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My wife and then to be 5 year old daughter are visiting a friend in Salt Lake City next summer, and will have about 8 days to play with. We've never been to Utah or the neighboring states, and plan to spend 3-4 days in and around Salt Lake/Ogden/Park City.
Where would you go for the second leg of the trip if you had another 4-5 days or so to spend out west? With a 5 year old we'd be comfortable driving 4-5 hours one way or taking a very short flight, but we're not looking to spend more time than that in transit. Below are a few ideas but I'd love to hear thoughts re: what would make for the most beautiful/fun trip for a young family:
-Moab and Arches/Canyonlands and then have to drive back to Salt Lake for return flight?
-Zion and Bryce and fly home out of Las Vegas?
-Southern Idaho?
-Fly to Denver and spend 4-5 days in Colorado before returning home?
-Grand Teton and/or Yellowstone, although the latter seems like it should be a vacation unto itself.
You have several fantastic national parks within a 4-5 hour drive. Read about them and take your pick. No reason to go much farther, especially if you have never been before. Since you are asking now I assume you will be there later in the fall, when it will be cooler and many places will be less busy.
Even driving to the parks in southern Utah is pretty nice.
Bryce is my personal favorite. Right now there is significant construction in Arches so that some places are closed and the entire park closes early some days.
You have several fantastic national parks within a 4-5 hour drive. Read about them and take your pick. No reason to go much farther, especially if you have never been before. Since you are asking now I assume you will be there later in the fall, when it will be cooler and many places will be less busy.
Even driving to the parks in southern Utah is pretty nice.
Bryce is my personal favorite. Right now there is significant construction in Arches so that some places are closed and the entire park closes early some days.
Thanks very much. We're going next summer in either July or August. With a 5 year old we're not looking to do any type of serious hiking, so I'm sure the southern Utah parks would be fine for our purposes even in the summer heat, but that factor does weigh in favor of going north or to Colorado.
My pick is Moab & as many parks as you can get to, from there. One of my tentative future trips is to fly into slc & drive to Moab for a week, & visit the Parks.
Zion and fly out of Las Vegas. There's a wonderful easy/short hike along the river in the park that your daughter would love. Also driving through the tunnel over to the slick rock side would be fun.
Even a day in Las Vegas can be fun for a five-year-old. Lots of exciting things to see.
Dinosaur National Monument - Vernal, UT
Arches NP - Moab, UT
Logan Canyon, Logan , UT
Do remember that it gets very hot in Southern Utah in the summer months.
One more thing. There is a heck of lot to see in and around Salt Lake City and Provo. There is a lot of entertainment - concerts, plays, etc. and a lot of children's activities.
Thanks very much for these very helpful responses. I'm struck by the fact that everyone has encouraged us to stay within the state of Utah, as opposed to venturing into neighboring Idaho or flying to Colorado. Utah looks amazingly beautiful and it seems like there are many, many ways to put together a great 8 day itinerary there. Thank you.
Thanks very much for these very helpful responses. I'm struck by the fact that everyone has encouraged us to stay within the state of Utah, as opposed to venturing into neighboring Idaho or flying to Colorado. Utah looks amazingly beautiful and it seems like there are many, many ways to put together a great 8 day itinerary there. Thank you.
Well considering that you will be there in July or August I might rethink that a little.
Bryce will be the coolest of the Utah parks because it has the highest elevation. If you are really concerned about heat you could consider one of the ski towns along 70, such as Breckinridge, Vail, etc. There will be fewer people because there are not as many summer hikers and bikers as winter skiers. It may be easier to get reservations also.
These places would involve roughly the amount of driving as southern Utah, although all on the interstate. Really dull driving much of the way but pretty nice once in the Rockies.
Well considering that you will be there in July or August I might rethink that a little.
I guess I'm not sure how concerned I need to be about heat. We'll have a 5 year old with us, so we're really not planning to do any sort of serious/lengthy hikes. We're interested in the kinds of places that we can visit by car and then walk around to see various lookout points and the like, and we'd likely do that in the morning and then go back to our hotel swimming pool in the afternoon. That was one of the reasons we were intrigued by Moab, as it's a great base so close to Arches.
All of those parks are great. You could also combine the trip with some regional flights, such as Moab-SLC with Boutique air, which is fun as well.
I loved Bryce canyon and Arches/canyonland parks the most, but each of them is worth visiting and exploring.
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