Otherworldly Beauty: Utah-Arizona Road Trip
A Utah Arizona road trip feels like you’re on a different planet. The jagged orange cliffs of Bryce, crater-like imprints on the side of the road, carvings on mountainsides, the granite giants of Monument Valley, and the narrow passageways that wind along a river at Zion.
The best way to see it all is to grab some friends, a car and your hiking boots and get on the road.
You can for sure spend weeks, even months on a Utah Arizona road trip, taking your precious time and seeing everything Mother Nature graciously bestowed on us. Unfortunately, my friends and I only had 5 days to explore. We started in LA and hit the road, heading through Nevada, Utah and Arizona before our last stop in Vegas to fly back to Norcal. Total road trip calculations: 36 hours and 1,950 miles.
Stop 1: Zion National Park
Starting off our Utah Arizona road trip was a stop at the famous Zion National Park covers 229 square-miles. It has more than 35 hiking trails, cliffs towering more than 2,000 feet above the canyon floor, and more species of plants than the Hawaiian Islands. Hiking through water at the Narrows, scaring yourself on the Angels Landing hike, emerald pools, hikes and beautiful scenery, a stop at Zion National Park on a Utah road trip is essential.
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Stop 2: Bryce Canyon National Park
If you don’t know what a hoodoo is, you’ll quickly come to appreciate them at Bryce Canyon National Park. The colors, the cliffs, the trees, the trails, this is a unique place that can be visited in a half day or more.
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Stop 3: Capitol Reef
Capitol Reef National Park has an easy scenic drive to do for a quick look on your way to Arches, or spend a few days hiking this lesser known, but beautiful national park.
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Stop 4: Arches National Park
Arches National Park is full of massive natural stone arches, balanced rocks and more amazing creations of nature. It is really awe-inspiring. You can drive around the park stopping off at well-marked trails for some easy to moderate hikes to view the array of stone formations.
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Stop 6: Monument Valley
Monument Valley is a sacred area in the Navajo Nation Reservation on the Utah-Arizona state line filled with skyscraping sandstone buttes reaching up t0 1,000 feet where many American westerns were filmed. Go for a bumpy jeep tour and you’re sure to have some ooooooo’s and ahhhhhh’s.
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Stop 7: Horseshoe Bend, AZ
Located in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona, Horseshoe Bend looks like it was man-made, but it isn’t. After millions of years of the Colorado river carving through the sandstone in the path of least resistance, it created a 1,000-foot-deep horseshoe-shaped bend in Glen Canyon.
Find the parking area and it’s a 1.5-mile easy walk to see the amazing view. There isn’t much to do other than stare in awe and take some pictures.
Stop 8: Antelope Canyon
Ever been in a slot canyon? No, well prepare yourself for the unbelievable sandstone hues and a hike unlike any other through Antelope Canyon. Every turn is a new piece of art created by the walls and sunlight creeping in. A can’t skip experience.
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Stop 9: Las Vegas
The best way to end the Utah Arizona road trip was a night in Vegas!
Want more road trips?
Check out my other road trip itineraries from around the globe.
