There is no better way to learn about a product or destination than to experience it yourself, but we know you can’t be everywhere. That’s why destination reports by colleagues are important and helpful. We’re celebrating the remaining weeks of summer with five reports, generously shared by your fellow travel professionals!
To learn more about our breathtaking national parks, be sure to enroll in the North America Destination Specialty Course, automatically included as a free benefit for subscribers to The Travel Institute’s Premium Access Library. And, for the month of August, you can subscribe to Premium Access for $169 (15% Savings)!
One of The Travel Institute’s own Professional Educators Program (PEP) members, Debbie Wilson, CTA, recently experienced the joys of exploring Utah’s national parks and wanted to share her tips! Here’s what Debbie had to say:
When we decided to drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to Colorado, we added a week to visit Utah’s national parks on the way back. We basically visited one park a day, which definitely can be done, if carefully planned. We included Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in the itinerary, adding yet another stamp to my National Park Passport because collecting as many stamps as possible is a worthy goal, right?
What a wealth of spectacular scenery is packed into a relatively small area! You easily can drive from one park to the next without spending a lot of time on the road. And bonus! Even the drives between parks are rife with magnificent scenery! You’ll find yourself pulling over multiple times to gawk at the incredible formations and snap photos of the colorful landscape. Although this area deserves more than a few days, you can get an overview of the parks in a short amount of time—sort of like port stops on a cruise—and then decide which ones you want to revisit! And you WILL want to come back for more!
Arches National Park
We spent about two and a half hours driving the 22-mile paved road through Arches and making a few photo stops along the way. Because this was my first Utah national park, I was stunned by the beauty and magnificence of the incredible formations, made even more spectacular by the intermittent rain showers. If you’re there for half a day, you can easily include the short (paved) hike to three arches in the Windows section of the park as well as a short walk to the lower viewpoint for Delicate Arch, the arch depicted on Utah license plates. If you aren’t staying in Moab, make the short trek (five miles) to check it out. I highly recommend stopping at Red Rock Bakery & Cafe for coffee and baked goods. The pineapple and coconut scone was out of this world!
Canyonlands
A mere 30 miles from Arches, Canyonlands can be visited in the same day, but Canyonlands is Utah’s largest national park, and it has four distinct areas. Island in the Sky is the area closest to Arches, so that’s the area you’re most likely to visit if you have limited time. Opt to take the 34-mile round-trip scenic drive through Island in the Sky to make the most of your time, but don’t miss doing the quick hike (about half a mile) up to Mesa Arch. Plan for frequent stops to admire the panoramic views! Canyonlands is Utah’s least visited national park, but it is absolutely worth including in your itinerary!
Capitol Reef
Next stop, Capitol Reef. Capitol Reef is another lesser-visited park, but it has its own unique attractions. After a stop at the visitors’ center, take the easy stroll over a boardwalk to view petroglyphs etched 3,000 years ago by Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan people. If you’ve packed a picnic lunch, a great place to have it is the picnic area at Gifford Homestead, only one mile south of the visitors’ center. If you’re there early enough, you may be lucky enough to purchase one of their famous homemade pies. The homestead is a great place to take a quiet break—take a walk down to the barn and say hello to the horses, and, if it’s summer, pick some fruit from the orchard next door.
One of the most memorable walks we took was the Grand Wash hike (a little over four miles roundtrip). This is an easy hike that follows a dry river bed and then narrows to about 15 feet between mammoth rock faces on either side.
Half the fun is getting there — the scenic drive from Capitol Reef to Bryce and Zion
We took the 124-mile Utah Scenic Byway 12 from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon, making multiple stops along the way in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Dixie National Forest, with a short detour to Kodachrome State Park. Try to make time for Grosvenor’s Arch (in Escalante), which is really a double arch at the end of a 10-mile “washboard” dirt road.
Allow at least a couple of hours for this side trip because you can go only about 15 miles an hour. Although we had a 4WD truck, you can do it in a car as long as the road is dry. If you want to go a little faster and have a little fun, rent a dune buggy! There is a concrete walkway, which is accessible and takes you right to the base of the arch! Have your camera ready!
Bryce and Zion
These two parks are the most-visited in Utah, and they deserve more than a day each, but alas, we were able to hit only the high points. We are already planning our next trip!
What a spectacular vacation! Thanks, Deb!
