4 National Parks In One Week

May 2023 presented a week long exciting National Park road trip.

Andrew and I flew into Las Vegas to visit Bryce Canyon, Zion, Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon in that order. It was a blast! Here is a little bit more on the trails we hiked in each park, other excursions we did outside the parks, and some photos from the trip.

Day 1- Vegas area

Our time spent in the Vegas area was fairly short this day. We saw the popular Seven Magic Mountains then drove to Panguitch, UT to spend the night.

Day 2- Bryce Canyon

We spent 1 and 1/4 days in Bryce. This is a park I would love to come back to in the future. I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did. Our intention was to hike through Wall Street side of the Navajo Loop, but when we got to the park that part of trail was closed because of trail conditions resulting from heavy rain. Instead we hiked Navajo Loop and Queens Garden Trail and I would definitely recommend this one. This trail isn't strenuous and provides amazing panoramic views of the canyon and the hoodoos. We also hiked the Mossy Cave Trail which is a little bit outside the main park area, and on this trail we got to see a nice waterfall and cave.

That evening we spent the night glamping in Wander Camp- Bryce Canyon, and had the best time. They have locations in multiple National Parks, and I hope to stay at their other locations as well since the overall experience was so fantastic.

Day 3- Bryce Canyon/Zion

The following morning we woke up early to watch the sunrise at Sunrise Point in the park, then started the drive to Zion after that. Zion is a park that you could spend multiple days in, so we had to make best with the time we had to explore it. One of the trails we were interested in hiking originally was the Narrows however it was closed due to major flash flooding. The first trail we decided to hike in Zion was the "Scout Lookout via West Rim." This trail provided amazing views because it had some serious elevation gain. I would say this one can be considered strenuous to most hikers due to the amount of elevation gain at the start, and the steep switch back heavy descent going back. However, don't let this scare you too much, we saw people of various ages hiking this one. It's also a great way to see Angel's Landing if you don't get a permit through the lottery system to hike it.

Day 4- Zion/Kanab area

In the early morning of this day, we hiked the Lower Emerald Pool Trail in Zion. This one was in the general vicinity of the first hike we did in Zion. Lower Emerald Pools is classified as an easier hike; however, the trails can get slick from the small waterfalls. We wanted to do an easier one this morning because we had plans to do bigger, slightly more strenuous hikes outside the park this day as well.

After this hike we left Zion and drove to the Kanab, UT area and visited the Sand Caves near the popular attraction Moqui Cave. *Disclaimer: if you are wanting to go into the caves and do the actual hike, Moqui Cave is not the correct location. We found that out during our trip after paying $14. Still neat to visit, but not what we thought it was.* At the Sand Caves I got to see my first real, authentic petroglyph on the side of the cave. The hike to the Sand Caves was a very slanted hike, and as mentioned in other hikers reviews requires "rock scrambling and sandstone shuffling." On our way out we saw multiple people turn around and leave because they did not feel comfortable tackling this hike. I recommend shoes (hiking boots) with good traction.

We once again after this one, hopped in our rental car and drove to a new hiking location near the Buckskin Gulch. We hiked to a slot canyon here via the Wire Pass Trail. We intended to also hike to The Wave, but didn't know that required a permit. Thankfully there were multiple slot canyons in the area to visit and they did not require any special type of permit.

Day 5- Horseshoe Bend/Petrified Forest

Andrew and I visited the very popular Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona. It was way more massive than I was expecting it to be. The area here was very crowded with people snapping their photos. Thankfully it was a very easy paved hike, so suitable for most.

After leaving the Bend we drove to our third National Park of the trip, Petrified Forest. This is a smaller NP, but one that has so much to see for it's size. We hiked the Crystal Forest Trail, visited the Blue Mesa, and went to see Newspaper Rock. Seeing the colors and crystals on the petrified wood was so cool. It's crazy to think that something like this happens in nature. Newspaper Rock was something that was also a highlight to see. The amount of Petroglyphs was insane! You have to use binoculars to see them but they are so fascinating. We were able to make out many of the glyphs, and then some left us guessing.

This night we camped at the Ashurst Lake Campground in Coconino National Forest.

Day 6- Grand Canyon

This day we packed up early and made the drive to the Grand Canyon. While visiting we were only able to visit the South Rim because the North Rim was closed to all visitors due to heavy amounts of snow melt and snow fall. We will have to go back in the future to see that side. Our big hike that we chose to do in this park was the South Kaibab Trail, which we took to the infamous "Ooh Aah Point," and then to Cedar Ridge. This hike was a bit strenuous going up. The first half of the hike is all downhill, while the second half is steeply uphill.

Once we finished our hike we drove into town to grab a quick bite to eat and visit the Lowell Observatory. This is the site where Pluto was discovered. We got to view the actual telescope that was used and hear more about the history of Pluto.

This night we camped in the Grand Canyon at the Mather Campground-Juniper Loop. The campground was so nice and very large. It did require a reservation and I am very glad we did so ahead of time because the entire campground was full when we stayed there (and there were close to 200 or more camp sites!). While going to set up our tent we saw elk and mule deer roaming around. The area was very peaceful.

Day 7-Grand Canyon/Vegas

We woke up early to see the sunrise at Mather Point and Verkamp Visitor Center in the Grand Canyon. The Verkamp Visitor Center provided the most open view for sunrise watching, but there are plenty of great sunrise points along the Grand Canyon rim. Afterwards we packed up our tent and drove back to Vegas. In Vegas we were a little boujee and stayed at the Palazzo Hotel, which was incredible. (For those who have never been or don't know, the hotel is themed and modeled to look and feel like Italy.) Our room was gorgeous and super fancy. We walked the strip to Nellie's Restaurant for dinner, which is owned by the father of the Jonas Brothers (of course I had to go there). Then we were so tuckered out from all our recent hikes and the travel itself we rested up before our early morning flight back home.

Our entire trip was incredible and one I will never forget. I feel like we made the most of our time in each park, but some were so big we will definitely have to go back to explore even more in the future. If you have any questions about recommendations feel free to reach out!