The most frustrating part of Covid lockdown to me is that I've now spent 5 whole months on employment furlough with unlimited free time to travel, yet there is almost nowhere to travel to. Being limited to the US and also having to consider that attractions in most cities are shut down or totally unsafe due to no precautions being taken whatsoever (looking at you, Florida), the most logical option for a Covid vacation is really the national parks.
Until recently, I had no idea that Utah held anything worth seeing at all, let alone countless national and state parks scattered all over the state, but it's been on my mind to explore those for the past year or so and this was the ideal time to head out there and see some nature.
The parks had been shut down for a few months at the start of the corona outbreak, so I kept up to date through the park websites to see what had been reopened. Since things are constantly changing these days, I would recommend double checking all opening times and state entry restrictions before traveling anywhere.
The America the Beautiful pass to the national parks is also the best investment you can make if you're visiting multiple parks. It's $80 and can be used by two passholders (my traveling companion Sam split the cost with me) and covers either of those passholders and anyone in their car (as well as vehicle entry) for one full year. So basically, we were able to visit four national parks on this trip for $40 each and either of us will also be able to freely visit any other national parks in the country until the end of July 2021. We bought the pass at the entrance gate to the first park we entered, no need to purchase ahead of time.
What to Pack
Since we were planning a full week of hiking, I did do some shopping prior to the trip. My recommendations for an itinerary like this are as follows:
Athletic clothes. Comfy shorts, fitness tops (added bonus of not having to wear a bra), and hiking shoes. Since Utah is HOT in the summer, I did most of my hiking in my Teva velcro sandals. This is really not a professional recommendation and I'm pretty sure "hiking sandals" is a term I made up, but I like to stay cool and have had very few problems walking all day in these shoes (they're also great for amusement parks).
Sunscreen. Self-explanatory.
A proper backpack. I have spent a lot of time traveling with a cheap drawstring bag and have taken it hiking as well, and it's painful. The straps would dig into my shoulders, and it just barely held what I'd need anyway. I invested in a nicer, school sized bag for this trip with padded straps and lots of pockets and areas to clip items.
Water bottles. I bought a 50 oz Camelback and also a 30 oz insulated lidded cup. Since we weren't on any trails for an entire day, I mainly just brought out the Camelback which was also much better for hiking since it clipped onto my backpack and left the other one in the car to use for hydration between parks/trails. The visitor centers at the parks and entrances to some trails have water refill stations.
Anything you'll need for camping. We booked three nights camping, only one of which was somewhat primitive. Seeing as we were flying into Utah, we couldn't exactly pack a full array of camping stuff, but we did bring small flashlights/headlamps, and I packed a thin sheet that I could put between myself and the communal blankets at the primitive site as well as the neck pillow I use on flights. Also, bug spray.
If you are doing the Narrows hike in Zion: Waterproof gear. You will be partially submerged in a river for most of this hike, and while you may not get your bag wet, it's likely you'll fall at least once. We brought a dry bag for food and my small handheld camera (I didn't risk my Nikon on this hike), waterproof cases for our phones, water shoes (I found a pair of Ecco lagoon shoes with draining holes for $4 at a thrift shop), moisture-wicking socks (they were surprisingly comfortable even when soaking wet- definitely worth it), and my waterproof Go Pro. A lot of people also had walking sticks and they would have been SO helpful but that was not something we could fit in our luggage.
Despite the extra prep, I HIGHLY recommend The Narrows.
Day 1 Fly into Salt Lake City We started our trip in Salt Lake City, but if you can, I'd recommend getting there earlier than we did. Sam had to work that morning so we weren't able to fly until the afternoon, and the cheapest option (Frontier) had a 6 hour layover in Denver. Luckily, I have a good friend from college who lives in Colorado Springs, and he drove up to pick us up from the airport and take us to dinner and a few breweries to fill the time before dropping us back off. Worked out perfectly.
This meant we didn't land in Salt Lake City (which is such a dated airport) until midnight, however, so the only item on our itinerary for the night was to find our Air BnB and sleep. SLC does not have 24 hour car rental services, so we weren't even able to pick up our car that night and instead took an uber to the place I'd booked about 10 minutes from the airport.
It was a great stop for one night though. These people basically turned their whole basement into a makeshift hostel type area with a private backdoor entrance, a few numbered rooms, communal bathrooms, a huge common area, and a small kitchen. Also, it was like $30. We settled in and crashed quickly. Day 2 SLC to Moab
Sam actually lived in Utah for awhile growing up, and one of her friends came down to the city to meet us for brunch the next morning at a cute place called Ruth's Diner, where I first discovered some of Utah's archaic alcohol laws such as only being allowed to serve each person one drink at a time, and restaurants only being allowed to serve drinks if you order food.
I had wanted to stop and see Temple Square before we left SLC, so that was our next stop. Sam's friend Shellbie came along with us and gave us some insight into being raised in a family with Mormon roots (she basically considers it a cult, sooo... that sums up her feelings).
We did see a lot of Mormon missionaries walking around, all of whom greeted us, and in my personal experience Mormons have always been very friendly and kind people (I also like some of their ideas about the afterlife), but Shellbie's stories about required missionary work, separate wards for single people once you reach a certain age, odd ceremonies, shunning, the obvious restrictions on things like alcohol, caffeine, and swearing, and the main life goal of being married and having more children to raise in the church did shed a new perspective on things.
Also, I had for some reason expected Temple Square to have, like, a bunch of temples, but there's only one (which was under construction) and the Mormon conference center next to it as well as an upscale shopping mall across the street.
We'd picked up our awesome Hyundai Santa Fe from Enterprise early that morning (Sam was obsessed with this SUV), so we bid farewell to Shellbie in the afternoon and started the four hour drive down to Moab. Luckily the scenery around Utah isn't boring, so all of the driving done on this trip was very tolerable. Bonus: When we pulled off at our exit, the first thing we saw was a neon graffiti covered gas station called The Twilight Zone.
Our glamping spot at ACT Campgrounds was just past the center of Moab and was perfect. The grounds had communal showers/bathrooms and an outdoor kitchen (the indoor one was closed due to Covid), and we had a tent that came complete with double bed, chairs, area rug, electricity, wifi, towels, and an air conditioning unit, plus a picnic table and parking spot right in front.
It was too late in the evening to do any sightseeing, so we asked the man at the front desk to recommend a nice spot to see the sunset and ended up driving up the cliffs to an empty parking lot. The top of the hill offered a great panoramic view of the pink sky over the canyons surrounding us before we headed back to prepare for an early morning.
Day 3 Arches & Canyonlands National Parks
Fitting two national parks into one day meant waking up at 7:30 AM to shower, eat, and hit the road. We started with Canyonlands where the first trail you'll hit is the Mesa Arch. I use the term trail loosely as this one is not even a ten minute walk from the parking lot.
The Mesa Arch was actually my favorite sight of the day. The rock window just captures the perfect desert panorama and it was so scenic.
We drove a bit further down the road then and walked the Murphy Point trail. I'm pretty sure most people bypass this trail in favor of the main overlook one because we saw roughly only 5 people over the next hour or two. It was a 3.6 mile round trip ending with nice canyon views.
The walk there wasn't so bad, but on the way back I was severely struggling from the heat. It was just past midday and the temperatures had climbed to 103 degrees. I was pouring water over my face every 5 minutes, and everything looked all sparkly... I've never passed out before but that didn't seem like a good sign. Sam and I had promised we would carry each other like Stanley Yelnats carried Zero up the mountain in Holes if it came down to it, but I was hoping I would be the Zero if that situation arose since Sam literally has to unscrew tight beverage caps for me. Finally reaching the air-conditioned car and my warm Powerade was beautiful. We jammed out to some "Dig It" off the Holes soundtrack to celebrate, naturally.
It was about time for us to head to Arches if we wanted to properly see it, so we drove the half hour there and got started. Most of this park can be done by scenic drive just stopping at pull-off areas to see the sights, but there are hikes as well if you're up to it.
Our time at the Arches was a good mix of both. We made a quick stop at the Park Place overlook...
...Balanced Rock viewpoint...
...The Windows which you'll have to walk up to but only take about 15 minutes total to circle around...
...and the Landscape Arch which is a 1.6 mile round trip from the parking lot. We walked a tiny bit further past the viewpoint where the ground becomes sandy for slightly better views.
Finally, we went to see the Delicate Arch which is the iconic arch pictured on the Utah license plates. I had originally wanted to hike up to it to watch the sunset, but this was around 3 1/2 miles round trip basically walking straight up a steep cliff, one of the most difficult hikes in the park. If it had been the first hike of the day, I'd have attempted it, but at this point I was exhausted and way overheated.
Alternately, there are two viewpoints, the lower view which is literally right next to the parking lot, or the upper viewpoint which is only about a mile round trip up a more gradual hill. We headed to the Upper Viewpoint and could see the Delicate Arch on top of a canyon opposite us as well as the tiny figures of people who had walked to the base.
I personally still think a few of the other sights that day were more impressive (Mesa Arch, Windows), so I was satisfied with the hike we took and was happy to get back to town and treat ourselves to a well-earned dinner and drink afterwards.
Day 4 Goblin Valley State Park, camp near Bryce
Goblin Valley had been included in my original itinerary, then scrapped because I thought I was (as usual) being overambitious in planning, then added back in again when the old guy at ACT Campgrounds reception had told us it was absolutely worth seeing. Driving from Moab to Panguitch near Bryce was going to be around a 4 hour drive (you'll also pass right by Capitol Reef National Park on the way if you have an extra day), but stopping at Goblin Valley was only an half hour detour straight south of the main road we were on, then a half hour coming right back up and hopping on again. It was worth it.
First of all, this state park ($20 entry for the whole vehicle, not covered by national park pass) is in the middle of freaking nowhere, so there were very few other tourists visiting. We mainly had the valley floor to ourselves, a big round crater full of misshapen rock formations.
It was fun running around climbing on the rocks and taking photos and videos, but it was also an oven down there, so just the hour we spent in it was draining (but awesome).
We were back on the road around 2, stopped at a gas station to pick up beer, water (no running water at our site), and firewood for the night, then one more stop at a Subway in Panguitch before finding our teepee campground I'd booked through Air BnB past a white gate on the side of the road.
I'd been a little apprehensive about booking it despite how ridiculously cool it looked due to having no water or electricity and a strangely off-putting email from the owner saying not to book if we were "easily scared." I had kind of expected it to be totally isolated with no phone signal or people in sight, but in fact, the other two teepees were in close proximity (still with enough room for privacy) with a shared fire pit between us, and 4G signal was crystal clear. We could even see the main road from our overlook.
Our spot, the Running Deer Tipi, was on a raised wooden platform with our own porta potty a few yards away, a community box inside containing things like a solar lamp and some firestarters left by previous campers, and an extremely spacious interior with four cots and a pile of communal blankets and sleeping bags.
The views were gorgeous and we cracked some beers and spent the night sitting by the fire chatting with one of the couples from another teepee.
I will say, however, I slept TERRIBLY. I knew it was going to be cold (dropped to the low 50s overnight) and had worn a hoodie, pajama pants, and thick socks to sleep in, but even with two of the communal blankets over the sheet I brought, my body was so stiff from being curled into a tight ball all night.
I then woke up around 4 AM because I felt something brush over my head (which was covered by my sheet) and could hear skittering and rustling around our tent. Since I didn't know where my glasses were and was afraid to startle whatever was in our tent with a flashlight (probably mice but I didn't want to risk pissing off a rabid raccoon or something), I basically just laid wide awake until it was gone. Of course, as soon as I started drifting off again, the world's loudest owl decided to land right on top of our tent and start cooing until Sam also woke up and went outside to chase it away.
I mean, awful sleep, but 100% worth the experience.
Day 5 Bryce Canyon, drive to Zion
I took a makeshift camping shower in the morning using soap and water bottles next to the car, we stopped at a cafe in town for coffee, then we headed to Bryce Canyon less than a half hour away. At this point, it seemed abundantly clear that each park we visited was better than the last.
Bryce had such a cool landscape of orange and white spires called hoodoos, and we also had the best hiking weather of the trip at a perfect 75 degrees.
We took in the views from the platform at Sunset Point, then we walked up the road to Sunrise Point where we descended into the canyon on the Queen's Garden Trail. There were great views coming down, friendly chipmunks, and doorways carved into the rock.
Queen's Garden itself was not very notable- basically there is one particular hoodoo that's meant to resemble the Queen, but that's about all there is to see there.
From this point though, you can connect onto the Navajo Loop Trail which will take you back to Sunset Point. The trail will lead through Wall Street, easily the highlight of the canyon. You're walking right between two massive cliff faces that just tower to either side.
It had been a leisurely hike up to here, but after Wall Street, you need to climb all the way back out of the canyon on a trail zigzagging upwards. Thankfully you emerge right onto the parking lot to hop in your car and recover.
It's only two hours of driving from Bryce to Zion. To reach Springdale, the town right outside the park entrance, you actually need to drive THROUGH Zion (unless you want to add an hour detour to go around), so again, the national parks pass comes in handy. We got a little scenic preview of the park though, passing by massive cliffs the entire way and going through a very long tunnel carved right into the rock which plunged us into roughly two whole minutes of darkness.
I'd booked the Best Western Zion Canyon in Springdale which was just outside of the park entrance and also an easy walk or drive to the shops and restaurants in town. It felt SO good to check into a proper hotel room after three days of camping (even though two of those were glamping, ok?). We even had a little balcony looking out at the pool. We headed to town for some Mexican at a restaurant called Oscar's (I had a super cheesy pesto pistachio quesadilla that fed me for three consecutive meals), then sat at the pool for a bit although the hot tub was unbearable even at 7 PM with the temps still above 90 degrees.
Day 6 The Narrows at Zion National Park
Due to Covid, cars are not permitted on the scenic drive at the moment, so shuttle tickets are a must. To limit the amount of people in the park and on the shuttle, they're only selling a set amount of tickets per day for various time slots- a limited number are available for presale and the rest open up at 9 AM the day before. Since I wasn't sure I'd even have signal at the teepee site, I'd made sure to buy tickets a month beforehand, and the earliest timeslot open was 12 PM. It would have been nice to head out earlier, but it ended up being a great excuse to have a leisurely morning of sleeping in and hitting gift shops in town.
We headed into the park a little past noon, parked at the visitor center, and caught the shuttle to the last stop, Temple of Sinawava. This is the launch point for the one mile Riverside Walk, an easy paved trail next to the river, and launches into The Narrows, the most famous hike in Zion and our last hike of the trip.
Riverside Walk
The Narrows
This hike can be as long as you want it, up to 10 miles round trip, but it takes 3 miles one way to reach Wall Street, the most famous section. We started out at 1 PM and did not reach Wall Street until 4 PM, so prepare for a long day and at least 6 miles of round trip hiking through the water if you want to do the same.
It is such a unique and enjoyable hike though! Easily the most fun one of our trip. The majority of the hike is actually IN the river, submerged anywhere from ankle to waist deep. The river floor is rocky, so sturdy shoes are a must, and you'll probably lose your balance more than a few times. Some sections have dry rocks you can scramble onto for a bit, and I usually stayed close to the cliff walls for something to balance against in the absence of a walking stick.
It's absolutely gorgeous as well with huge cliffs on either side the entire way. The beginning of the hike was a bit crowded (we kept a mask on for the whole thing because of this), but people really cleared out the further along you went. It's also important to check the weather and advisories for the day because you won't want to be out there if a flash storm comes along. At one point, the clouds really darkened overhead and we got a little nervous, but thankfully it passed.
We honestly were not sure WHERE Wall Street was and none of our fellow hikers seemed to know either. I was convinced we'd hit it about three times already when we'd turn a corner on another awesome view before we actually did get to the fork leading to it. This is a common turnaround point, but we ventured a bit of a way down each fork before heading back. The right fork will open up into some greenery with trees appearing as the path widens, and there's also a small waterfall in a particularly secluded section.
The left fork apparently was Wall Street (I checked a map in the gift shop afterwards to confirm), one of the narrowest sections with no high ground. The current picked up a bit here and I fell for the first time on the hike. It was also getting a little late and we had been warned that the last shuttle leaves Sinawava at 8:15 and if you don't catch it, you'll be walking a hell of a long way back to the visitor center. It had taken us three hours to get there but it only took us two to get back walking with the current and going at a quicker pace. I was glad to finish up around 6 because there were not many people left out on the trail and it was getting a bit dark on the river as the sun sank below the clifftops.
My legs were absolute jello by the time the whole thing was over, but I loved it.
Day 7 Las Vegas
After a week of hiking, the best way to celebrate is a night out in Vegas (two hours from Zion) before flying home! Or, it would be, if Vegas were actually open. Covid really turned Vegas into a ghost town, but we did our best to have fun anyway.
This would be a great time to film a post-apocalyptic movie
I booked us into Bally's which is right on the Strip and attached to my favorite casino, Paris, but is one of the cheaper options in town. It was nice and perfect for what we needed. Also, parking at most of the hotels was free due to Covid, so we kept our car for another night. Check-in was done by kiosk, and masks were required indoors everywhere unless sitting down for food or drink. We also quickly discovered that bars are CLOSED. The only way bars can serve alcohol is if patrons also order food and sit to eat and drink, or if you order a drink from an attendant while you're playing a slot machine.
And unfortunately, neither of us gamble.
Still determined to have fun, we hit up Wahlburger's for lunch and a few strong cocktails, then we got dressed up in our room, pregamed, and went to do a little photoshoot at the mostly empty casinos. The ones we hit were Paris, Bellagio which had its gardens done up Japanese themed and where we ordered a $20 cheeseboard so we could sit and get cocktails at the lobby bar, and Caesar's Palace. We only took our masks off for photos but got some nice shots with practically nobody in the backgrounds.
(Not my fave but I wanted to show off the Bellagio garden)
We also had a weird uber driver who decided he wanted to go out for drinks with us, so instead of calling it a night we hit up a restaurant called Peppermill as well for some midnight snacks and even more cocktails, and we didn't get to bed until 1 AM.
Listen- do not book an 8:15 AM flight out of Vegas. Do not wait until 6:45 AM to head to the airport when you're still drunk and still need to drop off your rental car (which you forgot to fuel up) and check a bag, and do not expect the security line to be shorter than a half hour wait even though it's a pandemic and barely dawn. Also do not forget to take your knife out of your carry-on bag (SAMANTHA) and have to wait for an unsympathetic TSA agent to tear apart your backpack when your gate is closing in 5 minutes. We ran onto the jetway as they were calling our names over the speakers with barely two minutes to spare. STRESS.
It was a great trip though and up until Vegas, we barely felt like we were traveling during a pandemic since we spent so much time outdoors. I highly recommend checking out your state and national parks during this time. At least we still have nature.