Note: If you just want to see the trip itinerary or watch the video highlights, you can scroll down to the next sections.
I'm a little weird about birthdays. I don't dislike birthdays per se, but I don't like the attention and special treatment for something I didn't do, if that makes sense. Don't get me wrong, I love celebrating my friend's birthdays in the way they want - with a party or a group dinner or a night at a bar with friends. I've just usually gotten kinda melancholy around my birthday, but traveling has been a wonderful way to escape the anxiety I feel, while still celebrating another year around the sun and imagining the fun-filled years ahead.
Because I love a challenge and having a story to tell, I usually try to do some sort of schtick. For example, to celebrate my 30th birthday, and because my birthdate is 4/4, I visited four of my absolute favorite places in the world in each of the four weekends in April - Paris (France, yes for a day and a half), Texas, Puerto Rico and Orlando. The following year I took my first steps on the Camino de Santiago on April 4. It's been a very fulfilling tradition.
This year I decided to ramp it up a notch and not tell anyone where I was going. I liked the idea of being somewhere in the world that no one knew, where thoughts and energy couldn't reach me and I would only have to listen to myself. Because I'm safety conscious, a very close friend and coworker agreed to be my "Safety Person" which meant I gave her a sealed envelope with all my trip information, including an hourly breakdown of where I would be at all times and instructions and information for if something happened. I checked in with her via text once a day, and if she didn't hear from me by a certain point she could open the envelope and know where I was and where to send the police to look for my body. I was also particularly safety-minded for this trip because of where I was going and what I was doing.
I decided to take a ~1,400 mile road trip to hike all five of Utah's National Parks: Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands....in three days (with a fourth day for the return drive.) I got a great deal on a round trip flight to Vegas using my JetBlue points, and was inspired by and got a lot of information about what was achievable by More to Explore Travel's similar trip.
It was certainly a whirlwind, but a totally doable way to experience an amuse-bouche of some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
2:05 min
Song: The Red Hills of Utah by Marty Robbins
ITINERARY
THE SHORT VERSION
Tuesday | April 2, 2019
10:30PM Arrive in Las Vegas and pick up rental car
Overnight in Vegas
Wednesday | April 3, 2019
6:00AM Depart for Zion National Park - 168 miles/2hr 45min
9:00AM Arrive Zion (one hour later with time change)
10:00AM Hike Angels Landing, etc.
6:00PM Dinner at Red Rock Grill at Zion Lodge
7:30PM Depart for AirBnb in Alton, UT - 47 miles/1hr 15min
Thursday | April 4, 2019 6:00AM Depart for Bryce Canyon National Park - 43 miles/1hr
7:30AM Hike Bryce Canyon
1:00PM Depart Bryce for Capitol Reef - 111 miles/2hr 30min
3:30PM Check in to RV Park
3:45PM Capitol Reef - Gifford Homestead for pies
4:00PM Hike Capitol Gorge out and back
8:30PM Dinner at Cafe Diablo
Friday | April 5, 2019
5:30AM Depart for Arches National Park - 151 miles/2hr 30min
9:00AM Hike Devil's Garden
2:00PM Depart Arches for Canyonlands National Park/Needles District - 80miles/1hr 30min
4:00PM Check in to tenstile tent campground at Needles Outpost
5:00PM Hike Cave Springs
7:00PM Goodbye campfire
Saturday | April 6, 2019
8:00AM Depart for Canyonlands/Island in the Sky District - 106 miles/2hr
10:00AM Hike Mesa Arch, etc. Drive through scenic road.
1:00PM Depart for Las Vegas
10:00PM Drop off rental car
11:59PM Flight departs Vegas
THE LONG VERSION
Tuesday | April 2, 2019
After work I headed to JFK and landed in Vegas at 10:30PM. I picked up my Enterprise rental, which I booked with points my sweet brother transferred to me. At the counter, the clerk upgraded by rental for my birthday and let me choose a hybrid which I was so grateful for - it saved me some of my gas budget! I spent the night at the flashiest Motel 6 you can imagine, which was also the nicest lodging I had booked - my sleeping arrangements got progressively more rural from there!
Wednesday | April 3, 2019
5:30AM: Wake up, Alison! Luckily 5am in Vegas was 8am in my NYC brain, so it actually wasn't too bad. I hopped in my hybrid and headed out to Zion National Park, around 3 hours away.
9:00AM: I arrived in Zion later than I hoped because I didn't know that Las Vegas is in a different time zone! I lost an hour crossing in to Utah from Nevada, but still managed to get one of the last parking spots at the Visitor Center. I changed into my hiking gear and hopped on the free park shuttle (no cars allowed in the park). The shuttle is seasonal and had just begun operating for the year. It's a super easy way to travel up and down the canyon, and it's very clear what hikes and sites are at each stop.
I spent the rest of the day hiking, starting with the most famous and popular hike at Zion, Angel's Landing, a 1,488ft tall rock that you climb the spine of, holding on to a thick metal chain for dear life trying not to look down at the sheer drops on either side or think about the sign at the trail head that mentions how many people have died doing what you're doing.
I spent the rest of the day doing whatever hikes and walks I could, and had dinner at Red Rock Grill at Zion Lodge, sitting outside to continue to admire the view. As I sipped on a well-deserved beer I thought excitedly about what I would see at the next four parks, and was already thinking about a return trip!
I left Zion and headed out to my AirBnb in Alton, UT, about an hour and half away from Zion. The AirBnb was great and the hosts made it really easy for me to arrive later at night and find the cabin in the dark.
Thursday | April 4, 2019
6:30AM: Wake up, Alison! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I was greeted by a friendly cat, a beautiful sunrise, and freezing cold weather and snow - I had added at least 5,000 feet in elevation on the drive from Zion and was in a totally different climate.
8:00AM: Bryce Canyon is only about an hour away, and I got there a little before 8 which meant I was pretty much all alone on the Rim trail between Sunset and Sunrise Points. I took 1,000 photos and videos.
Most of the trails at Bryce were closed due to snowfall, so I wasn't able to do my planned hikes - the Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden. Instead, I hiked a portion of the Fairyland Trail Loop, hugging the side of a mountain covered in evergreens, before emerging into what looked like Mars, the basin filled with hoodoos and fins all crumbly and cheeto-orange from the low morning sun. I did about 4 miles out and back, since I knew I didn't have enough time to do the full loop. I was sad to leave!
12:30PM: I got back in my rental, which at this point I had started calling Whyte Stallyon, and headed in the direction of Capitol Reef National Park, park 3 of 5! The drive between Bryce and Capitol Reef follows Scenic Highway 12 and lemme tell ya - the views never get old. There are also a million places to pull off, get out, and stare with mouth agape. At one point on the drive I was actually cruising along on the spine of a mountain with no shoulders and sheer bluffs on either side, and views that went on forever all around me. It was exhilarating!
4:00PM: All the ooogling put me a little behind schedule, and I arrived at Wonderland RV Park to check in to my lil cabin before heading to Capitol Reef. I had planned ahead and brought my summer sleeping bag with me, which I knew I needed here since they don't provide bedding. Other than the bed the cabin had a small propane heater, which was all I needed.
4:15PM: I headed to Capitol Reef, and very specifically to the Gifford Homestead first because I heard they sold pie there made with local fruit and if there is a finer way to celebrate a birthday I don't know what that is and frankly don't care and don't want to hear it. Although I made it there in time before closing, I had neglected to consider that many other hungry people also probably wanted pie made with local fruit even though it wasn't their birthday, and I arrived only to learn were sold out for the day. To this day and for all my days I am filled with such sadness at this missed pie-portunity, and I keep telling myself that one day, the universe will right the wrong, and I will have pie (cherry - if I get to choose).
4:30PM: Filled with a whole lotta not pie, I headed out to the verrrrrrrry end of the scenic drive through Capitol Reef to the trail head for Capitol Gorge where I spent the next couple of hours wandering through a narrow valley, the walls of which have petroglyphs and pioneer tourists names scratched into the red surfaces. I was mostly alone on this hike, and sang in the echoing ravine before getting back to the car and blasting AC/DC. The drive back along the scenic drive at sunset was, in a word, LIT.
8:30PM: I enjoyed a birthday dinner at at Cafe Diablo of all locally source items: jalapeño creme ale, rattlesnake (!!!) cakes, and elk steak - just a 5-minute drive from Wonderland RV Park.
Friday | April 5, 2019
5:15AM: I was actually so excited about my last day I woke up before my 5:30 alarm which is truly flabbergasting and really speaks to how much fun I was having. Seriously, I've slept through smoke alarms and firefighters entering the room. In order to head to Arches National Park, I had to drive through Capitol Reef in the pre-dawn hours, going extra slow to watch for the deer I knew were around. Capitol Reef is a certified International Dark Sky Park, but it was too cloudy the night before for stargazing. On this early morning drive I was able to pull over and get out, fight with Whyte Stallyon to get all the lights to turn off (these new-fangled cars and their automations!), and spend a few minutes looking up at the stars.
As I drove the rest of the way out of Capitol Reef in the dark I could sense the heavy presence of the rocks all around and as my eyes adjusted I could just make out the huge silhouettes on either side - I felt like I was quietly escaping from a den of huge slumbering dinosaurs.
At around 6:15AM, I hit a pronghorn. I thought it was a deer, but I learned later it was a pronghorn. Luckily, I was very aware of the possibility of deer in the area and had my eyes peeled. I saw it leap across the road a bit ahead of me, and we would have been fine except he did that thing where he second guessed himself and turned around to, I dunno, TRY AGAIN?, which is when we collided. Luckily, even though I was going 80mph, he mostly bounced off me like a bumper car and bounded away. I pulled over and there wasn't any damage. That furry fella was gonna be real sore but I think he survived - the same goes for me.
8:30AM: I arrived at Arches as early as I could because it's always bananas. The park's website even has a line webcam so you can see how long the wait is to get in to the park! I arrived just as this madness was beginning, and drove the scenic drive about 20 minutes in to the park, headed for the day's big hike - Devil's Garden. I spent about 4.5 hours hiking 9.5 miles, going to every arch I could along the trail (I saw at least 8), wandering around on rocks and getting lost looking for cairns. I got stuck in a seriously scary patch of slickrock that led to a steep drop off and I saw my life flash before my eyes and regretted all the more the pie I never got to enjoy. I managed to get through it by shucking literally all my pride and star-fished myself whole-bodied across the slippery surface. I would have been fine (shame-wise) except a couple came up behind me and observed my plight, and in a not-at-all-condescending way asked if "they could help me in some way." They proceeded to billy goat around me on their feet somehow (keep in mind I'm basically making snow angels/squeegeeing the rock with my flesh). When I caught up with them later I hollered "I SURVIVED" before pointing them to the cairn they were looking for. We were all winners that day.
Once I emerged victorious from the sandy expanse (seriously this was like hiking on beach sand) and let Whyte Stallyon's air-conditioned SEATS cool off my rock-burn I headed to my fifth and final National Park - Canyonlands.
Now, if you're doing this trip without four full days, you'll want to stay in Moab this night and visit the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands, the entrance of which is much closer to Arches. Because I had more time and because I REALLY WANTED to stay in a tentsile tent I found listed on AirBnb at Needles Outpost with a private campsite in the middle of nowhere, I drove the 1.5hrs down to the Needles district of Canyonlands, where my campsite was only 5 minutes away from the park entrance. I checked in and learned the how-tos of tentsile tent living (y'all I'm hooked on this UFO lyfestyle) before heading in to Needles and walking the very lovely Cave Springs trail at dusk. There was barely anyone around! That night I built a campfire and laid on the picnic table, tucked in a cold-weather sleeping bag the owners has been kind enough to lend me, watching the stars. The campground hosts had even give me a Snickers for my birthday. It wasn't pie, but it was perfect. It was actually a pretty perfect night.
Saturday | April 6, 2019
7:30AM: Wake up, Alison! Because I had to head back north where I had come from anyway to catch I-70 for the drive back to Las Vegas, I stopped in at the Island In the Sky District of Canyonlands for quick drive and stop off at Mesa Arch, where I sat on a rock cliff and seriously chilled out for a bit, thinking back on my trip and all I had done, all while taking in this:
12:30PM: I departed Canyonlands and headed back to Vegas to drop off Whyte Stallyon and catch my 11:59PM flight back to NYC. Because I gained back the hour I lost, I actually arrived in Vegas with a few hours to spare, and had I been a little less moony-eyed by the trip and drive back it would've been enough time to do something. I did consider riding the roller coaster, though!
So that's it! It was an absolute dream to get to visit all five of these parks and actually set foot to soil. I hoped that challenging myself to see all five in such a short amount of time would not lead to frustration that I couldn't see and do everything, and it worked. I feel like I got a really good taste of each place, but know how much there is to see - I'm so ready to go back!
