Utah national parks and monuments

[KLR650goldwing]

Usually we winter on the Texas gulf coast, but due to Covid19, this winter, we are staying home in Minnesota. Which means we are currently cooped up and going crazy with cabin fever. Provided, we receive vaccinations by mid-April we will be heading out to Utah for about three weeks. We will tour each national park and most of the monuments. Just wondering if some of you, who have already been there, might have some suggestions : must see items etc. We'd love to read about whatever information you want to share. Every comment will help us deal with the cabin fever. Thank you.

[jkwilson]

All 5 of Utah’s National Parks are worth the trip. Capitol Reef isn’t as amazing as the others to me, but it’s got a lot of competition. Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands and Zion are great. These parks are beautiful from the roads and overlooks, but they are incredible if you can take even short hikes.

Dinosaur National Monument is just incredible to me. I was fascinated with dinosaurs as a child, and you can see intact fossils in the rock that are recognizable. It was much cooler to me than my wife and kids the first time we went. I drove from Provo while traveling for work just to see it again.

Monument Valley is iconic and everybody, especially fans of western movies, needs to see it.

Grand Staircase-Escalante more of a destination, but still amazing.

Goosenecks State Park is spectacular.

Plan your trip to see as many as you can. They are all great. Though many will hold your interest for days, you can get a good look at most any of them in a day or less if you aren’t avid hikers.

[traveldawg]

here is a bunch of maps you can reference.

and this is a kist of NPs and NMs in Utah....
Arches National Park / extended Arches guide
Bryce Canyon National Park
Canyonlands National Park / extended Canyonlands guide
Capitol Reef National Park
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Dinosaur National Monument
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Lake Powell)
Hovenweep National Monument
Natural Bridges National Monument
Rainbow Bridge National Monument
Timpanogos Cave National Monument
Zion National Park

Almost any place you pick is nice. If it's the popular parks you want to see in April, make reservations yesterday - they fill up fast.

If you can't get a place near the popular parks then I really like the Cedar Breaks area - not busy, tons of hikes and ruins to explore and great sights.

You'll get a lot of suggestions. Maybe you want to add whether you prefer to spend a long time in one place or just go from place to place hitting the highlights.

[wjpatter]

Usually we winter on the Texas gulf coast, but due to Covid19, this winter, we are staying home in Minnesota. Which means we are currently cooped up and going crazy with cabin fever. Provided, we receive vaccinations by mid-April we will be heading out to Utah for about three weeks. We will tour each national park and most of the monuments. Just wondering if some of you, who have already been there, might have some suggestions : must see items etc. We'd love to read about whatever information you want to share. Every comment will help us deal with the cabin fever. Thank you.

If you make it to Bryce (and you should), try the horseback trail ride. It is nice from the canyon ridge but spectacular from the trails. You can hike by foot but the sun and heat is brutal and so much better from the back of a mule.

[pnoetzel]

If you make it to Bryce (and you should), try the horseback trail ride. It is nice from the canyon ridge but spectacular from the trails. You can hike by foot but the sun and heat is brutal and so much better from the back of a mule.

If you make it to Bryce , Look up Kodachrome Basin State Park. It is one of our favorites. About 13 miles E NE of turnoff for Bryce Canyon NP.

[orbiker]

All the NP's are great. I love Bryce NP the best.
I think part of Utah's allure is all the scenery. A relaxing drive on 12, 24, 128 and many more scenic highways in the truck, on the motorcycle or maybe rent a convertible for a few day.

Just a few samples, KEN

[RVingwithJessandChris]

Capitol Reef was our favorite. Take the Cathedral Valley Loop. It's a full day of driving off road. We literally saw 7 other vehicles all day last summer.

[KLR650goldwing]

Wonderful information, thank you. Based on what you all said, a couple questions popped up: Do we need reservations to get into the parks? We already have reservations at RV parks which are located very near the National Parks. We were thinking we could just drive the truck to see the parks during the day and return to the RV at the end of the day. We might also rent a motorcycle to tour the parks on, not sure on that idea yet.

[RVingwithJessandChris]

Wonderful information, thank you. Based on what you all said, a couple questions popped up: Do we need reservations to get into the parks? We already have reservations at RV parks which are located very near the National Parks. We were thinking we could just drive the truck to see the parks during the day and return to the RV at the end of the day. We might also rent a motorcycle to tour the parks on, not sure on that idea yet.

When we were there last June most of the parks were unmanned as far as check stations. At Zion if you want to hike the Narrows it fills up fast and they were only monitoring the parking lot capacities. The rest of the parks were wide open. Zion was the only one where it was crowded.
Of course this was last year in the early stages of covid so this year could be completely different.

[D2Reid]

Just a side note on a couple of highways you will want to avoid.

Highway 9 through Zion, it has a couple of low tunnels you will not be able to go through.

Highway 12 from the junction to Bryce City has a tunnel on it, GPS and low clearance data bases list it at 13' 4", however that's the edges. The center is around 14', we took our 13' 8" 5th wheel through it fine.

Highway 12 past Bryce to Escalante gets really steep, but most of the steep parts are short. Highway 12 from Escalante to Highway 24 is really gnarly. Great motorcycle ride, I chose to drive around it pulling the 5th wheel.