Vern’s’ Never Revealed Big Life Adventure to Zion, Bryce, Moab, Monument Valey, Sedona, & Fabulous Las Vegas

Echo Fine Properties

16 FEB

Vern’s’ Never Revealed Big Life Adventure to Zion, Bryce, Moab, Monument Valley, Sedona, & Fabulous Las Vegas

Vern Nelson named me Jefe’ when I stepped into his van when we first met in San Francisco.

We are so devastated to hear of his passing. We did a trip with Vern in Yosemite over a decade ago. Stayed in touch over the years and got to have lunch with him last year passing through Florida. I’m so glad we were able to do so.

Vern couldn’t go with on a trip we did spring of 2022 to Moab area. It was me, my wife Veronica, and Jade. Jade was a Senior in high school and it was the last time we had her captive. It has been her favorite trip. Vern wrote an epic tour for us from Vegas to Zion to Grand Canyon. His notes were hilarious, secret spots, filled with history, books to read, and rants. He basically was with us on tour every day as we read and traveled on. I was sworn not to share this but think I should now should. Like 20-page book . He charged way too little, and we had a little fight about paying him more. That was Vern.

We did so many National Parks and adventures after meeting him without Vern. He always texted back with a few secret spots and tips.

Read the book, Desert Solitaire, if you haven’t. Vern recommended and it was terrific.

Beautiful soul and will miss him.

Jeff Lichtenstein

(Read our itinerary, Vern’s excellent adventure notes, and then see all our photos at the end)

LICHTENSTEINS SOUTHWEST March 11^th to March 22

March 11, Friday

LAS VEGAS

Hampton Inn Tropicana

March 12, Saturday

ZION

Hampton Inn Springdale

March 13, Sunday

ZION

Zion Mountain Ranch

March 14, Monday

BRYCE

Escalante Escapes

March 15, Tuesday

MOAB/ARCHES

BW Plus Greenwell Inn (downtown Moab)2 Queens w/balcony (booked/held but can cancel)

March 16, Wed

MOAB

BW Plus Greenwell Inn (downtown Moab)2 Queens w/balcony (booked/held but can cancel)

March 17, Thur

M VALLEY

Valley Rim Premium View Cabin

March 18, Fri

Maswik Lodge

March 19, Sat

Maswik

March 20, Sun

SEDONA

The Clinkscale Jerome (booked by Vern but can cancel)

March 21, Mon

Las Vegas

Bellagio 169/night + resort fee $40

March 22, Tuesday

Las Vegas

Ask for late check out

VERN’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE TRIP NOTES FOR TEAM LICHTENSTEIN!!!!

Day 1, Friday, 11^th, Arrival in Las Vegas

Get a drink and get your arses to bed. You can get wild and crazy like the teenagers we no longer are when you return back to Vegas.

Day 2, Sat, 12^th, Las Vegas to Zion NP 160 miles/3 hours

LV – Mesquite: No need to leave too early but I’d try and get out of LVegas no later than 10 am. Once you’re on the I15 north and leaving Las Vegas keep your eyes peeled to the right for jets taking off from Nellis Air Force Base. They are on their way up and over the mountains to your left/north (Mt Charleston, you can ski up there in the winter) for target practice near Area 51 (think Top Gun scenes). You’ll be driving thru the Mojave Desert (1 of the 4 deserts in the US along with the Sonoran, Great Basin, and Chihuahan). After about an hour, you’ll cross the Nevada/Arizona border and you might want to stop in Mesquite to pick a few things up at the Walmart. I’d encourage you to buy a cooler and possibly a small dry box to keep snacks and cold drinks while you’re on your road trip. Maybe a couple of cheap glasses/utensils for sun downers and appetizers as well. You can also stop at the Walmart just past the Utah border on your way into Saint George.

Mesquite – Snow Canyon/Saint George: After you leave Mesquite you’ll start entering the transition zone between the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin Desert. You’ll also start moving up in elevation and onto the Colorado Plateau. I’ll give you a brief description of the Colorado Plateau below (it is very important to have a basic grasp of what it is). You’ll know you’re in the transition zone when you enter the Virgin River Gorge (named by the Mormons, they do love their virgins). The sedimentary rock you’ll be driving thru in the gorge is about 500,000 years old. That lil tiny river you are driving alongside cut out this massive gorge (it is also the river that cut out Zion NP). The highway you’re on cost about a million dollars a mile and was finished in 1973 (it took ten years). Once you’re out of the gorge, you are officially in the Great Basin Desert which runs all the way north to Southern Oregon (center of the universe) and east to the Colorado Rockies. The landscape should begin to look a lot more impressive than the Mojave behind you. This area receives more rain and can be quite green sometimes.

Snow Canyon: Coffee? If you didn’t stop in Mesquite, you can stop in Saint George for supplies. Saint George is the new, snappening place for hipster outdoor athletes that wanna ride their mountain bike, trail run, rock climb etc.. all year. The weather is hard to beat if you love the outdoors. It was also Brigham Young’s winter residence. I’ll assume a handful of his 57 wives lived there with him.

Snow Canyon SP used to be a ‘secret spot’ but secret spots are few and far between in the Southwest now. Either way, it is a nice intro to your next 10 days. You’ll want to enter at the south entrance and eventually make your way to the Lava Flow trailhead for a short, easy hike (when you pay your entrance fee, have them circle the Lava Flow trailhead on your map). You can stop at a few lookouts on your way for photos/bathroom. Here is a link to the trail. Probably take a little more than an hour. When I’m leading trips I actually drop everyone off at the trailhead and pick them up below, downhill on the road about ¼ mile. That is up to you. This is a good intro to desert hiking as well, pretty straight forward and easy to follow trail but keep your eyes out for obvious trail use and stacked rocks (cairns). Also, you can always see the road if you take a wrong turn (it’s a small, compact park). You have plenty of time today, so don’t feel rushed getting to Zion. Don’t forget your water. Throw a lunch in your cooler if you bought one and use one of the overlooks with picnic tables for lunch. Option two would be to eat in Saint George. You’re on your own finding a place as I never eat in Saint George.

Big tip: You’re going to be in Utah for a while. If you want alcohol, I would buy it in Nevada before you leave or in Mesquite at the Walmart (cheapest). You can get things in Utah but if you want beer stronger than 3.2, and good wine, you can only buy at the Utah liquor store, which is rarely open when you want it to be and is expensive (sin tax).

Saint George/Snow Canyon- Springdale: It is about an hour to Springdale from Saint George. River Rock Coffee in Hurricane, the halfway point from Saint George, has great coffee and goodies if you want something. Beautiful drive into Zion. If you look at an angle to your right out the window (NE) when you are on the I15 just out of Saint George you can see the cliffs and spires of Zion in the far distance. Once you’re off the I15 and past Hurricane, you’ll come thru a few small towns. The Virgin River will be on your right. When you pass thru Rockville, look at the giant boulders all over town on the left side. A few years ago, one of those Barney Rubble Trouble boulders landed on a whole house and destroyed it. At this point, you will be staring straight at the cliffs of Zion. These are the highest sandstone cliffs in the world. Your current elevation is about 4000 feet and the tops of those cliffs (limestone, which tells you there was an ocean(s) here before) are about 7000 feet high. Awesome but dangerous to climb. (I took my biggest rockclimbing fall here 20 years ago, never was the same after.) Now you’re rolling into Springdale. Depending on the time, you can probably check into your hotel.

If you have the time, and late afternoon light is a good time to do this walk, you should head into the park. It is about 5 minutes from your hotel to the entrance station. You will be headed to do an easy stroll along the P’arus Trail aka the riverside trail. You can do this one of two ways. Park at the visitor center and start waking from there and take the shuttle bus back or park up by the bridge, walk downstream and then take shuttle back to bridge. Shuttles are free and pretty frequent. Hike is about 2 miles or/and 1 hour at a super chilled pace. Disfruta! You can also do this tomorrow if you don’t have the time.

Big Tip: Buy yourself an annual pass. I think they are about $80 bones which will be cheaper than paying all the entrance fees for the parks you are visiting.

Eating in Springdale: Oscars is my go to spot for dinner. It gets busy and they might or might not take reservations. The Bit and Spur is a very distant second. Third would be the Pizza Noodle Company. It’s a big slide downhill after that. Breakfast, if not at your hotel, the BumbleBerry Inn for sitdown and Café Soleil or Deep Creek Coffee for fast/easy.

Big Tip: Sol Foods in Springdale is da bomb for small grocery stores. You can self-cater here, get good cheese, sandwiches, etc…

Sunset Tip: Anywhere from the bridge in the park or along the river trail going back toward Springdale is good. Sun will set last on the Watchman Rock.

Map Tip: This link has a pdf of the Zion/Bryce/Escalante area. I’d print it out for your trip and refer to it now and in March.

Day 3, Sun, 13^th, Zion NP

You kids can plan this day a couple ways. If you get up and catch the early bus, the park will have a different feel than if you don’t (crowded). That is up to you. Depending on how much you want to hike, the two to three trails you should do in this order are:

Angels Landing– This trail is 5.5 miles RT from the Grotto Trailhead/Bus Stop. If you only go to Boy Scout Lookout, it is only about 4.5 miles RT. The last section, Angels Landing, is pretty darned scary if you are afraid of heights. I take people out all the time but it is handy that I am there to help and encourage them. I believe by April they will have the new permit system, in which you will need to book the permit for the last section (you should be OK). That said, just going to Boy Scout Lookout will give you the birds eye view you cant get from down in the canyon. Pretty cool even for me and I’ve been up there over 100 times.

Emerald Pools Hike– This hike starts at the Grotto TH as well and you can do it as a one way hike and go to the lodge (the bus stop before the Grotto stop). Super easy and very pretty. There should be some water coming off the lip of the canyon in March. One way it is only 1.5 miles and flat (ish).

Zion Canyon Narrows – This hike is as long as you want it to be but in early March I would only encourage you to go the one mile up to where people start hiking in the river (2 miles RT and flat). It will be too cold to hike in the river in March. You will get an idea of how the canyon starts closing upriver with 3000 foot cliffs straight up.

Option A) If you decide to take all three of these on, plan on packing your lunch and eating in the park (Sol Foods). If you do two, head back into town for lunch and take a break. Maybe go to a couple of the local galleries in Springdale. Chill at your hotel? In the afternoon you can head up to the Zion Tunnel (15 minutes from Springdale) and once you get to the other side (of tunnel) park and do the Canyon Overlook Trail. This is a 2 mile RT trail and one of my favorites. Lots of pay off for a short, mostly flat trail. Then head back for dinner in town and your hotel.

Option B) This option will include staying at the Zion Mountain Ranch on the east side of the park. Reasons for doing this are: 1) It is a very beautiful spot compared to being in Springdale. They have cabins on a working buffalo ranch and an onsite restaurant that is pretty darned tasty (though expensive). 2) It puts you closer to Bryce.

The drive from Springdale to Bryce is about 2.5 hours with stops. The drive from the Zion Ranch to Bryce is about an hour. Your day can hit all the spots I mentioned earlier but rather than heading back into Springdale you will just continue on from the east side of the tunnel to the ranch.

Sunrise/Sunset Tip: I like watching the sunrise, if you can walk out in the field where the buffalo roam, at Zion Mountain Ranch.

Sunrise Tip #2: You won’t see the sunrise, but you will see the rocks in the canyon blowing up if you can get about half way up the Angels Landing trail from the Grotto bus stop (1 mile) before it enters Refrigerator Canyon.

Day 4, Mon, 14^th, Bryce NP ___105 or 157 miles/2-3 hrs

Zion to Bryce/Boulder: This is going to be a stunner of a day as far as landscapes go. Whether you are coming from Springdale or the Zion Mountain Ranch you will still be driving the same road. Honestly, this is one of my favorite roads in the world. You want to take your time with it and not rush it.

Once you are driving east of the Zion Tunnel you will be in the higher elevations of the park. You will be surrounded by petrified sand dunes (again this is a tell that oceans were once here). In Earth’s history, these were the largest sand dunes EVER. Look at the strata of the rock and the directions it is flowing/swirling. The strata show what direction the wind and weather patterns were when these rocks were just sand. Eventually, other layers were piled on top of these and thru chemistry and pressure the sand was lithified. Lots of pull outs to stop and walk out on this 80-million-year-old sandstone. The trees you are seeing are Ponderosa Pine (the big ones), Pinyon Pine, and Juniper. Keep your eyes open for Bighorn Sheep perched high up on the rocks.

From the tunnel to the east entrance/exit of the park, it will take you about 30 minutes, but you definitely want to make a stop or two. Carmel Junction (30 minutes from east entrance) will be the next spot where you could get gas/coffee. From CJ to Bryce you will be driving up Long Valley and passing some very original Mormon towns. Lots of polygamists in this area. Orderville has an interesting past (socialism experiment) you can check out here. Read some of the storefronts (my favorite has always been the guy that makes coffins). If you are a rock person, they really have some cool stuff at some of the shops. Shanti convinced me to stop last year after driving thru maybe 200 times and I was surprised I’d never checked them out before. On the drive up look to your left occasionally and you will see the same rock formations (Hoodoos) you’ll find in Bryce. You’ll eventually see the Sevier River on your right named by the Spaniards (Severo = wild, and us ‘Murkans anglicized it to Sevier…don’t forget this was all owned by Spain at one point). You’ll be on the 89 the first hour or so and once you pass Hatch (45 minutes from CV) you’ll take a right going NEast on the 12 toward the Red Cliffs. You can stop here for a quick photo if you want but the good stuff is up ahead at Bryce.

Interesting factoid: The Utah highway signs are beehives which are representative of the Mormon philosophy ‘a community that works together achieves more’.

Big Tip: A great book to read before, during, or after is “Under the Banner of Heaven”. All about polygamy and a decent history book on the Mormons coming to Utah.

Remember, you flatlanders are going to feel the elevation at Bryce: 9000 feet. Before you get to Bryce you’ll pass Ruby’s. All the restaurants, hotels, stores and gas station are owned by the same family (you guessed it, Mormons). This is where you are staying if you booked a hotel here vs Boulder. This place is conveniently located right next to the park, but it is also the tourist hub. It drives me crazy sometimes. Might be a little quieter in early March though. The entrance to Bryce is only 5 minutes away. Once you enter the park and get your park map, I’d head straight to Bryce Point. It is the best lookout and pretty epic for your first view of the amphitheater. Plan on spending about 20 minutes there taking photos. Looking straight out and to your left you will see the trail that winds through the Hoodoos. You’ll be hiking down there later. If you have plenty of time (staying at Rubys) and want to give the ladies a nice, chill, flat walk before you all walk down into the canyon, have them start walking from Bryce Point toward Sunset Point (2 miles/1 hr). Usually this trail has some serenity as many walkers do not do it. Otherwise head over to Sunset Point, park and start hiking down into the amphitheater together (the bathroom here has water and picnic tables). This hike from Sunset and back out to Sunrise, aka the Navajo/Queens Garden combo, and along the rim back to your car is a loop and usually takes about 2 to 2.5 hours. It is pretty epic whether it is busy or not (I sometimes hike this in the dark, without flashlights, in the summer, super awesome). I’m not a fan of anyplace to eat in or around Ruby’s (the Bryce NP Lodge is OK) so I pack lunches and eat down in the canyon or I pull my coolers out (beer 30 possibly) and eat at one of the picnic tables at Sunset Point. Sunrise Point has bathrooms and a small convenience store as well. Ruby’s has a small grocery store you could also pick supplies up at.

Option A, Staying at Ruby’s near Bryce: The advantage here is that it will make a leisurely day coming from either Springdale or the Zion Mountain Ranch. Once you get to Bryce, you’re done with the real driving for the day. There are a few options for food but none of them are great and it is usually super busy. The gift shop here is pretty good…one of the best in the area. I wouldn’t buy any of their displayed art though, as it is crazy overpriced and expensive. Also, Ruby’s is much cheaper than the options in Escalante or Boulder.

Option B, going all the way to Boulder or Escalante: The advantage here is that tomorrow is a long drive on a spectacular stretch of road. There are few options we can add on the drive if you save that extra hour/hour-half. The Boulder Lodge rooms/apartments are pretty darned nice and you could spread yourselves out a lil bit, if you get an apartment. There are also some pretty cool places to stay in Escalante, specifically the Escalante Escapes tiny houses. The drawback for this option is food. Many places will not open until the third week of March or later. Boulder has really not much of anything in the off season. Escalante will have a few places open. I’ll research a few of those options. Also, if y’all want one of the coolest places, with the coolest people for a horseback ride, my old friends Breck and Becky do trail rides out of Boulder. These two are highlights themselves, real, old school Westerners. Breck taught Outdoor Education in Northern Arizona University and they lived in a yurt (brought back from Mongolia) with their daughter last time I saw them. If you’ve ever wanted to feel like you were in a backdrop of a spaghetti Western, this would be the opportunity.

Day 5, Tue, 15^th, Bryce or Boulder to Arches , 275 miles/4.5 hrs or 200 miles/3.25 hours

Breakfast: @ Rubys if you are staying there; self-cater or in Escalante if you are there. Another option if you are staying in Boulder, is eating a later breakfast in Torrey. It is about 1 hour up and over Boulder Mountain to Torrey near Capitol Reef NP. Finally, if you are staying at Ruby’s, I sometimes eat breakfast at one of the places in Tropic (20 minutes from Bryce) because occasionally the local polygamist ranchers come in for breakfast. Great to gawk at while you’re stuffing yourself with bacon.

Lots of options for this day. As I have mentioned before, this is a stunner of a highway. If you’re coming from Rubys or Escalante you haven’t driven the Lions Back yet. You drove it yesterday if you stayed in Boulder.

Lions Back – Once out of Escalante, you’ll see a road on your right that says “Hole n the Rock Road”, this was the route Mormons used after crossing the Colorado River, SEast of here. They had to use dynamite to blow a route for their wagons. You will go around a few corners and eventually be staring down at a road that drives down, around, up, and thru the ancient sandstone dunes…pretty cool. Eventually you will pass my favorite coffee shop on the planet, Kiva Coffeehouse, probably closed. After the coffeeshop, you’ll drop down and go over the Escalante River. If you have time, park on the north side of the river on the left and hike the river trail just a little ways. Remember you are in the desert; this will not seem like it.

Driving past the bridge you will start going uphill and Calf Creek is on your right. A little further and you will pass Lower Calf Creek Falls State Park on your left. There is a trail here upriver to one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the US. It is a 6 mile/3 hour hike and it is doubtful you have time for it. You’ll now be driving on the Lion’s Back with sandstone cliffs on both the left and right. There is another waterfall, lesser known, called Upper Calf Creek Falls. Possibly, one of my favorite swimming spots in the US. It is a nondescript trail a mile down the slickrock to the waterfall and you have to follow stacked cairns to make it to the falls. If you’re interested in it, I can walk you thru it over the phone. It is difficult to get lost but you need to pay attention. Also, you’ll have already done a hike at Bryce which will make a long day.

Boulder to Capital Reef National Park – You’ll leave Boulder and head up and over Boulder Mountain. I still dream about my motorcycle days (think about a 6’4 gap-toothed, smiling Okie kid hooping and hollering at 80 mph up, over, and around on this road before he knew any better) and riding over this mountain. After you leave Boulder, you will start ascending up and the biosphere will change from sub-alpine to alpine. Quaking aspen will be on both sides of the road. This is an interesting tree in that most all the trees you see clustered are actually rooted together below, so rather than one tree they are actually tens of hundreds of trees that are all ‘one’ single living organism. That’s pretty darned cool when you think about it. Imagine fall foliage up here…it’s a canvas of awesome. The mountain itself is about 11,000 feet high (highest, forested area in the US) and encompasses a large portion of the Dixie National Forest.

Fun fact: “Dixie” in Utah? Brigham Young dreamed of making Utah into the next big cotton producer (how he had to time to think about anything will all those wives I’ll never understand); thus, the name Dixie (the land of cotton) made its way to Utah.

Eventually, you are going to want to use one of the scenic pullouts. Some are better than others. The best one is Larb Hollow. There will not be a named sign for it, but it is the one on the right after the Pleasant Creek CG/Wildcat Rest Area. You’ll know you are at Larb Hollow because there is a bathroom. Looking broadly east, you’ll be able to see Capitol Reef NP in the north east, the Henry Mountains (the last mapped mountains in the US) directly east, and Fish Lake just below you. Siiiiick view yeah!?!?! On the other side of the Henry’s is where you are eventually driving today (Moab) and you’ll actually drive thru Capitol Reef below you and to your left.

Leaving the lookout, you’ll drive down the mountain (driving over this mountain takes about an hour) back down into the sub-alpine and eventually into the high desert. (Just so you understand, you just went thru most of the climactic belts in the world in just over an hour.) You’ll come to the junction for Torrey, left will take you into Torrey if you need breakfast> Across the street is a gas station that has a subway and if it is still open, next to the gas station is a really good chocolate/coffee/sandwich shop…really good (Covid might have killed it though). Right is the direction you will take to head thru Capitol Reef NP. Capitol Reef NP is one of my favorites but you will just be passing thru it. There is a nice, quick stop that will walk you out (5 minutes) to a set of Fremont Indian pictographs. Worth a look methinks. Binoculars help. (Pictographs are paintings; petroglyphs are carvings. That concludes your archaeology lesson for the day.)

Fun fact: The Fremont Indians were named after John C Fremont. The history books claim him to be a hero, the Pathfinder, but in my opinion, he was an arrogant, unprepared jerk that depended upon others for his claim to fame. He ‘led’ 3 famous expeditions that essentially became (but were already explored by the mountain men and local indigenous peoples) the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail and the crossing of the Great Basin Desert (that is the one you are currently in). He also played a role in the revolt of the “Osos” (Bears), Americans living in Alta Mexico, in California (now you know the reason the California state flag has a grizzly on it). He hired one of my favorite all time mountain men, Joseph Walker, Walker worked with him for a few days, surmised he was an idiot and referred him to another mountain man, Kitt Carson. Carson was also not one of my favorites, I’ll discuss him later, but it was Carson and indigenous guides that really were the pathfinders. On an added note: as a Hopi Indian how would you feel about your indigenous ancestors being named after a blow hard, cocky white man?

Ok, where were we? After the petroglyphs, you’ll pass the remains of orchards (sugary fruits for those long, hot days alongside your future virginy wives) left behind by the Latter Day Saint’s pioneers (they called their community Fruita). It will take you about 45 minutes to get thru the park (don’t speed, the rangers love giving tickets out to tourists from Florida). You’ve already had a full day of sites but you’re still only half way thru. Eventually, you will get to Cainesville, you’ll know it because it is the only place with civilization of any sort. If you have time and you like bread and cheese, these hippies make good stuff. The next town will be Hanksville. You might want to have a stop here for future real estate development. Everyone dreams of living in Hanksville, its practically lake front propery (Lake Powell is about 1.5 down the road to the east). Couple stores here to get snacks or lunch to take (but I’d have gotten it back at the Torrey gas station subway or coffee house). Once you leave Hanksville, there is nothing for about 80 miles…and I mean nothing. You’ll turn north onto the 24 in the middle of Hanksville. Your next stop will be Goblin Valley State Park and it will be about 45 minutes from the turn. Goblin Valley is one of my favorites. Again, it used to be little known but Southern Utah has been ‘found’. Still, I doubt there will be too many people there. There is an overlook down into the ‘valley’ with shaded picnic tables and bathrooms. This is where you should have your lunch. After lunch head down for a wander amongst the goblins. They are formed by a process called differential erosion. The layers of sandstone, siltstone, and shale differ in their hardness and some are easier to breakdown than others: differential erosion. There will be a test at the end of all this. Seriously though, the places you are travelling in are a geologist’s dreamland. Understanding the science makes it even more interesting to observe. These jackarses simply didn’t and will never get it. You can’t fix stupid.

Favor to Vern: If you see anyone flying a drone, please throw rocks at the drone and the person flying it. I hate drones.

Leaving Goblin Valley, you are back on the road heading north for about 45 minutes. You’ll eventually run into the I70 and head east. Hit that gas pedal because you’ve still got an hour and a half before you will be in Moab. You are kind of back in civilization (north of the I70 here has some way off grid roads into a nowhere land called the San Rafael Swell, I once rappelled down into a slot canyon in ‘the Swell’ with an inner tube and floated 2 days to get out…you can’t fix stupid ;). Green River, the watermelon capital of Utah (you gotta be known for something) will be a substantial town where you will cross the Green River. The Green starts way up in Wyoming and is the largest river to flow into the Colorado. Actually, everything on the Colorado Plateau eventually flows into the Colorado River-the lifeblood of the Southwest. It is only a little past Green River and you will leave the freeway (if you stayed on the I70, you’d eventually arrive in Baltimore, don’t miss the turn! I lived there once on a sailboat (met a girl in a bar)) and head south on the 191. Heading south, you’ll be seeing the La Sal Mountains (the salt mountains) in the distance and they should still have snow on them. Those mountains sit on the border of Utah and Colorado. You’re buddy in Telluride lives 2 hours east of those mountains (they are actually not part of the Rockies but are a younger uplift). Arches NP is on ahead and on your left. Canyonlands NP, Islands in the Sky, is ahead and on your right (a mesa). Finally, you’re in Moab. Depending on what you did and where you started from today, if you have time, you could head up to Dead Horse Point SP. If not today, you must go here eventually. Another one of my favorites.

Dinner: Moab Brewery (gets busy); Zachs Pizza;

The next few days can be packed with a multitude of options. So, rather than planning out options on how to do the days, I’m going to write down the options. Once you choose what you want to do, I will walk you thru how to manage your time. Time management here is muy importante.

Day 6, Wed, 16^th, Moab/Arches/Canyonlands

To reiterate, there is a lot to do here. You can’t do it all and you don’t want to be too busy. We can use the morning you leave to Moab to do things as well. Really, you don’t need to leave for Monument Valley until around noon. Get an idea of what you want to do and I’ll build the days out for you.

Arches NP

The bad news for me and the commercial trips I run here will be the necessary ‘timed entry’ reservations I need to book. For you, no worries because they don’t start until April. That said, this park gets super busy. I would plan to get in early. Sunset at Delicate Arch is what everyone does and it is awesome but it can also be awesome in the morning because less people are there and your time management can get all out of whack if you do sunset at the arch (means you will not be back in Moab until 9 pm).

Delicate Arch: The trail itself is 3 miles RT with 500 foot elevation gain. It is pretty straight forward to follow because it is well worn by the thousands of people hiking it every day. If you decide to do it at sunset, I will give you the best time to arrive at the trailhead. From Moab to the trailhead it takes about 35-40 minutes. Hike to the arch is about an hour and the return is about 45 minutes.

Double O Arch: This is my favorite trail in the park but you have to do it at sunrise to really appreciate it. It is 5 miles RT with very little elevation gain. It will take you to Landscape Arch and some smaller arches with the grand finale being Double O Arch. The trail follows a well worn path and eventually you must follow cairns (stacked rocks) to Double O Arch. Only do this trail if you can leave before sunset.

Windows Section: Lots of short trails to a multitude of arches in the ‘Windows’ area. This is a great area to explore in the late morning after you have done Delicate Arch or Double O Arch.

Canyonlands NP

Canyonlands is actually 3 areas: Islands in the Sky, the Maze, and the Needles. You will only be exploring the Islands in the Sky area. From Moab to Dead Horse Point/Islands In the Sky it is about 45 minutes each way so this needs to be figured into your time management. You could do it the day you arrive from the Escalante/Bryce area, the Wednesday afternoon, or even Thursday morning before you leave for Monument Valley (2 ¾ hours Moab to MV). There is no need to arrive at Monument Valley earlier than about 4 pm.

Mesa Arch: This is a short trail to a super cool arch that sits on the side of a cliff. You can do the trail and lookout in about 45 minutes total.

Schaeffer Trail: If you decide to rent a jeep, this is the old road you can take to get up to the Islands In the Sky and Dead Horse Point area. You really only need the 4 wheel drive a couple times on this road and it is not technical. Super cool road that follows the contours of the Colorado River. Moab to Canyonlands on this road is about 2 ½ hours.

Dead Horse Point: This is a Utah SP that really should have been part of Canyonlands. It is a spectacular area that looks down into the maze of the Colorado River below. It should not be missed. I have a way of doing this park that helps avoid the crowds. I’ll walk you thru it later.

Corona Arch: One of my favorite arches that isn’t known as well by the tourist crowd. It is 3 miles RT (1.5 hours) and about 25 minutes from Moab on Potash Road. Depending on when you do it, you might have it all to yourself.

Optional Activities:

Canyoneering/Rappelling Morning Glory Arch-pretty cool activity

Jeep Rental

Razor or Hummer Tours

Mountain Biking-The trails here are pretty much Intermediate or above. I’m not sure if that is your kind of spicy sauce.

Moab Stuff: Moab has really blown up the last decade. When I was a young sprout, dirtbagging my way across the US I’d come here to rock climb, explore, and just lose myself in the desert. One can still do that but it tain’t like it used to be. It is a busy, busy place.

History: Moab is a strange mixture of outdoor enthusiasts, crazy, “pry my gun from my cold dead hands’ Conservatives, and white trash meth-heads. Go shopping at the local City Market for a true Moab cultural experience. Moab gets its name from, possibly, those industrious zealots Los Mormones. Makes sense to me because the Moabites in the bible were insidious. Others claim the name comes from a Pauite word which means mosquito (and there are a lot of them April onward). Until Instagram blew the place up with ‘I gotta have that for a profile picture’ it was just a backwater that was known for uranium, oil, and natural gas mining. Moab and Arches NP were the setting for Edward Abbey’s book “Desert Solitaire”: a must read, go get it now! Abbey was the first ranger in Arches (50s) and once people read his book, those seeking desert solitude of their own started making their way to his little piece of paradise. It is surrounded by federal BLM land, which means it has very little protection and can pretty much be abused by off road vehicles: thus, it is a haven for those folk as well. For me, it is a love/hate relationship. So many places have been overrun by people on both sides of the social/political spectrum. I have watched it grow into the Disneyesque version of the outdoors it has become and that is painful. That said, I still love the place and it just takes a little smart planning and know how to move between the tourism lines.

Edward Abbey wisdom (like I said, get the book Desert Solitaire now):

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”

Bookstore: This is one of my favorite bookstores in the US: Back of Beyond Books

Shops: Honestly, they all sell the same stuff but if you are looking for knick knacks from the Southwest, Moab will have them—tshirts, etc…

Bakeries: Sweet Cravings Bakery and Bistro This place is great but busy. You can order online and pick it up there if you want. Nice option for to-go lunches and muffins, brownies, etc… Love Muffin Cafe Same as above but with a waaaaaay better name.

Stores: City Market-Go for the people watching alone. Great place to restock your cooler. Lots of options for self-catering lunches/dinners; Utah Liquor Store: Open 12-6pm, closed on Sundays (who drinks on Sundays anyway you sinner!); Moonflower Community Cooperative: for all your patchouli oil and woodland ranged chicken, that’s been fed locally sourced sheeps milk, soy, and hazelnuts.

Restaurants: Moab Brewery–OK food and OK beer in a pretty hip brewery. If you’re gonna buy a Moab tshirt, get one here…way cooler. Miguels Baja: Actually pretty good Mexican and right in the middle of town…walkable. Desert Bistro: This place is the bomb and should be open when you are there. You will need reservations. Really Good!!!!

Food Trucks: Food Truck Park

Day 7, Thur, 17th, Moab to Monument Valley Tribal Park, 150 miles/2.75 hrs

You will not be leaving Moab until around noon. This will give you the morning to relax or do something in and around Moab. Depending on what you do, hitting the food truck park on your way out is a good option for lunch. Another option is to self-cater and have a later lunch at Muley Point.

Up until now you will have been pretty busy. These next 3 days are meant to slow y’all down to super chill pace. Monument Valley has a few options to choose from but once you’re there, you really don’t need to go anywhere else. You have two nights in the GC and the drive from MV is not that long. Again, this will be the time in the trip to really relax and not be dictated by activity.

Option A: Moab to Muley Point to Monument Valley 180 miles/3.5 hrs

Directions to Muley Point: This used to be another ‘secret spot’ that has been found, but it doesn’t get too busy. You’ll be fine driving the truck y’all have rented for this road UNLESS it has rained in the past 2 or 3 days. The road is dirt/gravel but rain in the SWest equals gunk. If it hasn’t rained, this is quite the view of the San Juan River and Monument Valley in the distance (good day to play Eagles songs, specifically “Take It Easy”, as Windsor, Az is not that far from what you will be looking at).

Leave Moab, and head south on the 191 for about an hour. Monticello has a Subway, if you wanted to do that for an easy self-cater lunch. This section of road should look familiar to y’all if you remember any scenes from Thelma and Louise (Dead Horse Point is also where they drove the car off the cliff). On the way to Monticello you’ll see the Monti La-Sal Mountains southwest of you (straight ahead and to the right). Lots of controversy in these mountains because of Bears Ears National Monument. Führer Trump was the first president to make a National Monument smaller and this is where he started. Luckily, Biden came in and restored its NMonument protection and boundaries. Those mountains, my opinion, are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever hiked in. Hopefully, the protection remains. Just passed Monticello is Blanding, lots of polygamists J You’ll be turning west here, so keep your eyes out for the turn off. It is easy to miss. Beautiful country. You’ll drive a little more than 20 miles and turn south again. If you were to go straight, you’d eventually run into Lake Powell where there is a car ferry that you could take across to roads that would lead you back to either Boulder or the dreamy town of Hanksville. You have only one chance for a bathroom between Blanding and Muley Point and that’s only if it is open. There is a ranger station, about 10 miles down past the 261 turnoff. The bathrooms are open normally, even if the station is closed. Eventually, you’ll come to the end of the plateau and there will be a sign that says “Muley Point” unless someone has stolen it or shot it full of holes. This will be a right turn and the road will not be paved. If you miss the turn (it is the only road that looks like a road in the past 20 miles), you’ll know because you’ll come to a gravel stretch called the Moki Dugway and it is a windy, windy, windy, downhill. Moki is ‘white man’ word for ‘Anasazi’, which is a Navajo word for ‘Ancient Enemy’ (language is fun), which the current proper anthropological term is ‘Ancestral Puebloan’…think indigenous people living in cliff dwellings. Remember, if it rained, do not go out to Muley Point. It is about 5 miles to a really good lookout. Further out is another lookout, but there is no need to go further than 5 miles. GREAT SPOT FOR LUNCH AND A BEER/WINE/WHISKY! I accidentally found this spot in 1995 looking for a place to sleep in my Volkswagen bus, in the dark. Below you is the ‘entrenched meander’ of the San Juan River called the Goosenecks. An entrenched meander is a geographic tell in that the meander means the ocean was once nearby (think about the rivers that you know and how they meander close to the ocean because they have little to no elevation change). So, there was once an ocean close by and eventually the river and all the land was uplifted in elevation and the river downcut thru the rock, which ‘entrenched’ the river (the Colorado in the Grand Canyon is similar). Now, you know more about the local geology than 99% of the locals. Take your time out here, there is no real need to get to M Valley early unless you are very late in the day and you’ll miss sunset. Eventually, head back down the dirt road and to the highway and then down, down, down the Moki Dugway. Below the dugway is an area on the Navajo Reservation called The Valley of the Gods…pretty cool setup before Monument Valley. Once your down, you’ll eventually make your way to the town of Mexican Hat…look around before arriving in Mexican Hat and see if you can figure out how it got its name. Not much here, with the exception of a gas station. After Mexican Hat, you’ll cross over the San Juan river on a pretty cool bridge. Once across, you are officially on the Navajo Reservation. Your next stop will be the Forrest Gump stop.

Forest Gump Stop: It is around MP 13 methinks. You should go up a small hill and then drop over; laid out in front of you will be a straight downhill with MV in the distance. Probably be a few Navajos selling their wares here. I like to park on the left hand side of the road, there is a big pull-out; I also like to go past all the others taking photos, so they are not in my photo. Best shot is in the middle of the road with a person for perspective. Don’t get runneded over please.

After taking your Forest Gump picture, its only about 20 minutes to the Visitor Center in Monument Valley. The Navajo Nation sits on the border of Arizona and Utah, so you will be crossing it a few times entering and exiting the Tribal Park. Remember that the Navajo Nation follows DSavings Time (same as Utah time) but Arizona doesn’t. Your phones will probably go back and forth and if you have any reservations with the Navajo be sure you ask which time they are using (sometimes they even get confused). You’ll eventually come to a 4 way intersection a few miles before the park; right will take you into the community of Monument Valley and there is a grocery store and gas station; straight ahead will be the direction you leave tomorrow toward the Grand Canyon; a left turn will take you up to the edge of the Valley, the visitor center, and your cabin on the rim. Also, there is an area just to the left of the intersection where the Navajo sell jewellery and their art. This is a good place to shop for silver and/or turquoise jewelry and you can barter if you want. Fun, cheaper things to buy are juniper berry bracelets which are spiritually meant to keep the baddies (spirits and skinwalkers out of your dreams.)

You’ll check in to your cabins at the View Hotel (sometimes they have you check in down by the campground but go here first). Also at the view is a restaurant where you can eat dinner and breakfast. It is a pretty decent restaurant but the view is the real cost of service. That said, your view from your cabin is as good or better. When I started coming to MV none of these buildings were here and you could camp on the rim for $5. Hard to beat unzipping your tent for an epic sunrise….sadly, those days are gone. All things change.

I would take the afternoon to relax. You’ve been going pretty hard on this trip. Your cabin is a good place to enjoy some appetizers and a few sundowners but remember the reservation is ‘dry’. Keep your drinks out of sight. If you really want some activity, there is a hike you can do on your own. I’ve linked and described it below.

Wildcat Trail: This trailhead starts at the campground (where you checked in for your cabins). There should be a trailhead sign and it is quite obvious. The trail goes down into the valley a little bit and around one of the Mittens (the West/Right Mitten) that you can see. It will be a bit sandy in some sections. Keep an eye out for rattle snakes…they are not super common on the trail, but off trail I have seen them. The above link has a pretty good detailed description of the trail.

Navajo Nation: I’ve spend a lot of time with the Navajo over the years. They are super friendly people with a very interesting history. They are part of the Athabascan language group and call themselves Dine which is Athabascan for “The People” (some believe the word Navajo was a bastardization of a Spanish word that means ‘thief”, they prefer Dine). To you that means they are related to the Apache (think any John Wayne movie), Chiricahua (think Geronimo), and the Inuit’s of the North (think Eskimos). They migrated to this region probably around the 12^th or 13^th Century. Their traditional home is a Hogan and is pretty much a dirt igloo (you will see them all over the reservation and there is one just below the VC parking lot that you can go into). The Hogan is made with 8 cedar beams, and the doorway equals 9 which is representative of 9 months of pregnancy. Culturally, they are a matriarchal society (that means the women are in charge of the important stuff and children are given their clan identification from their mother’s lineage) and things have changed very little. They are the largest indigenous group in North America with a total number of about 300, 000 tribal members. Take a look at a map…hopefully you have one…and look at the total size of the reservation, it’s pretty big. You want to think of it as a nation within a nation. They are overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs officially but they do not have to follow most State law/rules/tax. They have a representative district for whatever state they are part of (the Nation is in Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona) but they also have their own delegates in Congress (they do not have an official vote but can be part of committees). Land is communal and the tribal government allocates whether you can build or not in certain areas. When you are driving on the reservation and you see a cluster of homes in the distance, usually that is one large family unit and has occupied that area for a very long time.

Historically, they, as most indigenous groups in N America, fought a brutal war against the USA and Kit Carson in the 1860s. Carson is no hero in my eyes…he was a very bad man and you will find few Navajos that will disagree with me there. If you want to learn about Native American history from a true historical perspective (and not from the victors), read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. One interesting caveat about the Navajo is that they were able to return to their spiritual lands unlike most native tribes in the Americas that were given the worst land. General Sherman (from Civil War fame) let them return to the 4 Corners region as long as they promised never to fight the US again. This was obviously because the region seemingly had little value.

Another interesting part of Navajo history and the Navajo Nation in general, is the fact that the Hopi Nation is in the middle and surrounded by the Navajo Nation (again, look on a map). The Hopi are descendants of the Pueblo Indians. The Pueblo are descendants of the cliff dwelling Indians that have lived in the Southwest probably for thousands of years, much longer than the Navajo. The Navajo and the Hopi have never gotten along and still bicker over land disputes within their reservations.

Day 8, Friday the 18^th, MV Tribal Park to Grand Canyon, 190 miles, 3.5 to 4.5 hrs

Option A MV morning: First things first, get up and watch the sunrise. That cabin you are in will look directly toward the sun rising up and over the Mittens and Merrick Butte. It is one of my favorite sun rise spots on the planet. After, go back to bed if you want. If not, you can head up to have breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast you can self-drive the short loop down in the valley without a guide. You could also switch that around and drive the loop first and then come up and have a late breakfast. Either way, it is worth going down into the valley.

Option B MV morning: : First things first, get up and watch the sunrise. That cabin you are in will look directly toward the sun rising up and over the Mittens and Merrick Butte. It is one of my favorite sun rise spots on the planet. The day you arrive, set up a jeep tour with one of the Navajos. The Navajo can travel in some places that non-Navajos are restricted from. This is also a good way to interact with the locals, which I am always a fan of. If you go in a jeep though, it will probably be a little chilly and windy, so dress appropriately. They should stop at some of the tables where Navajo ladies will be selling their goods…bargain, they are fine with it. Some guides are good and some guides are not so good. Some will play the flute, some will sing, some will play the drums, and some will tell really bad jokes. It is kind of luck of the draw. Whatever you choose, watch sunrise from your cabin…it does not get better than that.

The drive from MV to the GC is about 3 hours. Depending on what time you left, a nice stop on the way is Navajo National Monument (it’s about 30 minutes RT off the main highway after Kayenta). I use it as a lunch stop. You will pass thru Kayenta on your way (about 45 minutes west of MV) where you can pick up lunch stuff at the Basha’s grocery store if you so choose. Navajo NM has a small museum and a short walk out to look at some cliff dwellings.

Once you go west of Kayenta things are pretty sparse in this section of the Nation. Just before the turnoff for NNMonument, you pass an area called Black Mesa which has some controversy in both the Hopi and the Navajo Nation. The mesa has one of the largest coal seams in North America. For many years both nations leveraged their natural resource health by mining for this coal and sending it to the massive coal burning plants that were once found on the reservation. The coal provided jobs and income for the people but also contributed to the loss of a large portion of the ground water (one massive aquifer) throughout the 4 Corners region. Here is a good article from the height of the controversy in the early 2000s. The last coal burning plant didn’t shut down until 2 years ago. The Sierra Club actually sued (and won the case) the corporation and NNation over diminishing air clarity in the Grand Canyon. It was the first successful lawsuit regarding air clarity (meaning how well you can see).

Tuba City will be your fist semblance of civilization after Black Mesa. There are gas stations and a few shops here if you need them. If you wait though, further down the road, after driving through the Painted Desert, you will arrive in Cameron. Cameron is a giant tourist stop that sells all things Native American (whether authentic or ‘made in China’), but be sure and read the label or ask someone what is what if buying anything here. This is a great stretch your legs spot with good bathrooms, a small grocery store, gas station, and a restaurant. Once you leave here, it will only be about 30 minutes before you officially enter Grand Canyon NP. You want to come in from the east side. After leaving Cameron you will come to a roundabout and make sure you take the first right that heads east into the Canyon. A great place to stop used to be Little Colorado River Gorge. It’s about 20 minutes from Cameron and is a tributary that runs into the Colorado River/Grand Canyon. This is on Navajo land and it ‘was’ a free stop where you could shop for authentic Navajo jewellery and pottery. They still sell their wares here but the Navajos have gotten greedy and are now charging $5 p/person to enter. It is worth it if you want to do some shopping though.

It’s not long after you leave/pass the Little Colorado River Gorge and you will start going uphill and cross the official park border. Not long after the park border sign you will come to the pay booth. Make sure you get both the park newspaper and the glossy map. The newspaper will have important trail and Grand Canyon village information (restaurants, trailheads, closing times, etc..). Just past the toll booth you will come to Desert View. Definitely stop here and get out for your first official view of the GC. There are bathrooms and a small grocery store/restaurant but you are really stopping to go down to the Watchtower for you first view. Park and walk down the paved trail (lots of signs) to the tower. This is one of the few places you can see the river well. Soak it up.

Geology Lesson: To really understand the beauty of the GC you need to understand the basics of the geology. First, the Earth is give or take 4.6 billion years old. The rock layer, Vishnu Schist, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon is a little less than 2 billion years old. So, you are looking at a little less than half of the geologic history of the planet when you’re looking down into the GC. The top layer, Kaibab Limestone, that you are standing on at the rim is about 200 million years old. That is also the age of the bottom layer in Zion. And if you remember right, the layer at Bryce is around 40-60 million years old; thus, the Escalante Grand Staircase. Think of it as a staircase with the rock in Bryce being the top of the staircase and the rock at the bottom of the GC as the bottom of the staircase. These rock layers were all uplifted 40-80 million years ago during the Laramide Oregeny which also built those famous mountains in Colorado called the Rockies (also, orogeny is a fancy word for lifted up/mountain building).

Now, the top on the south rim is about 7000 feet high, and the top on the north rim (looking out to the other side) is about 8000 feet high. Down at the bottom, it is about 2000 feet. 6 of the 7 climactic zones are within the GC: sub-arctic on the top and Sonoran desert on the bottom. That is pretty darned cool when you think about it. Few places in the world are representative of such climate variations.

The Colorado River: This is the lifeblood not only of the Grand Canyon but of the Southwest. It starts way up high in the Rocky Mountains and finishes (well, at one time it finished but no longer because of dams and irrigation, it actually never reaches the Sea of Cortez any longer) in Mexico, in the Gulf of California. It is over 1400 miles long, that of which is 277 miles within the Grand Canyon. Within the GC it is what geologists call an entrenched meander. To the layman, that usually means the river was at one time near the ocean where it meandered and then the whole area was uplifted (the Colorado Plateau was/is this uplift and you have travelled on it, pretty much from Saint George to just around Flagstaff) and it eventually down cut into the geologic landscape creating….the Grand Canyon!!! Whoop whoop for geology!!! You are now smarter than 99% of the people that come and leave the GC J

Once you leave Desert View, it is about 45 minutes to the Grand Canyon Village, where you are staying. You want to make a few more stops though. Your next stop will be Grandview Point. It’s gonna be busy there but just do a couple circles in the parking lot or park on the side of the road at the bottom of the lollipop turnoff to get there. This is really great view of the GC with a much different perspective than Desert View. Spend at least 15 minutes here sucking it in. After Grandview, you are going to make a stop at one of my secret spots. As long as there is not a wedding there today, you should have it mostly to yourself. The park service does not tell or write about this spot to tourists unless they ask. Please keep it to yourself and if you post a photo from there do not say where it is: Shoshone Point. Directions are in the link.

After Shosone Point, I’d go check into your hotel. On the way, maybe stop in at the El Tovar and try and make reservations for dinner. You can drop someone off on the circle entryway and send them in if you’d like to check. Otherwise you can just eat at one of the many restaurants/cafeterias. For dinner tomorrow, I like to do a sunset dinner with pizza. That’s up to y’all though.

Your hotel is within walking distance of the rim trail. The sunset will probably be too far south to see it go over canyon, but the lighting on the north side will be pretty darned spectacular. Even better if you have a sundowner with you. You can drink alcohol outside of a restaurant/bar pretty much anywhere in a national park unless it is posted not to.

Day 9, Grand Canyon NP

Option A) Have a lie in and then go have breakfast at the El Tovar Hotel. After breakfast, you have a couple of options for trails. Trails are listed below. Mix and match to your delight.

Option B) Get your arses out of bed and go watch the sunrise near Mather Point. I like to park on the side of the road, just west of Mather Point. There are boulders you will see to stop people from parking in certain areas. Go past the boulders and park, walk thru the trees and to the rim and turn right (canyon will be on your left). Pick out the best spot for sunrise. If you want to just park at Mather Point, you’ll need to walk all the way out to the lookout and then head west (canyon will be on your right). It will take a while to get away from all the people. Do it though, or you will be listening to tourist jibber jabber versus appreciating the quiet solitude of the sunrise. After, go park or return to Mather Point parking lot and jump on the bus to Kaibab Trailhead. You’ll beat the crowds if you do this right after sunrise. Hike down to Ooh Ah Point with some breakfast snacks and then head back up. Return on the bus to Mather and head to El Tovar for a late breakfast or brunch. After this you can take the bus out toward Hermit’s Rest Trailhead and hit some viewpoints and/or walk west to east on the rim trail (canyon will be on your left) until you are tired and then jump on the bus back to your hotel to chill.

Afternoon: Whatever you do, don’t do too much. You’ve been going pretty hard the last 9 days. Find some chill out time in the day somewhere. I like to sit next to the fire in the El Tovar with a drink or if it is warm enough sit out on the porch of the El Tovar in one of the rocking chairs. Lots of places to wander around on foot eating, drinking or shopping. You can also rent bikes and ride them from the Visitor Center at Mather Point.

Save tonight for sunset at Yavapai Point. It will be pretty busy out there because it is the best place to see the sunset. I like to order pizza and take it with champagne, wine, or beer (or all of the above) out to the rim with me when I have group trips. You can get there a lil early (at least 30 minutes before sunset, the light is best then), even earlier if you want to guaranteed a parking spot if you drive. Once at Yavapai, you want to walk west (canyon on your right) down the rim trail and try to find a spot with the least amount of people. If you decide to forego this option, have dinner at the El Tovar or the Bright Angel Lodge.

Bonus Option: Take a helicopter flight over the GC. I should still have a company rate with Papillion. Haven’t been since Coved but if you are thinking of doing this give me a heads up and I will call them. The best weather window to do this is usually in the morning when the warmer air has not lifted up creating wind, usually in the afternoon. Take a look at the weather a few days before you are going, if you decide to go. Windy is a no go or a seriously no bueno ride.

Trails

Kaibab Trail: This is the best bang for your buck. To get out to the trailhead you will need to take the bus from Mather VC. The newspaper you picked up on arrival will have the bus routes in them, so make sure you keep it. The bus out will be about 20 minutes to Kaibab Trailhead. The water should be on by March, but just in case make sure you have water with you before heading out on the bus. There are bathrooms as well. This trail is steeper than other trails but it will bring you to Ooh Ah Point in about 45 minutes. You’ll know you are at Ooh Ah Point because there is a sign (unless someone stole it…again) and it will be the most spectacular view so far on the trail. It gives you about a 300 degree view. Pretty awesome. Just remember, going up is always harder than coming down and you are at 7000 feet. By this time, you should be somewhat acclimatized to the elevation but it will seem much harder than the 1 mile/500 feet back up. Probably take about 45 minutes to an hour back up. Here is a description link.

Rim Trail: The Rim Trail runs parallel to the south rim from Kaibab TH all the way out to Hermits Rest. It is pretty much always flat. Some sections are better than others but there are spectacular views everywhere. If you want to see the river from this area of the rim, you’ll need to go all the way out to at least Hopi Point. This is also the best area for the sunset. It is better than Yavapai, with less people, but you’ll need to use the bus to get out there. The attached link has distances on some sections. Hopi Point back to the village is about 2.4 miles to give you an estimate.

Bright Angel Trail: This is the busiest trail. I only suggest it to people that are willing to hike all the way to Plateau Point, which is a spectacular view down onto the river from around 3000 feet. That said, the hike is an arse kicker and should only be attempted by those that are fit and/or willing to suffer on the way backup. I’ve done it many times and March is a great season to do it because the weather is perfect. In the summer, it can be 110 degrees coming back up, up, up, up, up. It is 12 miles long and about 4000 feet in elevation loss/gain. If anyone is going to do it, I suggest they start just before sunrise. On average, my clients finish it in between 6-9 hrs RT.

If you have not done the Kaibab Trail, definitely head down the BA Trail a little ways though. It is pretty much a freeway most of the way down…wide and not very steep. Just remember that going down is easy, you have to come back up. The views are not as good as the Kaibab because it is in a side canyon until you get all the way down to Plateau Point. Still, it does give you the opportunity to go down into the canyon.

Day 10, GC to Sedona/Jerome, 150 miles, 2.5-3 hrs

DEFINITELY SLEEP IN!!! If you haven’t eaten at the El Tovar, do it today and then head south. It is about a 1 hr drive to Flagstaff. When you get about 10 minutes south of Tusayan you will see the San Francisco Mountains in the distance. Humphreys is the tallest of them all and is the tallest mountain in Arizona at about 12,500 feetish. They get their names from the Spanish (remember, this was part of Spain and Mexico before we took it by saying “pretty please can we have it”) missionaries in remembrance of Saint Francis. If I was to guess, that would have been in the 1600s, way before the San Francisco mission came into existence in Yerba Buena (remember y’all drinking to the sunset and Roxie and Heidi doing people pushups when we arrived in SF?).

If you are making decent time take the 180 toward Flagstaff. It will go right thru the mountains and forest and come into the northsided of Flagstaff. If you’re not making good time, just keep going straight down to the 40 and then east to the Sedona exit. Flagstaff is a pretty cool town but really you should be spending your time in Sedona and Jerome…those are the carrots at the end. If you need to stock up on any goodies, there is a Market of Choice in Flagstaff that has quality stuff and there is a liquor store nearby.

Note: Do not speed after leaving Tusayan. The police have loads of speed traps up and down the highway.

Oak Creek Canyon: Make sure you take the exit for Oak Creek Canyon. It will be signed pretty much everywhere and your google Maps should take you there as well. Your first stop on 89A will be Oak Creek Vista. This is a huge parking area at the top of the canyon with a great lookout down into the canyon. There are bathrooms and depending on Covid issues there should be a Native American Market you can shop at. It is only about 15 miles to Sedona from here, but it is slow going because the road is windy.

I’m gonna take a guess that the creek might be getting fairly high but it is all dependent upon how warm it is (snow melt). I nice place to stop and take a short stroll is at the West Fork of Oak Creek Trail parking area. If it is full, you can try the Call of the Canyon day use area. It will probably be getting close to lunch and even if it isn’t stop at Indian Gardens. It is gonna be busy because it is Sunday and Sedona is the playground for the Phoenix/Flagstaff area. If you have lunch stuff that you brought, another good spot would be the Call of the Canyon day use area. It has picnic tables and it’s a great setting (but still gonna be busy).

Once you’re in Sedona, you can go for a meander and hit some of the shops. Not really my scene (and it will be crazy as it is Sunday) but the best place to wander is down in Tlaquequape.

The hiking trails will be full but if you can find a parking spot, maybe hit up either Fay’s Trail which is pretty chill, within a canyon and only about 2 miles RT. An uphill trail that will give you a birds eye view of Sedona is Brin’s Mesa. It is about 400 feet up and about 3 miles RT give or take. You will want to go past the Jordan Road trailhead to the “alternate parking” on this map. There is a trailmap at the trailhead with a bathroom. If you do this, just follow the obvious trail (and people) uphill going counterclockwise to Brin’s Mesa and then turnaround and head back down. This side of the trail is way less busy than the Soldier Pass/Secret Pools trail on the left side of the loop.

A final and way chilled (especially if you head to the winery afterward) would be to just do one of the scenic Sedona loops. There are signs everywhere in town to make your way to them but here is a link that might help.

Vern’s Tip: If you have time after lunch, before heading up to Jerome this place is in Sedona’s Verde Valley wine region. Yep, they grow grapes here. Pretty cool little place for a glass of wine and a snack. Call them to make sure they are not too busy. If they are too busy, there are a couple of other places you can get a glass from.

If you want to hang out with some locals head to the Oak Creek Brewery. The one in central Sedona will be full of tourists but this one is the original where locals have a beer on the patio.

My choice: Y’all have been going pretty hard the whole trip. If it was me, I’d take my time going down Oak Creek Canyon and stop for an early lunch at one of the lookouts or alongside the creek if you do a hike. After that, I’d make a super quick stop in Sedona to shop and then head out to do the scenic loop and then a vineyard before heading up to Jerome. Jerome is a pretty cool, chill place to just relax and wander around (it is tiny). Make sure you make a reservation for dinner (probably at your hotel). Also, make sure you catch the sunset from one of the lookouts in Jerome. I’ve never stayed the night there but sunset should be pretty sweet.

Day 11 Jerome to Las Vegas, NV, 275 miles, 4.75 hrs

Definitely have breakfast at the hotel. They said you shouldn’t need to make reservations (it is also Monday, so should be chill). After breakfast, hit the road because you have a long drive. It is a pretty drive through part of the Coconino National Forest but after you leave that, you will be driving through a pretty unimpressive part of the Mojave Desert. You only really need to make a couple of stops to break the trip up.

Route 66: Seligman, just off of the freeway is a HUGE Route 66 stop for many people. The town itself has been pretty dead, since route 66 stopped being the major thoroughfare to cross the country (this was all because of Eisenhower’s push to pass the Federal Aid Highway Act in the 50s which was the era of E/W N/S interstates being built). I’m not sure if it will be open, but Snow Cap Ice Cream should be your main stop in Seligman. You can’t miss it as it will practically jump out at you when you come into town from the east side. If it is open, stop and go in and buy anything just for the experience (a small ice cream) and definitely use the “bathroom”. If it is not open, park near it and just walk a few blocks into town and then call it as checked off your list.

Hoover Dam Bridge: Before Sept 11^th the main highway actually crossed the Hoover Dam (it was pretty cool), but that fated day changed a lot of things. I was actually with a group on Sept 11^th at Hoover Dam. There were tanks, guys with bazookas, and F18s flying all over the place…..crazy! Now, to see it you must: 1) book a tour 2) park near the Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge and walk out onto the bridge with the gazillion other tourists to snap your Hoover Dam picture. I give it a 3/10 but I do think it is a nice breakup of the drive (and there are really nice bathrooms).

Las Vegas: Not sure what you guys booked for your final hotel but if you are staying at the Bellagio, good on ya! I love that hotel. I am no lover of Vegas so I will only write a few notes for you here.

Things to See:

Bellagio Water Show: I never tire of this free show. They change the times frequently but I believe it is every 45 minutes now. If you are staying at the Bellagio, there is a bar next to the show (can’t remember the name), and this is a great vantage point. Outside along the edge is pretty good as well. Try and see at least 2 different music versions, as they are very different.

Bellagio Flower Walk: They used to before Covid do a freakin spectacular flower theme just past the Bellagio entryway. It is totally worth seeing if they still do it.

Fremont Street: This is a commitment to drive after dark because it is down in ‘old Las Vegas’ on the ‘now’ pedestrian street. Night time is a must because they have a light show on the 5 block roof. It is pretty cool. Up to you whether you want to do the drive though.

Vegas Sign: There are a couple but the famous one is on the south side past the Mandalay Bay Hotel. It is always busy and you’ll have to wait for your Vegas sign photo. When I started leading group trips back in 2000, I used to drive my van over the curb and park right next to it. There was no parking area (and no line to wait for). Those were the days J

Venetian: If you haven’t been to Venice and you want to throw a lot of money at a gondolier, head to the Venetian. The canals are actually cool and the ‘sky’ inside actually looks like the sky outside.

Dinner: I go to one place solo all the time in Vegas: the Firefly. It is a Spanish Tapas place. I think a buffet is obligatory for many people but to be honest, I couldn’t help you pick one out from the other. They are all pretty expensive now (they used to be a great deal).

Stratosphere/New York New York rides: The NyNy roller coaster is actually pretty darned cool if you do it at night. The rides on the Stratosphere scare the bajaysus out of me everytime I do them. The problem is that it is a commitment to drive or Uber.

Vern’s Tip: If you choose to go walking, realize that what looks like a 10 minute walk in Vegas will probably take you 20 or 30. Distances are deceiving.

The End