Next comes Utah and Wyoming

[boylanag]

Tomorrow, we leave Las Vegas for Southern Utah. We will to Hurricane to see Zion NP then to Moab, to see Arches and meet simonsrf, who are hosting there. Then on through Colorado to Casper, WY to visit my son. Our "recon trip" into the Southwest has been great. It has been tiring and seeming like we are in "vacation mode," but now we have a tentative plan for next time of where to go and what to see when we get there.

[exav8tr]

Jim, Try to make it over to Bryce Canyon, you will be amazed at the colors..........

[boylanag]

Phil, we will be in Hurricane for only one full day so it seems like we will have to choose between Bryce Canyon and Zion. Would you choose Bryce Canyon over Zion? - Jim

[ARJ]

We were just there (Willow Wind Rv in Hurricane) and went to Zion. Bryce was still experiencing snow and crappy roads. You should check Hwy 12 & 24 road conditions if you plan to go to Moab that way. I also called to get conditions at Cedar Break and was told we could hike in on snowshoes. Yeah right!

We had planned to go to Bryce, Escalante and Capitol Reef after Zion but the weather just didn't cooperate.

Lots to see around Moab-enjoy!

[boylanag]

Thanks, ARJ. Snowshoes are not in my vocabulary so maybe Zion will be where we go.

[lfw]

We left Hurricane yesterday and are now in the Valley of Fire State Park just north of Las Vegas..There are two other Monty's here.
Zion NP was real nice. Took the long walk at the end of the shuttle ride.
Well worth the walk...
lfw

[camper4]

We have been to both. We went back to Bryce for a second visit. The Red Caynon National park/forest is in the Bryce area too and has some real spectacular colors and shapes!

[Art-n-Marge]

I prefer Bryce because to me the canyon colors and shapes (hoodoos) are more spectacular on a larger scale. When we went to Bryce we spent most of our time on the canyon rims but never got the courage to hike down (because of the hike up). If we had more time I would have done it.

Zion is more that you are in the canyons looking up and there are a variety of looks but seems to me, on a smaller scale. Again, with more time I would have taken the hikes going up, because I much prefer to go down at the end of a rather than go up.

Bryce is probably more affected by weather if the canyon rims are at higher altitudes. In Zion the facilities and roads being in a lower altitude might help there. I have only been at the locations in mid Spring and in early Fall, not winter or summer.

They are both worth visiting! We drove through Red Canyon Nat. Park on our way to Bryce Canyon and while it was the smallest to see of the three it's probably because we were only passing through. But it was BEAUTIFUL!

[sgtpp214]

Jim, We are just finishing up a two week stay in Cedar City and spent two days in each, Zion and Bryce. Zion will have to be your choice as it would be a 3 hr drive from Hurricane to Bryce. In going to Zion get to the visitor's center before 10, 9:30 is better, as the lot is usually full by 10:30. The walk at the end of the shuttle to the Narrows is a must. Snow is no longer a problem in Bryce.

If you are not tied into a set schedule come to Cedar City. We are at County Aire RV park, but would recommend the KOA instead, only $2 more. Stay two days. You can do Bryce one day and Zion the other.

We spent two weeks last year in Moab. You will definitely enjoy Arches. Definitely take the hike to Delicate Arch.

Safe Travels.

[ARJ]

No snow in Bryce-Great! I guess we just went a week or so too early. Oh well, s___ happens.

[sreigle]

Jim, just my opinion, but for a single day trip I'd do Zion. My reasoning is that you can see much of Zion from your truck and the pullouts, plus the shuttle into the rest of the park. We also loved Bryce but spent a lot more time there. We did several of the hikes down, and back up. See our website for info about that. You can see quite a bit from your truck but you'd need more time to really get to see that park. It would still be a good drive through, though. Again, just my opinion.

Jim, when going from Hurricane to Moab, you're not planning on towing through Zion, are you? You can do it but you have to stop at the tunnel and pay to have someone stop traffic and take you through the tunnel. And, of course, I think they do that like once per hour, so you might have to wait awhile.

If you go up around to Utah highway 12, then east, you could maybe drop the trailer somewhere near Bryce and do a quick drive through that park. UT 12 is a beautiful drive. We towed across there in the reverse direction. If you have time, going that route, we dropped the trailer at the CG parking lot at Capitol Reef NP and did a drive through (no trailers allowed beyond a certain part). And we towed through and stopped at the pullouts at Natural Bridges National Monument. Just some ideas for your "spare time!"

Or, if you're going south and around to Moab, you could easily drive through Monument Valley (fabulous) and, if you need a place to stay overnight for free, consider Goosenecks State Park, just west of Mexican Hat, UT. Fabulous place. Several MOC'ers have stayed there. Here's Robbie and Alice's rig at Goosenecks SP. It's all boondocking, though, but wow.
http://www.montanaowners.com/attachments/photobucket/img_357275_0_0e4f9127c1e6b5a89b9e87906ee638a8.jpg

http://www.montanaowners.com/attachments/photobucket/img_357275_1_aefa0a8425f3f14fef3e1f5dc3a5ee95.jpg

Enjoy. You two certainly are seeing some gorgeous country.

Tell Robbie and Alice 'hi' for us.

[David and Jo-Anna]

All of what Steve said. (by the way, Zion is our favorite park).

[boylanag]

Thanks, all. We will go to Zion today and Bryce will be put on our "next time" list. Steve, we will not be towing through the tunnel. Once we leave, we will just got to Moab the quickest way we can, probably I-15 to 70 and east. Don't like to travel long. Those long travel days are behind us, we hope.

[boylanag]

We went to Zion today and said the same thing we say whenever leaving one of these kinds of attraction - "This is my favorite park!" We drove the roadway that was open to traffic and took several hours to make the 12 mile trek, including the one mile twisty, turny tunnel. It was built in 1930 so you know how narrow it is. I see why you recommended not to tow the Montana through it. Plenty of stops and over 300 photos later, we were ready to come home. The biggest challenge was to decide which of the over 300 pix to put in our blog. Thanks for all of your input.