This article contains affiliate links. When you click these links and make a purchase, I may get a small commission. It won’t cost you anything, but it helps me run this site.
It’s Spring Break and Kayleigh and I have decided to take a road trip to Utah to visit the 5 National Parks there!
We left on Friday afternoon. I got off work early so we left not long after the kids got home from school. I hadn’t planned on us leaving so early, so I didn’t expect for us to make it very far that first night. I was happy to just make it to Indianapolis which was about a 3 hour drive. Since we left earlier in the day, we drove a little farther, almost to the Illinois state line. We stopped for the night in a town called Terre Haute. Read about our experience in the hotel here.
The next morning, we left bright and early. When I say we almost made it to the state line, I mean it. Apparently we had 7 miles left!! Saturday, we drove through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and part of Colorado. We stayed the night at another hotel in Limon, Colorado. This is what we thought of our stay.
Sunday morning we left early again. We drove through the Colorado Rockies, which absolutely terrified me, although it wasn’t nearly as bad as driving through them in the winter. By early afternoon, we had made it to our next hotel. Since it was still early, we hung by the pool and hot tub for a little while, then went to the grocery store to grab a few things.
Arches National Park
Monday morning, we left early to head to Arches National Park, our first stop. We got up early so that we could try to catch the sunrise. This is the best we could get.
Delicate Arch
After getting our sunrise pics, we headed straight to the parking lot for Delicate Arch. I just couldn’t wait to get some pictures of it! It was a tough hike with a lot of uphill and climbing up rocks. Kayleigh couldn’t handle anymore about halfway up. She says she ate too much and felt like she was going to throw up so she turned around and went back to the car.
I kept going; I’d made it this far and I wasn’t turning around! I made it up there, slowly, and it was totally worth it!!
After Delicate Arch, we decided to go check out some of the overlooks and get some pics; Kayleigh wasn’t up for anymore hiking for the day.
Canyonlands
Monday evening, after setting up our campsite, we decided to head over to Canyonlands to take a look at some of the overlooks and we were not disappointed!
Shafer Trail
That night we took some pictures of the overlook. The next morning, I tried to drive down the trail but it was absolutely terrifying. It was a small road, meant for 4x4s (which I didn’t realize when we started it) that wound it’s way 4 miles down to the bottom of the canyon. We started it but because of the tight curves, I freaked out and started having a panic attack. I managed to turn around and get out of there!
Aztec Butte
Next, we went to the Aztec Butte. The trail split in 2, with one route heading to the Puebloan granaries and the other continuing up to the Aztec Butte. We did both sections and they were amazing! Climbing up the slick rock was a cool experience!!
Capitol Reef
Next up was Capitol Reef National Park. We arrived and set up our campsite before going on to the explore the park. We went to Panorama Point and Goosenecks Overlook. Neither was all that impressive to us.
We ended up packing up our campsite and heading towards Bryce Canyon. The campsite was fine, however, we really were disappointed in the park. I think the only cool thing there were the pectroglyphs.
Bryce Canyon
We stayed at a small cottage the night before going to Bryce Canyon.
By now, we’ve decided on looking at the overlooks before starting any trails. I took several pictures along the drive up the scenic road, however, the majority didn’t save for some reason. I’m not sure if it was the lack of signal or what, but about half my pictures from that day area gone!
Sunrise Point
After we looked at the all the overlooks, we found some parking and started at Sunrise Point.
We went down to do the Navajo Loop. The switchbacks were intense! I truly can’t imagine going back up them!! I didn’t get any pictures of the switchbacks. Kayleigh decided after the switchbacks that she was done, so she went back to the car to wait while I continued on.
When I got to the split, I followed the path to the left, taking me to the Queen’s Garden. I’m not sure if it was the elevation or what, but this hike was killing me! I had to stop to take my inhaler several times because I just couldn’t catch my breath!
Zion
After leaving Bryce Canyon, we headed to Zion National Park. We stayed at another hotel along the way.
On Thursday morning, we arrived at Zion Adventures right at 8am to pick up our water gear and got dressed there. We then made our way to the shuttles to catch a ride up to the Narrows.
Narrows
The Narrows is a slot canyon with Virgin River going through it. We planned to hike the 5 miles up the river to the split and then back down.
Unfortunately, the water was much higher than we had anticipated. Some parts of the river were right along my knees while other sections came almost up to my shoulders. At one point, I slipped on some rocks in a high spot and went rolling through the river until I managed to stop in a low section.
Because of the threat of hypothermia, since the water temperature was so cold, we decided to turn around and head back. On the way back to the beginning, Kayleigh stepped into a deep spot and ended up underwater. As much as we wanted to enjoy this adventure, we just weren’t prepared for it!
When leaving Zion, we saw some big horn sheep crossing and Kayleigh managed to snap a pic!
The Drive Home
The drive back home was pretty uneventful and we got there pretty quickly. I think Bryce Canyon was my favorite. The views were incredible and it was all just so beautiful!
Have you been to Utah’s 5 National Parks? Which one is your favorite?