Planning Southern Utah trip

[HapyHkngSmile]

Planning a trip to Southern Utah - Escalante, Zion etc in May - have airfare booked 5/16 - 5/26 NY - Salt Lake. Any suggestions or partners welcome!

 

[askus3]

You ask for suggestions, I suggest you view my trip photo albums (5 in all) which covers a trip I did which included Arches, Canyonlands, Little Wild Horse Canyon, Capitol Reef, Escalante (Lower Calf Creek Falls) & Bryce Canyon. In addition I have another trip to Zion but no album up on the internet to display this park's highlights. Of course Angels Landing in Zion is a must for this park. However, for me the surprise hike is Little Wild Horse Canyon. This was a great gem. It is an easy hike to traverse but quite a spectacular slot canyon. E-mail me [email protected] for more trip info directions to any of the hikes mentioned. This area is truly a great hiking adventure.

Albums are here. As always all pictures are captioned so scroll down for each pictures comment. Then after Album 1 - Arches, you can continue to look over albums 2-5 from my Utah 2005 trip.

Enjoy!

 

[Oldsmores]

Depending on time/distance constraints, see:

Moab - Arches and Canyonlands, but don't miss Dead Horse Point (a Utah State Park), truly spectacular
North Rim of the Grand Canyon is also a must-see

 

[roadtripper]

Utah Is For Lovers

I highly suggest the following:

EASTERN SIDE
~ Backpacking in Canyonlands Needle District (get a $15 permit ASAP; PM me for recommended backcountry sites)
~ Devil's Garden Loop - hiking in Arches NP
~ Corona Arch - a 3 mile round trip hike just outside Moab (tied w/Delicate Arch as my favorite in the area)
~ Delicate Arch at Sunset in Arches NP
~ Moab Brewery in downtown Moab (good food & great microbrews)
~ Little Wildhorse Canyon (as Askus3 mentioned)
~ The "Wave" in Arizona (but do your research for it ASAP as it's very difficult to score the required permit for this trip)
~ Mountain Bike the Slickrock Trail in Moab (or at least the practice Slickrock Trail) if you are interested in mtn bikign
~ Left Fork swimming hole in Moab (PM for directions)
~ Cheap BLM camping outside Moab
~ Cheap KOA cabins in Moab
~ technical canyoneering made easier with Desert Highlights (guide service)
~ sunrise at Dead Horse Point State Park

WESTERN SIDE
~ Angel's Landing in Zion NP
~ Zion Narrows (day hike or overnight backpack; get permit NOW for overnight; bring good shoes & trekking poles)
~ Pine Creek Falls (swimming hole in Zion)
~ Observation Point in Zion NP
~ Peekaboo Loop in Bryce Canyon NP
~ Rim Trail at sunrise or sunset in Bryce Canyon NP
~ Hickman Bridge in Capital Reef NP
~ Peek-a-boo and Spooky Gulch slot canyons off Hole in the Rock Rd.
~ Lower Calf Creek Falls off UT 12 about 15 miles east of Escalante

more hikes on the western side of utah: link

Also, I HIGHLY recommend the following book for the various slot canyons of that whole area: guidebook

- Greg

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

What are you looking to do? Day hike? Backpack? Anything technical?

Roadtripper gave good suggestions.

One of our favorite vacations was two weeks spent visiting Escalante, Bryce, Zion, Paria-Vermillion Cliffs, and Havasu Falls (pictures and trip notes here ).

Highlights for me were:

* Coyote Gulch (Escalante)
* Peekaboo-Spooky-Brimstone gulches (Escalante)
* Sunrise then the figure eight loop hike in Bryce (linked together several trails that went through the hoodoos)
* Angel's Landing (Zion)
* technical slot canyons in Zion -- the Subway, Mystery Canyon, Pine Creek Canyon, Keyhole Canyon (we also did the Narrows on another trip -- that is a must!)
* Buckskin Gulch (Paria-Vermillion Cliffs area)

On our website there are also two other galleries from the Moab area. I enjoyed my time there as well, but I like Zion/Bryce/Escalante more.

 

[miehoff]

The Escalante Guru:

The Escalante Guru: Audrey
And, if you need even more info about that area, I spent 9 days there last spring. I covered a lot of ground. Just PM with specifics and I will try to help you out.

 

[Bob]

Monument Valley

A good 'car camping' destination.

 

[snoshoovt]

Agree with all the above, I was there last year and a highlight was 2 nights camping by river in Coyote Gulch with daytrip in between to the Escalante River. New sights and incredible geology and history everywhere you turn in Utah! Enjoy.
John

 

[gram]

book recommendation

My husband and I will have 9 days in June for Zion, Bryce, and a day at the Grand Canyon N Rim.

We purchased "Hiking Zion & Bryce Canyon" by Molvar and Martin. It also has a chapter on Cedar Breaks. The book has elevation gain, distance, est hiking time, etc. Also pictures - $16.95. Your library might also have it.

I've used the book as a planning tool, since there is just not enough time for everything! As suggested above, Angel's Landing and the Narrows seem to be the must do trips in Zion.

Happy Trails!

 

[miehoff]

Angels Landing

Not to freak you out, but if you are scared of heights, you might want to stay away from this one. I did it last year, and although I am a bit tweaked by heights, I am able to talk myself out of it. Being a carpenter, I have to do it all of the time when I am on staging and rooftops.

So...I noticed a lot of freaked out faces and white knuckels as I made my way long the trail. Some folks were pissed at their friend for making them do it.

To make matters worse, the day after I hiked it, a man fell to his death. Seems as though he might have been clowning around up there and made a wrong move. He fell thousands of feet.

And so...again, be careful...there are lots of other awesome hikes in the park that you could do, if you choose, but, Angels Landing is the one to do if you are ok with it.

 

[askus3]

I found Angels Landing comparable to the Knife's Edge on Katahdin.

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

I'm kind of a chicken when it comes to heights, but I was okay on Angel's Landing (have done it twice). If you don't like heights/exposure, it's still a nice hike up to Scout's Landing (the area before the final ascent). A good alternative to Angel's Landing is Observation Point across the canyon. It's actually higher than Angel's Landing and also has some great views.

 

[DougPaul]

Not to freak you out, but if you are scared of heights, you might want to stay away from this one.

The approach is a very narrow ridge (a few feet wide, IIRC) with a metal chain railing on one side. And the summit area is a tilted platform 10-30 ft wide, IIRC. Both have sheer drops of hundreds of feet. I had to kick in the old rock climber mind control on the narrow approach section. My partner decided to retreat.

I left the summit just before a line of thunderstorms hit--the metal chain was a fine lightning antenna for those caught above the narrow section. (One was killed elsewhere by the resultant flash floods.)

EDIT: IMO, the approach section was psychologically harder than the Knife Edge although the physical moves exiting the Notch (of the KE) are harder.

Doug

 

[alavigne]

Lots of trip reports here

Hi.

Southern Utah is a favourite area of mine, and I have quite a few highly detailed trip reports from the various times I've been over the years. The links below cover trip reports for:

Zion NP
Bryce Canyon NP
Grand Staircase-Escalante NM
Capitol Reef NP
Arches NP
Canyonlands NP (all three districts)
Grand Canyon NP (technically, this is AZ, but what the hell)

2007 Trip (Maze District Canyonlands / Escalante / Zion)

2006 Trip (Focuses mainly on the Escalante)

2005 Trip (Grand Canyon Backpack, plus a few UT spots)

2003 Trip (Took my Dad on a visit to UT - mostly Zion and Arches)

The links below are 'less full-featured' image galleries from an earlier time before I went nuts when creating trip reports:

2001 Trip (Superstition Mts AZ, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Escalante Slots, Death Valley)

2000 Trip (Zion/Subway, Moab Area, Grand Canyon)

1999 Trip (Canyonlands/Needles District, Zion/Subway, Bryce Canyon, plus other stuff)

 

[audrey]

Hi.

Southern Utah is a favourite area of mine, and I have quite a few highly detailed trip reports from the various times I've been over the years.

I beat you to it, Andrew. I already provided the link to your site, which helped make my Escalante trip so wonderful last year. This year I definitely am planning on including Bighorn Canyon!

 

[alavigne]

I beat you to it, Andrew. I already provided the link to your site, which helped make my Escalante trip so wonderful last year. This year I definitely am planning on including Bighorn Canyon!

oh yeah... the Bighorn Canyon loop hike. Now *that* is one helluva scenic hike. Unbelievably scenic. And the little moqui balls just sitting there on the slickrock... never seen anything like that anywhere else on the Colorado Plateau.