The Utah Mighty 5

May 9-18, 2024: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce, Zion

This blog is the second of a 7-part series describing our 8-week, 7,368 mile epic journey through the middle of the United States, in which we visited 10 national parks and many other state parks. 

May 9: Today was mostly a travel day, leaving after breakfast and heading up to Moab, about two hour drive, to start our Utah Mighty 5 adventure. We arrived early at our KOA, which turned out to be very nice. We had electric and water, but no sewer hook up. The shower and bathrooms were really nice, all being individual bathrooms and showers in one room. We had a quick lunch and then headed up to Arches National Park, which was about 15 minutes away. We had pre-purchased timed entries into Arhces, one for today and one for tomorrow. There was a short line to get in but Arches is spectacular! 

The weather was hot and dry, and at high elevations, so we brought lots of water to stay hydrated. Today, we Hhiked to La Sal Mountains View Point, which was spectacular; hiked the Windows Section and saw Balanced Rock, Turret, North and South Window and Double Arch; and drove up to see Delicate Arch.

May 10:  We woke up early for an 8AM entry into Arches. We did one hike and then we hiked the Double O Trail in the Devils Garden section of Arches, which meant hiking over narrow and steep rocks to a spectacular view! We also hiked to the Fiery Furnace viewpoint, and then we hiked to see Sandune Arch, Broken Arch, Skyline Arch, Tunnel Arch, Landscape Arch, Partition Arch, and Navajo Arch. Overall, we hiked about 8-9 miles over beautiful rocks and sand. 

May 11: Having been exhausted from the day before, we slept in a bit and then got up, had blue corn pancakes and headed to Canyonlands National Park. This is a beautiful and huge park divided into four parts. We only saw the Island in the Sky section as that was closest to Moab. We wanted to go The Needles section but it was too far a drive and we wanted to slow down the pace of the trip a bit. We definitely should have added one more day in Canyonlands to see more of the park, particularly The Needles. But we enjoyed hiking Neck Spring Trail, a really nice trail that wanders around the canyon and down to a spring and back up again. We also hiked to Upheaval Dome, White Rim Overlook, and Mesa Arch. 

May 12-13: From Moab, we drove to Capitol Reef National Park and stayed at Sand Creek RV Park & Campground in Torrey, Utah, just outside of Capitol Reef. The campground was and small and very nice with a full hook up. The campsite was surrounded by beautiful mesas. And it was located near Fish Lake National Forest so we walked the country road one evening to check out the area. There are a few stores and restaurants in Torrey but it is a very small town. We found what we needed in Chuck Wagon General Store, and got shaved ice from a food truck down the road. We didn’t realize until we were leaving that there was a cidery right nearby that was a Harvest Host spot, which would have been fun to visit. 

During our stay in Capitol Reef, we saw petroglyphs near Fruita, hiked the Hickman Bridge Trail, visited the Gifford Homestead, hiked the Grand Wash Trail looking for a more slot-canyon type of experience, saw the Gooseneck Overlook, and hiked the Sulphur Creek Waterfall Hike that was really fun as we had to cross a stream several times to make it to the waterfalls. While we enjoyed Capitol Reef, it was the least favorite of the Utah Mighty 5 and we should have spent more time in Canyonlands and less time in Capitol Reef. 

May 14-15: We arrived at Bryce National Park midday and checked into Ruby’s Inn Campground. We were a bit concerned about what the campground might be like because it was near a bunch of touristy stores and hotels. But the campground turned out to be very rustic and quiet, and just outside the national park. There is a shuttle that runs right from the campground to the part of the national park but we drove in as we wanted to see more than where the shuttles runs. 

Bryce is spectacular! There is just nothing like it with the hoodoos and amazing rock formations and colors. We saw all the scenic points in the Amphitheater, drove the entire scenic trail and stopped at all the viewpoints. We hiked the Tower Bridge Trail which was a steep down and a steep up, and saw deer at the bottom. We also hiked the Bristlecone Loop Trail and the Mossy Cave Turret Arch and Little Windows Trail. 

May 16: Before leaving Bryce, we drove up to Inspiration Point to see the hoodoos one more time before driving to Zion National Park. Driving the beautiful but windy park road, through the tunnels, we arrived at Watchman Campground around 1PM. Our campsite was great - surrounded by beautiful views. Being located in the park and very near hiking trails, we decided to hike the Watchman Trail that leaves directly from the Visitor Center, located next to our campground. The trail took us to an amazing view of the national park and of Springdale. 

Having only an electric hookup with no showers available, we took bucket baths outside in our shower tent. The weather was really hot during the days (around 85-90 degrees) and in the low 60s at night, which was perfect sleeping weather. 

May 17: In the morning, we took the park bus to the Kayenta Trail to hike to the Upper, Middle, Lower Emerald Pools.  The hike was really nice with beautiful views. We also saw some weeping rocks and flowers. As we passed one area, some rocks came tumbling down but luckily no one was hurt. We returned for lunch at the van and then walked the Riverside Walk which was very crowded but took us for a nice ramble along the river. Then we walked across the bridge into Springdale to the Zion Brewery which had good beer and very good pretzels with spicy mustard!

We were bummed that both the Narrows and the Weeping Rock trails were closed as we had hoped to hike both of them. The Narrows was closed due to too much rushing water and the Weeping Rocks was closed due to fallen rocks. 

May 18: Because the two trails we had hoped to hike were closed, we found a trail on our AllTrails app on the East Rim of the canyon with petroglyphs and a slot canyon. The hike was only about 2.5 miles round trip and not well marked so we got a bit turned around at the beginning. But some other people helped us find the trail and the petroglyphs and slot canyon were really cool! This was one of our favorite hikes as it was off the beaten path and felt very authentic.  In the afternoon, we drove into Springdale to do our laundry and walk around. The Zion Park Laundry turned out to be very nice and easy to use. And we had vegan soft serve (vanilla with espresso, and vanilla with chocolate syrup) at FeelLove Coffee. Then we returned to the campsite and organized our packing for the upcoming Grand Canyon trip. 

Thoughts about the trip: We loved Arches and Bryce. We needed more time in Canyonlands and regretted not seeing the Needles section. Zion was relaxing because we had three days there. Capitol Reef was good but not our favorite. 

Animals we have seen: mule deer, lizards, squirrels, chipmunks, great horn sheep, snakes, and lots of birds, including golden eagles in Colorado. 

New experiences: We had mice in our van that ate through a bunch of food. We finally set a mouse trap in Zion and caught one. We also took bucket baths outside in our shower tent, which worked out well. We are traveling with our EcoFlow River Pro (600 Watts) lithium block and solar panel. While we haven’t needed to use the solar panel, the block works really well! We are traveling with a EUHOMY 12 Volt Refrigerator, that we use as a freezer. This was a great addition as it keeps our food frozen and does not use up much power, so it can last plugged into the EcoFlow block for about 36 hours at a time.