, The Belagio fountains enjoyed. Plenty to fill up a day and a half. The last day of the trip we're staying in the Downtown Grand off Freemont so we can enjoy a walk through the neon to finish off. The Neon Museum night tour is also added to the list.

YVR Cockroach

For Antelope Canyon, try to be there between 11-13h as that's when the light is the best (or +/- 1 hr of local mid day). Also bring whatever you can get to shield your equipment from dust. It is fine and it flies everywhere.

Richym99

No worries. We're already booked on the 11.30 photographic tour, which is 2.5 hours for that exact reason. Want to capture the rays in the canyon.

@cblaisd. Titus Canyon is a bit too far north for a day trip unfortunately without missing out a lot more. That might be one for a road trip from SF via Yosemite/Tioga Pass/Mono Lake/Death Valley to Vegas in the future.

YVR Cockroach

You might want to go a bit earlier if possible depending on the optimal time for local midday. If the Navajo family that possesses the upper canyon hasn't changed their tour format, you're loaded up at the parking lot into a fleet of pickup trucks and jeeps to be driven to the canyon entrance (5-10 minutes' drive IIRC?) with the normal tour scheduled for that time. You all get the same initial tour and the guide will throw fine sand in the slot canyon to better define the light ways (and hence creates lots of fine and abrasive airborne dust). The normal tour then gets trucked back and you have the time until the next tour to take photos.

Richym99

The only tours available before 11.30 in the Upper Canyon are the general one hour tours. Presumably, they have set the time for the photographic tour to get the best light. It's advertised specifically for those with tripods etc that want to take time lapse exposures etc which you have no time to do on the general sightseeing tour.

We'll probably do a one hour tour of the lower slot at 10.

LarkSFO

How did your trip go?

Richym99

Fantastic trip.

I've been meaning to provide some feedback on the final itinerary but haven't had a chance yet.

Hopefully, by the end of the week.

LarkSFO

While I anxiously await your report, I hope you do not mind if I hijack your thread to offer my own feedback on our recent 10 day trip to the same general vicinity. Similar premise, different results. We had a great time!

Day 1: Fly in to Vegas (from SFO) in the afternoon. Checked in to the Marriott Grand Chateau (we wanted 2 bedrooms and a kitchen, not far from the strip. This beat the alternatives, and turned out to be a fine place to stay for two nights.) Dinner at an unmemorable restaurant in the Miracle Mile shops across the street, then walked down the strip to the High Roller. The (fake, LV) ‘neighborhood’ leading in to the High Roller looked neat, with a few good restaurants which are outposts(?) of original locations around the country eg Yard House, Ghirardelli. High Roller was fun, clear night, we could see a long way and all of Vegas. 30 minutes for 1 revolution.

Day 2: Pool, relax, walk the strip, shopping, into Caesar’s, Bellagio, etc. ‘Vegas’. Dinner at Yellowtail (Bellagio) overlooking the fountains, which was very fresh and good, with excellent service. Late O show was a lot of fun, although I think I still like Ka better.

Day 3: Pack up, pick up rental car, and begin our trip to Zion (about 11:00 AM departure). Bought a nice (6 day igloo) cooler and some food and beverages in LV. From this point forward, we ate our own simple breakfast and lunch (sandwiches on the trail), and went out to dinner each night. On our way to Zion, we stopped at Sand Hollow State Park for lunch. “Utah's newest state park is also one of its most popular” Turned out to be a great place to stop, although this was a slower weekday. I would imagine with this beautiful lake, and the sand machine and ski boat friendliness, that this place could be a lot more crowded and loud at popular times. However, for our 2 hour visit over lunch, we loved it. The fine, powder sugar texture sand, red, was amazing. On to Zion. (About 170 miles total driving today)

Checked in to the Zion Park Lodge with our red hanger tag allowing us to drive all the way in to the park, and off for a couple hour walk to Upper Emerald Pool (Emerald Pools Trail, across the street from the lodge). Nice hike, upper (third of three) pool was the prettiest in this low water season, so walk all the way. Dinner at the lodge was not memorable. Steak was good, cheeseburger was OK, other dishes barely edible. We cancelled our reservations for the second night. We were very happy to be at the Lodge rather than town. No issues parking, easy access to trails and the shuttle stop is right there to continue up or down the canyon.

Day 4: Mid-morning start; Head in to Springdale to rent ‘Narrows Gear’ (shoes, waterproof pants, and a walking stick). Back up to the Zion Lodge to park, then on the shuttle to the last stop. We hiked about 3 miles up the canyon; middle of the day was good for light / sun (and temperature) purposes. This was an amazing hike, one of a kind. Summer time could be crazy I imagine with crowds, we found it nice in this early season. As we got further up the Narrows, we would have nobody in sight for long stretches of time, which was pleasant. I am reminded of the saying ‘if you love nature, leave it alone.’ Definitely does not happen here. Utah is marketing the big 5 hard, to nature’s detriment in the long run, I would imagine.

Dinner at Oscar’s Café in town. Good food. Huge portions. Back to the Lodge and to bed.

Day 5: Storm blowing in. 15 – 18” of snow in northern Utah, strong wind in the far south at Zion. 60 – 70 MPH wind gusts, so not trivial. Angel’s landing? Why not? Started off mid morning for this long hike. Up, up, up, Walter’s Wiggles, then to the staging point for the last leg to the top (steep drops, chains to hold on to while ascending and descending). Wind is blowing very hard. Let’s go. Last .5 miles and back took an hour and 45 minutes. Wind was blowing so hard; we held on tight. Sand blowing in our eyes made us stop and wait frequently. Finally at the top, things calmed down for a few minutes so we could look around and get some great pictures (which I still have not set up to post here). Then, blowing again, we went back down. From the bottom of the trail, we walked the ˝ mile back to Zion Lodge instead of the shuttle. Soft Serve ice cream at the Lodge's little lunch / ice cream counter, then to the car and off to Bryce.

This was a pleasant, beautiful, 2 hours or so drive to Bryce (less than 100 miles). No delays at the tunnel leaving the park. We checked in to the Lodge at Bryce Canyon. An hour or so walk along the canyon rim (Sunrise, Sunset, and Inspiration) was a great start and was very pretty. Dinner at the lodge restaurant was excellent.

Day 6: Early morning rise, close walk from the lodge to the edge of the canyon for sunrise. Cold! 19 degrees F. 20 minutes of pictures and back to the warm room. A few hours later, warmed up a little (still cooler than we expected), started our hike down from sunset point on Navajo Loop, a detour on Peekaboo loop, then on through Queen’s Garden and up to sunrise point. About 3 hours of amazing Bryce Canyon scenery and geology. After the hike, drove out to the open viewpoints (Bryce, Inspiration), until it got too cold so in to town to Ruby’s for a great hot chocolate before heading back to our warm hotel room. Dinner again at the lodge, again very good.

Day 7: Early rise for sunrise, check my weather app. 12 degrees F! No way, stay in bed. Up a few hours later, check out, one last walk from sunset to inspiration along the canyon rim, then on our way to Moab.
4.5 or 5 hour drive to Moab (<300 miles). Very hairy along I70 – cold, windy, and heavy snow / snowplows! What?!? Stopped at Ghost Rock rest stop and played in 5 inches of snow! (we went up 89 to 70, across 70, then down to Moab) Next rest stop – Black Dragon - was nicer, lower altitude, last stop before descending to the lower ‘plains’ and much easier driving conditions the rest of the way to Moab. Amazing views here at this last rest stop before the descent; well worth a stop.
Once in Moab, checked in to the lovely Fairfield Inn (a fine hotel for points usage at 15,000 points per night, per room!) Went in to Arches to walk the Windows, Turret, and Double Arch, then in to town at The Spoke for dinner. No rain, beautiful sunset at Arches, nice dinner at the restaurant. Fabulous milkshakes!

Day 8: Up early and back to Arches. Cool with the chance of rain. Walked Park Avenue (out and back) with the rain beginning. Fun to see the water flowing through the bottom of the canyon – really helps you to see and understand how this amazing geology was formed in the first place. A very nice ~3mile walk.

On to the Delicate Arch trail. Cooler, harder rain. Good thing the hike was uphill, helped us to keep warm. Another ~3 mile hike up and down. Benefit of the ‘shoulder season’? No issues at all parking, no National Park traffic jams on the roads or trails! After the hike up to the Arch and back, quick drive to the lower parking area for a 1 mile out and back walk to the lower viewpoint.

Dinner at the Moab Brewery – busy, 30 minute wait, good food and beverages.

Day 8: Canyonlands. Up 191 into the park – Island in the Sky - past the visitor center to Neck Springs Trail. 3 ˝ - 4 hour hike – amazing variety of geology / geography / plants and trees. Really a beautiful trail that we would highly recommend – shoulder season we ran in to nobody(!) on the entire hike. Then on to Upheaval Dome for the walk up to the first viewpoint for lunch, then on to Grand View Point. Started the walk here, thunder and lightning turned us around. Glad to get back in the car as the rain came and storm got stronger and lightning more frequent.
Back to the hotel then on to dinner at Zax pizza in town. All you can eat salad, soup, and pizza buffet hit the spot for us after a wait to be seated. Excellent salad bar, pretty darn good pizza coming out of their brick oven.

Day 9: Up early this morning, leave the hotel at 8:30 AM for Grand Junction. Amazing drive on 128 up along the Colorado River on the way to Cisco then I70, then across on 70 to Grand Junction. About 100 miles. Easy drop off of the rental car, easy check in at this tiny airport, and a nice flight from GJT-DEN-SFO.

All in all, this was a wonderful trip. Amazing southern Utah landscape and geology, in well managed, well run National Parks. Early season (late March, early April), you do risk some cool or cold weather, even snow. We were prepared with the right gear / clothing, and did not let inclement weather slow us down.

The one way car rental was a great choice, we ended up driving just about 900 miles including the drives in to the parks. We had considered an RV for this trip, but with the cooler weather we were happy to have a warm hotel to go back to every night. Highly recommend the Zion and Bryce lodges, at it is so much easier to begin and end your day right in the park.

All of these parks are truly amazing; my only concern is that we overwhelm them with our love. Zion has instituted the shuttle system – I think Arches may have to too. Not sure where the right balance is between loving nature and overwhelming nature…

chunky649

I got to reading this thread late, but for future readers, I want to suggest that between Flagstaff and Grand Canyon, there are 3 close-together national park/national Monuments that is worth a pit stop/drive through:

Wupatki National Monument + sunset crater national monument.
These 2 National Parks are connected. There is at least a couple ruins you can explore in person (walk right into them). The Sunset crater volcano is impressive from afar, but unfortunately, you can't hike up the volcano anymore, but you can hike around it.

Walnut Canyon National Monument - Take the Island Trail. (short ~1 mile return trip) Nice cliff dwelling.

Zion and Death Valley are my 2 favorite national parks. I've been to both multiple times. It is good for a quick drive through, and good for longer term exploring (hiking, etc.)

amanuensis

Zion and Death Valley are not really between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon -- but I agree that they are both really worth visiting. While in the area, Pipe Spring National Monument and Lee's Ferry (part of the Lake Powell National Recreation Area) are also worth visiting.

You learn a lot there about the history and geography of the Arizona Strip, which is the part of Arizona north of the Grand Canyon/Colorado River. The Arizona Strip is among the most isolated parts of the United States. According to Google Maps, a person who lives in Colorado City, AZ has to drive 264 miles to get to the county seat of Kingman, AZ. (Which partially explains why the polygamists who live there chose that place for their settlement; they wanted the isolation.)