Utah’s Mighty Five

Colt and I are on a mission to visit all 63 National Parks. The National Parks actually become addicting; the more we see, the more intrigued we become about the rest of them. It will probably take us forever to get to a handful of the parks, but we are quickly making a dent in the checklist.

In late May 2021, we visited three of Utah’s five National Parks. So, yes, the title of this blogpost is a bit of a misnomer. We went to Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef on this trip. The other two, Zion & Bryce Canyon, are covered in the American Southwest blog post because we did those in conjunction with the Grand Canyon last summer. See that post too, and learn everything about Utah’s Mighty Five.

If you don’t have a national park pass yet, it’s time to get one. Get it here.

Otherwise, the entrance fee at Arches and Canyonlands is $30/car and Capitol Reef is $20/car.

I’ll outline the trip and give the skinny on what we liked/would/wouldn’t do again. We made this a 10 day trip because we had the full week before Memorial Day and came home on Memorial Day. This can be a few days shorter by not spending time at the end in Park City or Salt Lake City. This could also be done in reverse.

Day 1 - Morning flight to Salt Lake City, Utah → drive to Moab, Utah

Day 2 - Arches National Park; stay in Moab

Day 3 - Canyonlands National Park: Island in the Sky; stay in Moab

Day 4 - Canyonlands National Park: Needles District; stay in Moab

Day 5 - Jeep Excursion Day; stay in Moab

Day 6 - Drive from Moab to Torrey, Utah with stop at Wild Horse Canyon State Park; stay in Torrey

Day 7 - Capitol Reef National Park; stay in Torrey

Day 8 - Capitol Reef National Park or drive to Park City; stayed in Park City

Day 9 - Salt Lake City or flight home; stayed in Salt Lake City

Day 10 - Return rental car and early flight home

Day 1 (& Moab Stays/Eats/Tips)

Early morning (5:40am!) flight from Nashville to Salt Lake City.

Colt rented a 2021 Jeep via Turo for us to use for the duration of the trip. During this time, car rentals via the usual companies were either unavailable or crazy expensive. We have used Turo before in Hawaii, Miami, and the northeast with all being nice experiences. For the newbie, Turo is much like AirBnB for cars that are rented from the owner. You will know exactly what vehicle you are getting unlike rental car companies that give a generic car type. However, you do have to fly in/out of the same city when using Turo.

*Do check with your personal insurance to check coverage as you are probably not covered by your credit card company. I don’t know all the ins and outs of that, so do inquire. One quick phone call to our auto insurance, and we learned we are covered by our car insurance.

Drive 4 hours from Salt Lake City to Moab. Stop along the way for lunch. We also stopped at a Wal-Mart in Price, Utah and got groceries for breakfast and lunches. Do check the map for a grocery store because there are few towns along the way. Moab has a grocery store too, it is just really busy with tourists during the summer that common items can be out of stock.

Stay:

Moab Flats - We stayed in unit #8 here for the first five nights. Has a kitchen and washer/dryer (hallelujah). We utilized the hot tub and open outdoor area each night! I’d stay here again. Also, we were able to leave on day 6 with all clean clothes.

*This is the only place I have stayed in Moab and the rest are options I looked at online.

Moab Under Canvas - All of the Under Canvas places look cool to me, but I’ve never stayed at one.

Moab Springs Ranch

Sorrel River Ranch - looks fancy!

Hoodoo by Hilton

Best Western Plus Canyonlands

AirBnB

Camp

I did like staying within walking distance of places to eat in the evening, so we chose staying in town versus being closer to Arches. Speaking of eating...

Eat:

Antica Forma - ate lasagna for dinner after hiking 15 miles and it hit the spot!

98 Center - pho soup

Spoke on Center - casual dinner, also has window for to-go ice cream

Quesadilla Mobilla - food truck

Moab Food Truck Park - several food truck options

Moab Brewery - casual dinner

Josie Wyatt’s - nicer dinner, but still casual

Desert Bistro - upscale; need reservations

Red Rock Bakery - Breakfast/to go food

Love Muffin Cafe - got breakfast & coffee to go

Moab Garage Co - Breakfast/lunch/coffee

Day 2 - Arches National Park

Today we conquered Arches National Park. It’s incredible! The sheer amount of arches will leave you in awe along with the terrain. Arches National Park is such a beauty.

This day could be broken into two days as it covers about 15 miles, but we did it on our first full day. We got there before 7am, so there wasn’t a line to get in or any kind of ticketing system. Because of an overwhelming amount of visitors, starting in 2022 you MUST have a pre-purchased ticket to enter the park between 6am-5pm! Tickets are released on the first of the month for three months in advance at 8am Mountain time. Tickets are $2 at the recreation.gov website and are for a timed entry. Tickets are per vehicle, not per person. You can only make one reservation/day. Once entered in the park during your one hour window, you can stay/come and go as you wish. Tickets are not available at the window. Tickets can be purchased here. A limited number of tickets will be available for purchase one day prior to entry at 6 pm MDT through the same website. It’s wise to have your recreation.gov profile/log in created and ready to go before the time to purchase comes.

Here’s a schedule of ticket releases for 2022:

January 3 at 8 am MST: April reservations (April 3–30)
February 1 at 8 am MST: May reservations (May 1–31)
March 1 at 8 am MST: June reservations (June 1–30)
April 1 at 8 am MDT: July reservations (July 1–31)
May 1 at 8 am MDT: August reservations (August 1–31)
June 1 at 8 am MDT: September reservations (September 1–30)
July 1 at 8 am MDT: October reservations (October 1–3)

Pack lunch with you. There are no restaurants inside the park. Bring lots of water. Water is available at the Visitor Center and at several trailheads. Bathrooms without running water are available at most trailheads. We drove to the end of Scenic Drive and started with Devils Garden Trail. Here are the trails and order we did them:

1st trail - Devils Garden Trail . We took the main trail to Double O Arch and took the primitive trail from Double O Arch back to the trailhead. (The primitive trail back can be hard to follow so look for the cairns along the way. We did not have any trouble. Would be wise to cache map prior.) Otherwise the hike can be an out and back in which you can turn around at any point. We did take all of the spurs off the main trail on the way to Double O arch to see other arches. There are many arches to see on this hike - Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch, Navajo Arch, Partition Arch, Black Arch, & Double O Arch. This hike round trip (including spurs) is 7-8 miles. We did skip Dark Angel that is 0.5 miles past Double O arch. Overall, this hike is amazing! I am not able to relay how cool it is to see so many arches on one hike. You will see Landscape Arch, the longest arch in North America, early in the hike and will be in awe. From there, you climb up sandstone fins at times and the hike becomes more challenging and more fun. I loved all of it!

*Tunnel Arch - the first arch on the trail*

*Starting the hike up sandstone fins after seeing Landscape Arch*

*Primitive Trail back - follow the cairns*

2nd trail - Skyline Arch that is about 0.5 mile from Devils Garden parking lot. Quick stop that is about 0.4 miles roundtrip.

3rd trail- Sand Dune Arch/Broken Arch. We did Sand Dune Arch and skipped Broken Arch. Can do one or both. Sand Dune Arch is 0.3 miles roundtrip. Popular with parents with young kids playing in sand.

4th trail - North & South Window and Turret Arch and then walk over to Double Arch. These were some of my favorite arches to see! Definitely do these. The parking lot is between Windows/Turret Arch and Double Arch. Takes about an hour.

*Double Arch - you can see how massive it is in relation to the people*

5th trail - Balanced Rock. 0.3 mile easy flat loop.

At this point it was early afternoon, and we had covered a lot of ground. We went back to our condo, relaxed for a couple hours, and then went back to hike Delicate Arch before sunset.

6th trail - Delicate Arch. This is picturesque. It’s that classic arch when you picture arches and it’s on Utah’s license plates. We saved it for late afternoon. It’s stunning at sunset. Being one of the most popular arches means that it draws a crowd at most points of the day though. If you want to experience it with the least amount of people, you should do it first thing in the morning. It’s about 3 miles roundtrip. The 1.5 miles to Delicate Arch starts out easy for the first half mile and then really cranks uphill for the next mile. Since we were already a couple of blisters and 10+ miles into the day, we were so tired that we were laughing at how we were struggling with the uphill. (Ya know those times when you are deliriously tired and can’t stop giggling? That was me. Also probably explains how we didn’t end up with a good picture of us there.) But it’s worth it! The return trip downhill goes by quickly.

*Sadly this is the best picture of the two of us at Delicate Arch*

What I wish we could have also done at Arches? Fiery Furnace (guided hikes weren’t an option in 2021) and Tower Arch (more remote area of the park in which people have the trail to themselves).

*Arches hikes in a nutshell - Devils Garden, the Windows/Double Arch, and Delicate Arch are my favorites that shouldn’t be missed.*

Day 3 - Canyonlands National Park: Island in the Sky

We drove 45 minutes/33miles to Canyonlands National Park today. We visited the closer “Island in the Sky” portion of the park today. Canyonlands National Park is HUGE and there are no accessible roads that traverse the whole park, so it’s visited by visiting different sections. Tomorrow is the “Needles” section of the park. Definitely bring your lunch and a cooler for water (we didn’t have one, so we froze a few water bottles to bring with us) as there aren’t any places to buy food other than the visitor center snacks. Water fountains are available at the visitor center. Most trailheads have bathrooms (outhouse style) but no running water.

1st - Mesa Arch. It was so cool even though we saw so many arches yesterday. It’s an easy 0.5 mile round trip trail. It’s a classic arch that you’ve probably seen in photos before.

2nd - Grand View Point. I was amazed at Canyonlands from this view. It reminded me of the awe when I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time. This is a two mile round trip (out and back) and is a relatively flat walk along the canyon’s edge. We went about 75% of the way and turned around.

3rd - White Rim Overlook Trail - great views. Less than 2 miles roundtrip. Our favorite short, easy hike today.

4th - Views from Buck Canyon Overlook & Green River Overlook. I feel like we did only one of these, and now I don’t remember which one. Quick stops.

5th - Upheaval Dome. This was the coolest hike of the day for sure. It’s a moderate hike with the first overlook at 0.8 miles and then another mile to the top. Do it all! We loved it. I was super impressed and thought the hike was a lot of fun. Click here to read the two theories of how it came to be. We ate lunch at the picnic tables at the trailhead after the hike.

6th - Whale Rock. We meant to do this but ran out of steam, so let me know what you think.

7th - Shafer Canyon Overlook. We took Shafer Road back to Moab, so it was cool to see the road that we were about to traverse.

8th - Visitor Center Overlook - Final overlook (and bathroom - priorities!) before heading back to Moab.

Now, you can drive the same road back to Moab that you took this morning. But, Shafer Canyon Road and Potash Road is a real adventure! We chose that. This drive will take about 2 hours depending on how many stops you make and how fast you can handle the bumps on Potash Road. As long as you are in an SUV, you will be fine. Don’t do this in heavy rain.

(If you do take the regular road back, stop at Dead Horse State Park. It’s supposedly a show stopper of a state park.)

Shafer Canyon Road/Shafer Trail is 1 mile north of the Visitor Center on Island in the Sky Road. Turn right on the gravel road. It’s 2.5 miles of gravel switchbacks that are a real thrill. Then turn left on Potash Road. (Must turn left because otherwise it turns into White Rim Road and a permit is required.) The very bumpy road will run along the Colorado River and pass below Dead Horse Point that is seen from Dead Horse State Park. Next, we passed Thelma & Louise Point which is where the final scene from the movie is filmed. After that, the road will go away from the river and past the potash evaporation ponds before joining a paved road back to Moab. We loved this drive and made several photo stops. It’s always fun to get off the beaten path.

*We had the road to ourselves for the most part on the way back.*

*Drone shot of us on the last half of the drive back on Potash Road*

*Canyonlands: Island in the Sky in a nutshell - do Mesa Arch, Grand View Point, Upheaval Dome, and Shafer Canyon Overlook before driving Shafer Canyon Road back to Moab.*

Day 4 - Canyonlands National Park: Needles District

We drove 1.5 hours/75 miles to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. Because it is a haul from Moab, we found it to be sparsely packed with people. We only saw a handful of people on each hike, so the lack of crowds was a draw for us. Again, we packed our lunch/snacks/water for the day. Water is available at the visitor center, but I don’t remember seeing water at any other trailhead. Bathrooms without running water were available at the trails we did. Here’s a a map with hike info.

1st - Slickrock Trail - 2.4 miles that makes a circle that has three overlooks. I really enjoyed it. This is an easy trail. Definitely do this one. The surface had us feeling like we were hiking on the moon.

2nd - Hike Chesler Park. This trail is moderate to slightly strenuous and offers better views of the spires that make up the Needles district.

To get here, the road will become a dirt road off the main road after passing a campground. Follow signs for Elephant Hill. Despite being a rough dirt road that is narrow at times, it is suitable for all cars. It’s a bumpy few miles though. The road will end and become a parking lot for the trailhead.

This trail starts at the Elephant Hill trailhead. 1.5 miles into the trail, you will come to the first junction. Take Chesler Park trail. It’s another 1.4 miles to the Chesler Park Viewpoint. Turning around here makes the hike 6 miles total. That is exactly what Colt and I did.

*The start of this trail is a fun rock stairway*

*This hike provides a closer view of the Needles*

However, you can make this an 11 mile hike by continuing on after Chesler Park Viewpoint. The next park of the hike would make a loop that returns to Chesler Park Viewpoint. To do so, follow the Joint Trail. The loop can be hiked in either direction, but I have read that it’s more fun to do it in a counter-clockwise direction. Drop down into Chesler Park and turn right to follow the Joint Trail towards Devil’s Kitchen Campground. At the next junction, follow signs for Jeep 4x4 Road. The Jeep Road is less than a mile long and you will follow signage for Joint Trail that leads back to Chesler Park Viewpoint and on back to Elephant Hill to the parking lot. Do refer to a map for this part as I have only read about it and haven’t done it myself!

We were spent by the end of this hike that we couldn’t get back to the car to go home quickly enough. We were hot and tired. It was a beautiful hike though! I’d do it again.

Day 5 - Off road Jeep day

After three long days of hiking, we broke the week up by having a “rest” day to do some off road driving. Moab is a mecca for such. Since we were there, Colt was extremely excited to see what Moab had to offer. We rented a Jeep for the day from Jenn’s Jeep Rentals and hit the trails. Jenn’s Jeep Rentals has a variety of Jeeps to rent & are happy to advise on which trails to do to fit your goals. They are so easygoing and know Moab trails like the back of their hands. We really liked our experience with them.

The main trails we drove were Fins & Things and Hell’s Revenge. I won’t really include photos because pictures don’t do it justice. I really thought we were either going to flip forwards, or backwards, or fall off the side of the earth. (I’m not kidding!) Colt never worried that any of that was going to happen. And while Hell’s Revenge felt like its name to me, Colt was in heaven for all of it. I did find Fins & Things to be less troublesome for my fear of unrestrained heights, and I drove on it for about 20 minutes. Otherwise I didn’t want behind the wheel.

If you want to talk more about this excursion, reach out to us. Colt would love to tell you all about it. We even have drone and GoPro footage that is really cool if you are into this.

(I call it a “rest” day only because my legs didn’t move much. My heart rate stayed high enough from these excursions that my AppleWatch thought I was on an outdoor run!)

*a mere glimpse into the day - this stresses me out!*

Day 6 - Little Wild Horse Canyon

We left Moab en route to Capitol Reef National Park in Torrey, Utah today.

Stop at Little Wild Horse Canyon (free) and/or Goblin Valley State Park ($20) along the way. We only went to Little Wild Horse Canyon, but looking back we could have done both. These two stops are 5 miles from one another and are two hours from Moab, pretty much the halfway point of today’s road trip. We stopped for gas/bathroom/snacks in Green River along the way. After that stop, no options exist until you get to Torrey, Utah in the afternoon. (& that stop in Green River doesn’t offer much.) The flat, vast drive from Little Wild Horse Canyon/Goblin Valley to Torrey is just under two hours. You will lose cell service at many points in the drive. Preload all directions (& music) for the entire day’s drive/screenshot directions while still in Moab. Use “Little Wild Horse and Bell Canyon trailhead” in Google Maps as a stop for accurate directions.

We chose to hike Wild Horse Canyon for its slot canyon. WE LOVE SLOT CANYONS. This can be done as an out and back, hiking as far into Little Wild Horse Canyon as wanted and then turning around. Wild Horse Canyon is about 3.5 miles one way with the best part of it being the first 2.5 miles. Or it can be done as a loop by connecting with Bell Canyon (3 miles) via a 4x4 road (1.6 miles). We did the loop by following the signs - it’s an 8 mile hike and took us 3 hours. Little Wild Horse Canyon is by far the more exciting of the two canyons, and next time I would do this as an out and back & then hit up the other state park. I’d recommend going that first 2.5 miles and then turning around. I did not enjoy the boring 4x4 road.

From the parking lot’s trailhead, it’s a relatively short trail to the canyons via a sandy wash. There is a 4 foot high rock wall to climb (Colt didn’t have a problem with it) but I went back a few feet and climbed up the right side wall which was much easier. After that obstacle, you will come upon a sign that has Little Wild Horse Canyon to the right and Bell Canyon veering left. Go right. From there go as far as you want! The canyon will get much tighter (so fun!) and then open up again. If you are doing the loop, just know that the 4x4 gravel road seemed like forever to me and is somewhat uphill. After the thrill of the slot canyon, I was all the way underwhelmed by the open road. Eventually there will be a sign for Bell Canyon. Follow Bell Canyon (you will end up passing that original sign for the split for the two) and then the original trailhead back to the car. To note, Bell Canyon’s walls are tall but the path never gets very tight, so it was a cool hike. Just less wow factor. However, do not hike slot canyons with rain in the forecast!

*Short walk via a sandy wash to start the trail*

Basic toilets are available. No water source. Bring all water/food/snacks with you for today from Moab or that stop in Green River.

After the hike, we made our way to Torrey for the next two nights. We had enough time and daylight left to start exploring Capitol Reef National Park, but we chose to find some chips/queso at a local Mexican place and hang out instead.

Day 7 - Capitol Reef National Park

Heads up. It’s getting late into the trip and we were getting numb to all things beautiful, and our feet/legs/hips/backs were tired of hiking. But don’t sleep on Capitol Reef! It’s quite incredible. It makes me want to recommend doing this trip in reverse so that it doesn’t get under appreciated.

I’ll start with where to eat/stay in Torrey then tackle the park. Torrey’s population is about 300 people. It’s teeny tiny.

Stay:

Capitol Reef Resort We stayed here and enjoyed the nightly fire the most. We loved how many of the other hotel guests gathered around the nightly fire that made for good conversation/meeting others, and we took the spare blankets from the room for the chilly evenings. However, our room did not look like the website pictures. Not sure if only so many rooms had been updated or not, but our room was very ‘80s. But we really didn’t care because we crashed both evenings.

The Lodge at Red River Ranch - I’d stay here next time. Also, I love that there’s just 15 rooms.

Cougar Ridge Has options for larger groups.

Honestly, stay at any of these three or check your trusted search engine to generate a few other simple options.

Eat:

Hunt & Gather - how I wish I had known/made a reservation for this place for our first night there.

Rim Rock Restaurant/Patio

Slacker’s Pizza - We had pizza for lunch after hiking Cassidy Arch & devoured it.

Slacker’s Burger Joint - Had a burger here the last night in town & it reminded me of a Dairy Queen back home.

Wild Rabbit Cafe - Breakfast or lunch

Dark Sky Coffee - for espresso drinks and light breakfast

Chuck Wagon General Store/Deli - basic general store for snacks/drinks

Capitol Reef Hikes/To Dos:

We did not hit up as many hikes as I planned because we were simply tired from the week.

Scenic Drive to Pioneer Register - We started the day by driving to the very end of Scenic Drive (about 8 miles) and then continuing on Capitol Gorge Road (2.3 miles & quite bumpy). We parked at the end of Capitol Gorge Road and walked to Pioneer Register seeing names scrawled on the rocks (1.5 miles roundtrip). Flat, easy walk.

*Happy hikers when the terrain is flat…*

Cassidy Arch - LOVED this one. 3.4 miles roundtrip. From Scenic Drive, turn onto Grand Wash Road and follow it to the parking lot at the end of the road. The first 0.2 miles of the hike is on the Grand Wash Trail. You’ll then see a large stone sign for Cassidy Arch Trail on the left. The first 0.25 miles of this part of the hike starts out really steep with switchbacks of stairs. My heart was pumping and so was the sun’s heat. After that, the hike becomes much less strenuous and offers great views. The arch is super cool & huge, and it was a supposed hide out spot for Butch Cassidy. After you get to the arch, you will retrace your steps back being so thankful that the last part is stairs down.

*We made it! Seeing a picture of us on the arch barely relays the grandness of Capitol Reef.*

Hickman Bridge - Supposedly an excellent hike that is just under 2 miles. We went to eat lunch in town instead of doing this. Haha. We will do it next time!

Cohab Canyon Trail - didn’t make it to this one either. 3.4 miles roundtrip.

Gifford House - In Fruita, homemade fruit pies and other sweet treats are available to buy from 8am-5pm here. We were so excited, but we found bare cabinets because they had totally sold out for the day. We arrived well after lunch (around 3 pm). So, go early! Have some for us.

Panorama Point, Goosenecks Overlook, and Sunset Point - All offer great views with less than 0.5 miles of “hiking” collectively. Great photo opportunities. Definitely stop and take a look. All are off of Highway 24.

Petroglyph Panel along highway 24 - You’ll see a parking lot with a wooden walkway in which you can see petroglyphs. It’s a quick stop and a level easy walk. This will take fifteen minutes or less.

Other options for Capitol Reef that would each be their own day are to drive Cathedral Valley or Loop the Fold. Do your research for those drives as weather conditions can play an integral part.

Day 8 - Capitol Reef National Park or Park City

Today was supposed to be the day we did the hikes we didn’t get to on our first full day in Capitol Reef or do one of the drives mentioned above. But we were kinda over it, totally changed our plans, and drove to Park City instead!

In hindsight, I would do one of the bigger hikes (Cassidy Arch or Hickman Bridge) on the afternoon of arriving along with some of the viewpoints. Then I would do the other hikes on the full day.

The drive from Torrey to Park City is 3.5-4 hours. We got a room via Hotel Tonight and spent the day walking around and exploring Park City. Being in a ski town during the summer is great - it’s so pretty and green! We ate dinner at Handle, and it was delicious.

Day 9 - Park City and/or Salt Lake City

Today could be a flight home. Since it was Memorial Day weekend, we decided to stay until Monday. We spent this day doing a hike to Bloods Lake in Park City, and then took the scenic route to Salt Lake City. The Bloods Lake trail was absolutely beautiful and we had to stop and turn around because of snow accumulation - not even something on our radar after all the desert spots we had been in this past week. We took Guardsman Pass to Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd to get back to Salt Lake. Lots of options exist along the way for venturing outdoors! We later hit up the Patagonia outlet in Salt Lake. We finished the day in Salt Lake City and spent the night there.

Day 10 - Home

We returned our Turo rental at the airport and then had an early flight home.

So, that’s a wrap on Utah’s National Parks! Hope you love them as much as we did!

Turks & Caicos