Strap in folks, this is going to be a long one! Since 2020 ruined the California trip Jarrett and I had planned, we knew we needed to go big in 2021 once it was safer to travel. We really wanted to go to Yosemite National Park in the spring when the waterfalls would be flowing but travel was still a little iffy at the beginning of 2021 and vaccines were just starting to roll out. We decided we would hold off another year on that trip and plan something different for the fall of 2021. After some pondering, we decided that we wanted to go to Utah and check out the five National Parks there, plus some other state park and natural wonders. We went in mid-September. The weather was perfect, albeit a little on the hot side, but still great. We flew in and out of Salt Lake City, making a loop around the state to hit up the Mighty 5.
Our first stop would be Moab. The ride from SLC to the southern part of the state was full of exclamations of “Woah” and “LOOK AT THAT!”. The terrain and landscape was so different from what the two of us New Englanders had ever seen. Once we got into Moab and saw the red rocks rising around us, we both were in awe. I felt like I was on another planet. It was a really powerful moment. We arrived later in the afternoon so our first stop was Moab Brewery to try some beers and get an early dinner. I was pleasantly surprised by the beers and enjoyed them. My favorite was the Pilsner and the Dead Horse Premium Amber.
After dinner we drove out to Dead Horse Point State Park, about 40 minutes from downtown Moab, but honestly, it didn’t feel like that long of a drive since the views were so beautiful. We wandered around, took lots of pictures and watched the sunset with tons of other people. The colors of the rock would change as the sun set further and it was incredible.
Day two started at Arches National Park. We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to get in, but it wasn’t bad. The earlier you can get there, the better, although now I think they have some kind of lottery system set up to help it go faster. There were so many tour buses here, more than any of the other four national parks we visited. Driving up the main road into the park was surreal. We stopped at almost every single pull out area to take pictures and videos – we couldn’t get over the desert landscape.
I won’t go into detail about every single hike we did but there were a few spots that we really enjoyed. Double Arch was so impressive and it was really cool getting to climb right under the arch and get pictures from below. We both liked the small hike around the Windows. We also hiked out to see Landscape Arch which was on part of the Devil’s Garden trail. We didn’t do the whole loop but I would’ve loved to if we had more time. Another hike I wish we did was to see Delicate Arch. During my trip research I heard there was an upper and lower viewpoint if you didn’t want to do the full 3 mile hike but still wanted to see the most famous arch in the park. We did the quick upper viewpoint hike but this was disappointing. You couldn’t really see the arch well or get a good picture. I would tell people to add the full Delicate Arch trail to their list of hikes to do – if I go back, this will definitely be the first one I tackle!
We left the park early afternoon and went back to our hotel to eat a quick lunch. Arches is very cool because it’s a fast drive from downtown (only about 9 minutes!) so it was an easy commute. After lunch we wanted to do another hike but this time we were going out to BLM land to see the Corona and Bowtie Arches.
This was one of my favorite hikes of the whole vacation. It was about 3 miles round trip. It’s pretty much full sun exposure so wear lots of sunscreen and a hat! The arches themselves are unreal. The Corona Arch is huge…it’s honestly mind blowing. Plus on the hike we were basically the only people on the trail and had the whole place to ourselves. We stayed in Moab again this night as we were heading out to Canyonlands National Park the next day, which was also technically in Moab but about 40 minutes from downtown.
We got to Canyonlands on the earlier side to beat the heat and the crowds. The park is divided into multiple sections and it can be hard to access all of them in one day. We decided to tackle the most visited and touristy section, Island in the Sky, because it was the most accessible for our travel route.
While Arches was incredible for the soaring arches and red rocks, Canyonlands was so expansive and the canyons below the roads and trails look liked they went to the center of the earth. Our first hike was the Grand View Trail. It was easy yet beautiful. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the vast canyons below. You could see so far in every direction. I loved it. This was my favorite hike in this park.
The Aztec Butte hike was another fun one. We got to hike straight up a butte which was very steep and required a little bear crawling. We also got to see some ancestral Puebloan granaries built into the side a cliff. It was really special to see that history. We also loved the Mesa Arch hike. It was pretty crowded by the arch with everyone trying to get pictures, but everyone was really polite waiting their turn. The view was spectacular from here as well.
We left here early afternoon because we had one more stop to make before going to our hotel for the evening. We drove out to Goblin Valley State Park which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The park is famous for its hoodoos aka “goblins”. We didn’t really do any hikes but we got to wander around the hoodoos and get lots of pictures. Again, the geology and terrain were just wild. Also, Wild Horse Butte in the park is absolutely gorgeous. It looks like a fortress in the middle of the desert.
2. Wild Horse Butte
Our next stop on the road trip was Capitol Reef National Park. The park was a lot less crowded than any of the others we went to. The first thing we did was hike the Hickman Bridge trail. It was very pretty and quiet. The temperatures this morning were perfect, a little cooler than we had experienced earlier in the week. I liked this trail a lot and on our way back down to the parking area, we saw some female bighorn sheep laying together on a ledge. I wish I had a better camera so I could’ve gotten a clearer picture but they were still fun to see.
We got to see several petroglyphs at the park. Seeing ancient history preserved in nature is awesome. One of my favorite things about this park was driving on the narrow dirt roads through the canyons looking up at the high cliffs above our car. It was incredible to feel so small. We also did the Capitol Gorge trail and got to see more petroglyphs. By this point, the temperatures were much higher than in the morning and having the sun beat down on us while hiking through the dried river bed was rough.
We took Scenic Byway 12 through Dixie National Forest to get to our hotel for the night, closer to Bryce Canyon. The drive was amazing and I definitely recommend doing that. You get incredible elevation, drive on some winding roads (mostly with no guardrails, which was a little unnerving) and can see for miles. We also had a run in with some free range cattle who weren’t bothered by our vehicle at all.
By the time we reached Bryce Canyon National Park during our travels I had developed really unfortunate blisters on the back of both of my heels. The trail shoes I was wearing weren’t the best and I should’ve known better. Sadly, this deterred us from doing longer or more hikes because I was hobbling along the trails. Bryce Canyon was stunning. The colors here were unreal. The orange of the stone and sand against the bright blue sky with pops of green from ponderosa pines were too much for me to handle – I couldn’t stop taking pictures!
We did the Queens Garden Trail to Navajo Loop. This was one of our favorite hikes from the whole trip. It was just spectacular – i don’t even know how else to explain it. The hardest part was going up “Wall Street”, a wall of switchbacks climbing up to the end of the trail. Everyone was struggling!
We did another shorter hike afterwards at Rainbow Point but at this time, we started to see dark clouds rolling in. We sat in our car to eat lunch and luckily we did because it started pouring! We were driving to Zion National Park next and had considered stopping outside the park to do a hike before entering but the storm made conditions too questionable.
As we drove into Zion and through the tunnels, the sun came out and it ended up being beautiful again. We decided to take it easy and grabbed a flight of beers at Zion Brewery, literally a quick walk from the parking lot of the national park. There is nothing better than cold beers and mountain views. We ended up chatting with the women sitting next to us and we actually ran into them again the next day in the park! We had covered a lot of miles by this point in the week and were gearing up for an exciting hike the next day, so we got to bed early to rest up.
I think the thing I was most excited for on our Utah trip was hiking Angel’s Landing at Zion. When planning our vacation I kept reading about Angel’s Landing and I knew it was a must do for us. We started early in the morning. We wanted to try to beat the crowds since the most notorious part of the hike – the chains section – is so narrow you pretty much have move in single file. The first part of the hike we meandered along the Virgin River with some gentle switchbacks. Things started to get a little steeper but still enjoyable. Next was a flat section through a refreshingly cool area called Refrigerator Canyon.
At the end of the canyon was when things started to get real spicy. This is where Walter’s Wiggles starts (honestly, the best name), a series of 21 very steep switchbacks. I had to take lots of breathers during this part! Once you reach the top you’re at Scout Lookout. A lot of people stopped here to eat a snack, use the compost outhouse and get some rest before hitting the chains portion of the hike. This is also the spot some people turned around if they were afraid of heights and didn’t want to continue on.
The last half mile of the trail is where the chains are and is called The Spine or Hogsback. I don’t think Jarrett really knew what to expect with this hike so it came as shock to him when he saw how narrow the “trail” was. He was more nervous with this section than I was – I was living my best life.
Traversing the spine was incredible. It was challenging but doable. I felt so badass once we reached the summit. I will say however, the number of people on the trail does make the hike more difficult and unsafe, as you have to scoot by people on narrow ledges to get around them on your way up or down. I’m glad we started early because when we reached the base of the spine on our descent there was a huge mass of people waiting to start. Zion has now incorporated a lottery system for this hike for that reason. I think it’ll definitely make things feel a little safer for those uneasy with the trail. Once we were back on solid ground Jarrett said that while he was a little uncomfortable, he was really glad we had done it. It was definitely a once in a life time kind of hike!
One other random thing to mention was that the chipmunks at Scout Lookout were insane and very assertive. If you put your bag down, they’d immediately be on top of it – if you were eating a snack, they were trying to figure out a way to jump or climb on you. They’re adorable but also a little crazy. Just remember not to feed those cuties #leavenotrace!
Once we finished Angel’s Landing, we went back to our car for our lunch and to change into water shoes. Our next stop was The Narrows where you get to traverse through the Virgin River! It’s possible to rent special hiking boots for hiking in water and trekking poles to help with balance but Jarrett and I weren’t planning on hiking in the river very far. We really just wanted to get a little bit of the experience so we bought cheap closed-toe water shoes off Amazon for the trip and they worked fine. We also didn’t rent poles because someone had told us that by the river there are usually a bunch left behind from other hikers that are free to use. I had one and Jarrett didn’t and we were both fine. We only went up until the water reached our mid-thigh and then we turned around. There were so many people here – it was very congested. It was here that we ran into the women from the brewery from the day before and they said they had gone out far enough that the water was up to their chins!
After we finished with the Narrows, we had to wait a while for the shuttle to bring us back to the visitors center. At this point in our trip we were ready for some relaxation so we headed towards our next stop – Cedar City! We were only here for a brief pit stop for the night but we stopped at Policy Kings Brewing. It was a cute little place with some great art on the walls outside facing the patio. I really enjoyed their Festival City Lager. The following day we started our long drive back to Salt Lake City. We wanted to check out the Bonneville Salt Flats so we had about an hour or so detour before we arrived back in SLC. The flats were really cool. It was bizarre and I felt like I was walking on the moon. It’s pretty amazing.
When we got to Salt Lake City we walked around downtown and went to a few different breweries. Our favorite was Fisher Brewing Company. It was a large brewery with a great patio space. We got beer flights while there and it was hard choosing a favorite! I loved both the Rye Cream Ale and the Fisher Beer Pilsner. I definitely recommend checking them out if you’re in the area!
This was our last night in Utah sadly and we spent the whole next day traveling back to New England. We had an amazing time and I think everyone should do this trip at some point in their life. I also really liked starting at Arches first and ending with Zion. I think if we started with Zion and Bryce Canyon, it would’ve been harder to really appreciate all the beauty in the other three parks since Zion and Bryce are both so striking visually. I really enjoyed Utah and need to go back to finish exploring other areas.
Have you visited Utah’s Mighty 5? Let me know below!
📍I acknowledge the lands mentioned in this post are the ancestral lands of the Timpanogos, Ute, Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute), Pueblos, Goshute and Newe Sogobia (Eastern Shoshone) people.
The Adventures of Suze 
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