Top hikes of the Mighty 5 – The National Parks of Utah

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“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence” – Henry David Thoreau

I saw a commercial one day touting the beauty of Utah’s Mighty 5 National Parks and it was instant love. I had to hike those parks.

It became a serious bucket list item, right up there with “Hike the Camino” and “Climb Mount Kilimanjaro.” So, I started doing some research on the parks and on Utah and talked about it constantly until we decided to go in the Fall of 2017.

According to my research this is one of the best times to go because it’s cooler, there are less tourists, and it is no longer the storm season in that area.

I spent a lot of time on the Visit Utah website, where they provide tips and potential itineraries and a way to have more information mailed to you. I instantly signed up to receive the information packet, which came with a map that I used every single day for picking out which towns to stay in between the parks. It was free and it was worth it.

Then I bought the travel guidebook “Moon Zion & Bryce: Including Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase-Escalante & Moab (Moon Handbooks).” Also, worth the cost. I used that book for everything, from planning trails to where to eat and stay along the way. It was the perfect guidebook, with interesting information about the area included. Like did you know that you can only get 4% beer in restaurants (and not in all restaurants) and that you have to order some form of protein before they will let you have a beer! Crazy! But it was true, we saw it happen.

We booked our flights from Las Vegas with basic economy from United and rented a car, using hotwire.com, finding a deal for around $7 a day, unlimited mileage. It was as though the stars were aligning for this trip. Las Vegas is the perfect starting point for any road trip to see the best national parks of the southwest. The flights are more economical and so are the car rentals.

When it came to booking where we would stay the only hotels I booked were for that first night in Las Vegas, our hotel in Moab, because we heard from friends that it’s super busy there and can be hard to get a room unless you book in advance (they were right and boy were they expensive!) and our return stay in Las Vegas.

Otherwise, I used hotels.com or booking.com the night before or the morning of to determine where would stay each night along the route. We tried to pick towns that were about half way between the parks so we could drive part way to the next park the night before to make the driving less daunting and so we could spend more time in the parks. This worked out surprisingly well and we got some great hotel deals along the way.

Utah took my breath away from the moment we crossed the border into the state. I was completely in love with the place. The parks were so different from each other and in between them you could drive for hours without seeing a house, a street light, or another human being. This is because around 88% of the 3 million people that live in Utah live around Salt Lake City in the north.

The majority of the state is uninhabited and full of national, state and tribal parks, which made my heart smile. The towns that you do come across have populations between 100-500 people but they were all extremely friendly and helpful, though I wouldn’t fully go by their recommendations for restaurants. They have limited choices and the food wasn’t exactly spectacular but they meant well and were super excited about the food so you can’t help but take their recommendation.

That’s not to say that all places were bad, we had a good BBQ style meal in Panguitch and a delicious breakfast at a diner the next morning, where they also provided us with sandwiches for the day’s hike. There was also Tamarisk, in Green River that had spectacular food, with a soup and salad bar and a melt in your mouth, homemade giant cinnamon roll.

But we weren’t really there for the food, we were after the parks and the hiking trail treasures they offered. Before leaving for Utah I had read through the aforementioned book and made a general plan for which hikes we might do at each park. Then we started adding other hikes, because it turns out we could pump out some serious mileage in a day.

Our hiking trail criteria also evolved with each passing hike. It had to be long, strenuous and have great views, which meant significant elevation changes. These trails turned out to be the most jaw dropping and inspiring, with the fewest tourists, and the best way to see Southern Utah’s parks.

Zion National Park

Zion was the first park we visited and the oldest of the 5 having been designated a national park in 1919. It also has the coolest 5,613-foot tunnel built through the rock leading out of the park towards Bryce. There are parking areas when you first enter the park and shuttles to take you to various drop off points depending on the hikes you want to do. Bryce also had a shuttle service, though not quite as good as Zions.

Our first hike was the West Rim trail to Angel’s Landing. This trail is 5.4-miles round trip, though not a loop, with an elevation change of 1,488 feet. It’s considered to have the best views of Zion Canyon and a very scary final ascent to the peak. Angels Landing is a sheer-walled monolith 1,500 feet above the North Fork of the Virgin River. You hike up to Scout’s Landing, where in a couple places you have to hold on to chains so you don’t fall off the side of the cliff. Then it’s a ½ mile to the summit of Angel’s Landing with sheer 1,500 foot drops on either side of you, while you hold onto a chain on a tiny trail the rest of the way. We stared at it for a while debating if we wanted to do that last ½ mile to the summit. I should stop here and say I am deathly afraid of heights and dying. This trail warns that if you are afraid of heights you probably should sit this one out. I walked about 15 feet onto the trail stopped and decided it was not for me. People have died on that trail and I did not want to be one of them and besides the views from where I was were still spectacular. I still do not regret my decision. I am not an adrenaline junkie. The total hike was strenuous to say the least with what felt like a thousand switchbacks but the views were worth it and a section of the switchbacks was called Walter’s Wiggles, which I couldn’t help giggle at every time I thought about it.

The West Rim trail is right next to Kayenta trail, which leads to the Emerald Pools trails. The Emerald Pools trails have an upper, middle and lower pool. This is an easy hike to see all 3, though I could have skipped this one because it wasn’t anything special.

We then took the bus to the beginning of the Narrows. The Narrows is a full day/overnight/backcountry trail that you see in all the commercials. Hikers can go in groups where you wade through the river for a significant portion of the trail and the canyon walls close in around you. We walked up to where the trail starts but did not get to experience this marvel of a trail. It is my hope that someday we will go back and do some backcountry hiking.

Finally, we stopped and checked out the Court of the Patriarchs. This is a short climb up to a view point of 3 peaks named after the three biblical figures: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. At this point the sun was setting and the light coming off the Patriarchs gave the peaks an ethereal glow. It was the perfect end to our time in Zion.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce is the second oldest National Park in Utah and probably my favorite of the five. The parks elevation ranges from 6,600 to 9,100 feet, so it’s a little cooler here than the other parks. My plan was for us to hike the Peekaboo Trail and if there was time do a couple of the other shorter trails. Well we managed to start at the Peekaboo Trail, connect with the Navajo Trail, to the Rim trail and then connect with the Fairylands Trail to do the complete Fairylands loop.

The shuttle bus drops you off at Bryce Point, where you can hike up to the Inspiration Point viewpoint or start the Peekaboo Trail. We skipped the viewpoint and started right away on the trail. The first view of the hoodoos nearly stopped my heart. It brought tears to my eyes it was so incredibly beautiful. The sun was still rising and the pink, yellow, cream and orange hoodoos were standing like glittering sentinels in Bryce Amphitheater.

Bryce Canyon isn’t really a canyon, it’s the largest of a series of massive amphitheaters cut into the pink cliffs. Every corner was a new photo opportunity. Hoodoos are a special type of rock formation and if you look at them carefully you can envision all kinds of different sculptures, such as people dancing, castles and animals. The word Hoodoo is sometimes used to describe folk beliefs and practices. The Spaniards believed that Native Americans worshipped these statue-like “enchanted rocks” but there is no evidence to prove this.

The Peekaboo Trail gradually descends down into the amphitheater giving you a new view at every turn. Once at the bottom of the amphitheater you find yourself walking on sand surrounded by various types of pine trees. We walked half the trail before connecting to the Navajo trail, which is considered an easy trail and had quite a few more people on it than the more strenuous Peekaboo trail. I didn’t really find this trail to be anything special and once we arrived at the Rim Trail we decided to do the fairylands trail on a whim and am I ever glad we decided to do that. This trail had beautiful rock formations in cream, pink and orange hues all around us. The trail was peaceful and put me into a meditative state. The colored rocks made me think of candy corn with their shape and layers of color. The fairyland trail was my favorite trail of the entire trip, even though it was that first look on the Peekaboo trail that nearly brought me to my knees.

Capitol Reef National Park

Capital Reef is considered a “pass through” park. It doesn’t get the traffic that Zion and Bryce get but after hiking this park I really think people are missing out on this little gem. We decided to do hikes from the scenic drive only, though many hikes can be accessed from the highway. We started out at the Grand Wash Trail. This trail is 4.5 miles round trip and can be started from either the scenic drive or Highway 24. The trail basically runs between the two, if you hike from the Highway you will end up at the scenic drive and vice versa. This is an easy trail and is “Narrows-esque” in the respect that the canyon walls tower up on either side of you and close in to about 20 feet apart at its narrowest point.  The entire trail is a dried-up river bed or “wash” with little lizards running around. This trail stopped being a hike for us and became a lizard hunt pretty quickly.

On the way back, we decided to do the Cassidy Arch trail. This trail is considered strenuous, being 3.5 miles round trip with a 670-foot elevation change that felt like 1000. To stay on the trail, you followed the various cairns (little rock formations) provided. This trail isn’t for the faint of heart either, there are shear drops on one side of the trail at times, which I tried to stay as far away from as possible. Once you reached the end of the trail the terrain became what is known as “slickrock,” very flat rock covering the entire ground. We stopped to eat our lunch here thinking we already saw the arch from the trail but realized that was not the case. You could walk right up to the arch and on top of it if you wanted to (I did not want to, fear of heights and all) so I just looked at the majesty of it from the safety of the slickrock.

After the Cassidy Arch Trail, we decided to check out the Cohab Canyon Trail. I had read about this trail in the guidebook and it sounded like a fun hike. According to the guidebook this canyon was supposedly used by Mormon polygamists to escape federal marshals during the 1880s. Along this trail is a side trail to a viewpoint of the Fruita area and some nice photo opportunities. When we started the trail, it wasn’t very nice and I was thinking I had made a mistake picking this trail. Then we rounded the corner into the canyon and I felt like a kid in a candy store. There were all kinds of side trails (that I am sure are not meant to be side trails) where the canyon walls crush in on you and the rock has a swiss cheese appearance. I had a lot of fun on this trail, it was easy walking and there were great climbing opportunities to get to what I call “sit spots” or “places to hide from zombies.”

Capital Reef was a wonderful surprise in the end and one of the most underrated of the National Parks. Interested in other underrated parks? Check out these must visit National Parks.

Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands is a huge park with 5 major sections that are not connected to one another. I didn’t know this prior to the trip and had planned hikes in various areas but come to find out if you only have one day just pick one. The guidebook recommends the “Islands in the Sky District” if you only have one day. If you have more time to spend the Needles District has a lot to offer. When we arrived, the wind was blasting and it was cold. We stopped at the visitor’s center and talked to the ranger who recommended, after hearing our hiking criteria, that we do the Syncline Trail in the Upheaval Dome area. This was a true back country trail that’s an 8-mile loop with a 1,200-foot elevation change. If it wasn’t for the cairns we would have gotten lost several times. This trail is not for a novice hiker and is the trail that has the most rescues every year.

Syncline follows the outside of Upheaval Dome crater, so you don’t actually see the crater at all during the hike. There is a short trail to the view point of the crater when you first arrive at the parking area and that’s where you will find most of the people. Syncline Trail was a lot of fun. There were switchbacks heading down, then you walked through a wash (dry riverbed) for a stretch, then climb up a lot of rocks (the best part) and probably the sketchiest part, then through a wooded area before looping back to the start. After we got through the wooded area the trail started to feel like it might go on forever because it is just that strenuous of a hike.

It is unknown what caused the crater but geologists have 2 theories. One is known as the “Salt Dome Theory” where it is thought that it began 300 million years ago when an inland sea covered the entire area. Climate change caused the water to evaporate, leaving a thick salt deposit behind. Over time, layers of sediment built up on top of the salt and hardened into sandstone. The heavy rock pushed down on the salt, creating uneven pressure that led to a budge in the salt layer. This caused a dome to appear on the surface, an upheaval dome. The crater seen today is simply the eroded remains of that dome.

The second theory is the “Meteorite Theory.” The thought is that a meteor crashed on this spot 60 million years ago. The crater left behind was unstable. Some areas collapsed while other spaces filled from below by rock and salt moving up into the sudden opening in the earth. Either theory it’s a pretty cool structure.

Arches National Park

Arches was our final stop in the Mighty 5. This park is pretty small compared to some of the others and is only minutes from Moab. A quick note on Moab. This town is perfect for the outdoor adventurer. It offers a little bit of everything, from hiking in the two national parks closest to it (Arches and Canyonlands), to mountain biking, ATV riding, and back country driving made only for jeeps and other rugged vehicles. The town itself had several coffee shops, restaurants, and gift shops. It was a fun little town, bustling with people, until around 9pm when the town just died. We were there on a Saturday night and thought it would be fun to spend the evening at the various bars, drinking their 4% beer, and maybe enjoying some music but the whole town just shut down at 9. It was the weirdest thing. I still loved it there and I was sporting a pretty serious sunglasses tan at this point, which apparently is the envy of everyone in Moab as people actually try to get that look. I guess it’s some sort of outdoor adventurer status thing. I just needed my prescription sunglasses to protect my eyes from the sun and to see but hey whatever.

We decided to hike the Devils’ Garden loop but only go as far as we needed to see the 8 named arches on the trail, then turn back and head over to the Delicate Arch trail. When we started the Devils’ Garden loop the wind was bitterly cold but the arches were spectacular. On one section you walk across a section of slickrock that has drop offs on either side (one drop off more scary than the other, you could easily survive falling off one side).

The cairns here were not as easy to follow as on some of the other trails but we found our way, though we ended up off trail several times. We hiked our way towards Dark Angel, not really knowing anything about it but expecting some sentinel arch that would take our breath away. Boy were we wrong. Dark Angel it turns out is not an arch at all but an Obelisk like rock structure, standing sentinel over the area. It was still impressive but I was kind of surprised.

On our way back up we ran into a group that had started on the Primitive Trail, the other more rugged section of the trail. We asked them how it was, because it looked like it was quite a bit longer than the part of the trail we had already completed. With their enthusiasm we decided to go for it and do the entire loop. The entire Devil’s Garden Trail, with the Primitive Trail section is 7.2 miles with very little elevation change, though you will still do some climbing. It was beautiful. You end up climbing through a section of fins, which are fin shaped rock formations. You literally walk along their edges leaping between them. After this section the remainder of the trail is pretty flat. It was a lot of fun and I am glad we decided to go for it.

Even though we were exhausted and there was a horde of tourists, we had to do the Delicate Arch Trail. My feet were hurting by this point after 5 full days of strenuous hiking but this arch will blow your mind. The trail itself is 3 miles total, though not a loop. It’s pretty strenuous too. At the beginning of the trail is an old farm house and some petroglyphs. Utah boasts a lot of different petroglyphs but somehow this was the first time we saw any on our trip.

Then it’s an uphill ascent to Delicate Arch. The crowds are kind of daunting but the Arch stands alone looking out into the world surrounded by a crater on one side and a drop off on the other. There is nothing surrounding it that’s what is really special about it. how this huge arch formed in this remote location is beyond me but even with the crowds constantly taking photos within the arch it’s a must see.

There are a lot of other trails in the Mighty 5 that we did not get to experience and we didn’t go to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument where you can apparently see some other worldly scenery and do some pretty spectacular hiking but I feel like we got to experience a lot of what the parks had to offer. The guidebooks say how long it will take to do these hikes but if you are a pretty avid hiker you can churn out way more miles in a day than what the book suggests, allowing you to see more of the parks than you may have thought possible.

A few resources and recommendations for planning your trip to Utah’s Mighty 5:

America the Beautiful Pass – $80

If you are going to do all the parks and more this pass is a must have. Order it before you go. I didn’t realize that the free shipping could take up to 15+ days and at that point we were a week away from flying out so I got it sent via a quicker route that said there may be additional shipping fees. However, when it arrived 2 days later there were no additional fees but I still wouldn’t take the chance, try to get it well in advance it’s good for a year. We ended up saving around $40 in park entrance fees by having this pass.

Booking.com (I liked using this website because you could quickly reserve a room and pay when you get there. Navigation on the mobile page was also super easy).

Hotels.com (I like these guys because you bank your hotel stays and after ten you get a free night (which is the average amount you paid for the ten nights, so it’s like a free night or a huge discount).

Moon Zion & Bryce Including Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Moab by W.C. McRae & Judy Jewell. This book was like my bible. It gave great food suggestions, some fun facts about the area, and made our trip less stressful so we could just enjoy ourselves.

Visit Utah website

Have you been to Utah’s Mighty 5? Did I miss any trails that should get a mention? Let me know your thoughts!