Utah: Mighty 5 (National Parks) Trip Overview

 Utah's 5 National Parks

Mighty 5

Order of Parks/Trip Overview

• We flew into/out of Vegas, bc it was the cheapest airport when we compared to Salt Lake City.
• We then rented a car through the Turo app, bc it's way cheaper than something like Enterprise. 
• Once in Vegas (Nevada), we headed straight out for the long drive to Moab (Utah), and then stayed 1-2 nights here and there, working our way back towards Vegas, hitting the National Parks, State Parks, and random hikes along the way. 
• When to go? Check out this chart. (This one is specifically for Arches). It shows the days that the parks are the most busy/least busy. I can't imagine being there in the summer with the heat. We went in April, before the busy season, but when it was still perfect weather. The week of Easter is BUSY, bc kids have off school for spring break, so we went the week AFTER. It was perfect timing with weather and crowds.

Day 1: Tuesday April 9th

Flight from Baltimore, MD to Las Vegas, NV

Hilton Vacation Club Polo Towers Las Vegas

3745 Las Vegas Boulevard South

Las Vegas, NV  89109

702-261-1000

Check in 4p - Check out 10a

Day 2: Wednesday April 10th

Hilton check out 10am

Turo Rental Car - Nissan Rogue 2023

Pick up 10:30am

Valley of Fire State Park (45 min from Vegas, on the way out East to Moab)

P.O. Box 515

Overton, NV 89040

Sun Outdoors Canyonlands Gateway | Deluxe Cabin - Full Bed (6 hr 20 min from Vegas; 6 hrs from Valley of Fire State Park)

13701 HIGHWAY 191, Moab, UT 84532

Email: CanyonlandsGateway@SunOutdoors.com

Phone: (877) 396-3630

Check in 3pm - Check out 11am

Day 3: Thursday April 11th

Arches National Park (10 min from Sun Outdoors)

Reservation Ticket purchased for $2 from https://www.recreation.gov/cart/confirmation as this park requires a timed entry ticket

Start Time: 7:00 AM

End Time: 8:00 AM

Blog post: 1 Day in Archest National Park

Day 4: Friday April 12th

Canyonlands National Park (20 min from Sun Outdoors)

Blog post: 1 Day in Canyonlands National Park

Day 5: Saturday April 13th

Sun Outdoors check out 11am

Dead Horse Point State Park (23 min from Sun Outdoors)

Blog post: Half a day in Dead Horse Point State Park

Goblin Valley State Park (1 hr 40 min from Dead Horse State Park)

Duke’s Slickrock Campground and RV Park (37 min from Goblin Valley State Park)

275 E Highway 24, Hanksville, UT, 84734

(435) 542-3235

Check in 3pm - Check out 11am

Duke’s Slickrock Grill - breakfast, lunch, and dinner (open 7am - 9pm)

Stan’s Burger Shak - lunch and dinner (open 10am - 9pm)

Day 6: Sunday April 14th

Duke’s check out 11am

Little Wild Horse & Bell Canyon (slot canyon) - (1 hr from Duke's)

Blog Post: Half a Day in Little Wild Horse Canyon

Rim Rock Inn (2 hr from Little Wild Horse & Bell Canyon)

2523 East Highway 24

Torrey, Utah, 84775

435-425-3398

Check in 2-10pm - Check out 11am

Rim Rock Restaurant - dinner (open 5pm - 9pm)

Rim Rock Patio - dinner (open 4pm - 9:30pm)

The Pioneer Kitchen (Capital Reef Resort) - breakfast/dinner (open 7 - 10am, 5 - 9pm)

Day 7: Monday April 15th

Rim Rock check out 11am

Capitol Reef National Park (2 min from Rim Rock Inn)

Best Western Plus Ruby's Inn (2 hr from Capitol Reef National Park)

26 South Main Street

Bryce Canyon City, UT 84764

435-834-5341

Check in 4p - Check out 11am

Complimentary full breakfast

Day 8: Tuesday April 16th

Ruby’s check out 11am

Bryce Canyon National Park (3 min from Best Western Plus Ruby's Inn)

Zion Park Motel (1 hr 50 min from Bryce Canyon National Park)

P.O. Box 365

ZION 865 Zion Park Boulevard

Springdale, UT 84767

435-772-3251

Check in 3pm - Check out 11am

Free breakfast

Day 9: Wednesday April 17th

Zion National Park (3 min from Zion Park Motel)

Day 10: Thursday April 18th

Check out 11am

2 hr 30 min drive from Zion Park Motel to Las Vegas

Turo drop off by 7pm

Home2 Suites by Hilton Las Vegas Stadium District

4940 Dean Martin Drive

Las Vegas, NV 89118

702-891-0124

Check in 3p - Check out 12pm

Free breakfast

Mad Apple by Cirque du Soleil - 9:30pm

New York New York Hotel and Casino

3790 S Las Vegas Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Box Office 866.606.7111

Day 11: Friday April 19th

Home2 Suites check out 12pm

Flight from Las Vegas, NV >> Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX >> Baltimore, MD

1 Day in Archest National Park

Arches National Park: 

This was our first stop of the Mighty 5 Roadtrip

Thursday April 11th 2024

Thank you to Earth Trekkers for helping us plan our trip. Their blogs are amazing and have so much helpful info. Highly rec!

Helpful Info:

We didn't want to visit when it was hot and crowded (summer) but also wanted nice weather, so we opted for April. April-May daytime highs average 60 to 80 F and lows average 30 to 50 F.

Check out the chart on this website. It shows the dates that are the least busy for April. https://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/traffic.htm

Basically, the week after Easter is a perfect time to go, bc DURING the week of Easter, it's crowded, as kids are out of school and families travel.

Visiting Arches from April to October? You'll need to make a timed entry reservation in advance to enter the park. We booked the earliest time slot: 7-8am, for $2.

Fees:

Private Vehicle Fee - $30.00

Admits one private, non-commercial vehicle (15 passenger capacity or less) and all its occupants. Admission to Arches National Park is good for seven days. You can come and go any time with your seven-day pass

Southeast Utah Parks Pass - $55.00

Valid for one year through the month of purchase. Admits one (1) private, non-commercial vehicle or its pass holder to Arches and Canyonlands national parks, and Natural Bridges National Monument.

Interagency pass- $80.00

The $80 Interagency Annual Pass is good across the US at all federal fee areas. Two people can share one pass, as the pass will admit all that are in the car with the pass and the passholder (who also has to be in the car). The pass cannot be shared between two vehicles however.

We went with the interagency pass, bc we were going to hit all 5 National Parks. However, we learned that when we enter early, like 7a to hit hikes early, there is no one there to take your money/pass. Soooo we deff could have gotten away with only paying entry into 2 parks. Kinda annoying.

Order of hikes:

We followed the map above via Earth Trekkers one-day guide to Arches. They are incredible. 

Devils Garden (B on the map)

• We headed straight to the back of the park to hit Devil’s Garden first; Scenic Drive ends at the trailhead for the Devils Garden Trail so we parked in the large parking lot.
• The Devils Garden Trail is a 7.8-mile loop where you get to see eight arches, and it was not crowded.

Round Trip to Double O Arch (4.2 miles, 2 – 2.5 hours) but we opted not to do the primitive trail; the regular trail is primitive enough haha, and we wanted to keep moving to get through the rest of the park

Follow the main trail until you get to Landscape Arch.

Hike up the sandstone fins & follow the signs for Double O Arch.

Double O Arch wasn't that cool in my opinion, but the actual hike to get there was amazing. Unlike any hike I had done before.

If you keep going, you hit Dark Angel. we skipped this bc we read it wasn't as interesting as the other arches.

We then turned around to make the hike an out-and-back instead of a loop, bc we didn't want to do the primitive trail.

On the way back, we hit Black Arch Overlook. 2 min detour to see Black Arch off in the distance.

The Spur trail to Navajo and Partition Arches adds 0.8 miles round trip and it takes about 30 minutes to visit both arches. We would have loved to have done these, but I was recovering from a GI bug still, so we skipped them. 

Spur trail to Tunnel Arch and Pinetree Arch is 0.5 miles round trip and adds 15 to 20 minutes to your hike.

• The first arch is Tunnel Arch. We skipped this one bc we read you can only see it from a distance

• Pinetree Arch is close-up and there aren't too many ppl

DONE! on to the next spot...

Hopped back in our car and headed to Skyline Arch (C). 5-min walk to see this arch.

Sand Dune Arch (D) is tucked in between fins of sandstone, & the walking surface to get back there is sand. Takes 30 min round-trip. There were lots of kids playing in this area, as it mimicked the sand at the beach. One dad commented "yup. we drove 5 hrs to play in the sand." hahah.

We almost didn't do Broken Arch, but it turned into one of my fav hikes of the morning. Little to no ppl. We could climb up under the arch and take lots of photos. Passed some mule-deer on the way only a few feet away. This would be rough in the summer, as there is no shade during the hike. 

We continued the drive along Scenic Drive towards the front of the park. Passed Delicate Arch Road and turned left onto The Windows Road. The Garden of Eden (E) is a cool stop for a panoramic view over the park. 

We continued along he Windows Road and parked at the end in the lot for the Windows and Turret Arch. .7 mile walk connects North Windows, South Window, and Turret Arch (F). Out of these 3 arches, Turret was our fav, as you could climb up underneath and get some cool shots, with not as many ppl. Took about 45 min.

North Windows

South Windows

Turret Arch

Turret Arch

We hopped back in our car and drove to the other side of the parking lot to get closer to the trailhead for Double Arch. This is a short walk, and a COOL thing to see! Getting underneath and looking up is simply beautiful. This is the tallest arch in the park. It was busy when we went with kids scrambling all over the rocks. Took about 30 min.

From the Windows Road, we turned left onto Scenic Drive to get to to Balanced Rock (G). In 15 min you can walk the .3 mile trail around the rock.

From Balanced Rock, we continued on Scenic Drive towards the park entrance. Drove 15 min to get to Park Avenue Trailhead (H). Short walk to the viewpoint. We did not walk the trail through Park Ave; it is 2 miles out-and-back (1 mile each way).

We wanted to time Delicate Arch up with the sunset, so we actually left the park, went into Moab to get food, and then came back into the park.

Delicate Arch (I) is the "most iconic sight in Arches National Park."

It is one of the most photographed spots in the park, so good luck going when there's not ppl lol. "Famous for its ideal lighting at sunset, this is a very popular spot for camera-wielding photographers late in the day." 

These photographers were hard-core. Once the sun started to go down, they would yell out for ppl to stop walking under the arch for their obligatory photo-op, so they could get their shots in. So we had to be quick for one of us to stand under the arch, and have the other person stand "across the bowl" to take the photo.

The took Scenic Drive > turned right onto Delicate Arch Road > turned left into parking lot. We even sat in the car a bit and took a nap waiting for the right time to start our hike. So for example, sunset was at 751p, so we should summit no later than 650. We went at 630 to give us wiggle room and time for photos.

The hike is about a 3-miles round-trip. Longggg uphill walk. Like that incline. smh. Takes about 2-3 hrs for this hike. 

The "hill" off in the distance

I think my fav spot was this pathway around the edge of a cliff, right before you get there. It just looks so neat!

There are various spots to view the sunset. What the photographers are capturing is the sunlight hitting the arch, making it glow orange. 

We were worried we would need headlamps on our hike back after the sunset, but we were ok, and there's a lot of ppl walking back.

Up Next: Canyonlands National Park