"Utah, rocks and canyons" Top 5 Page for this destination Utah by vtveen

Utah Travel Guide: 5,359 reviews and 13,887 photos

second part of our own ‘grand circle’

Utah - or better southern Utah - was the second part of our own ‘Grand Circle’: a 16 days road trip which started in Phoenix, went through Arizona and Utah and ended again in Phoenix. The more or less ‘official’ Grand Circle is a 1,400 mile circle encompassing the Four Corner states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah with the National Parks of Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands.
Beside these National Parks we also visited some State Parks and other monuments and destinations.

The Utah part of our ‘Grand Circle’ started in Monument Valley - just on the border of Arizona and Utah and we made a loop along Moab, Torrey, the Scenic Byway 12, Springdale, Kanab to Page, where we came back in Arizona.

The scenery and landscapes were just stunning and also varied with every day other highlights and landscapes. We highly recommend visiting also the ‘smaller’ and more unknown parks and sites. Sometimes they are even more scenic and at least you will see fewer tourists. Sometimes it was amazing just being together the two of us in one of these breathtaking landscapes.

We travelled the second half of June and the weather was excellent. The part of Utah we visited mostly lies on a rather high altitude and temperatures were not absolutely bearable (between 80° and 90°F).
Staying, eating and travelling (June 2008) was for us - with the strong Euro - rather cheap.
The Americans we met, were very helpful and friendly. We only disliked the mandatory ‘tip’ - for foreigners - on a couple of our restaurant bills.

We enjoyed the rocks and canyons of Utah very much and are looking forward to a next trip to the USA.
For tips/pictures of the Arizona part of our 'Grand Circle' please take a look at my Arizona page.

Pros and Cons

Pros:stunning scenery, friendly people, beautiful weather, cheap (for us)
Cons:I really don't know ...

Last visit to Utah: Jun 2008
Intro Updated Jun 22, 2009
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Comments (6)

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jwkeith Apr 24, 2011 at 6:35 AM

We are visiting the Southwest next month and our route is nearly identical to yours. I found your report to be most informative and better then most of the guide books I have read. I even picked up a few stops to add to our trip.
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Segolily Jan 11, 2010 at 8:21 PM

I don't think I'd seen this before. Some really nice commentary and tips on all the great stuff and some fun unknown stuff. Thanks for the information.
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BruceDunning Dec 2, 2009 at 10:30 AM

Now that I returned from my trip to Utah and Arizona, you may like to compare the sites to your wonderful pages and comments. I did much hiking and risky ventures around Kanab and Natural Bridges. My hiking was easier compared to your remote hikes.
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KiKitC Oct 19, 2009 at 3:15 AM

Fantastic tips. Heading out there again in Oct 2010. This time going to see Bryce as well as Moab. Thanks for the info.
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angiebabe Jun 28, 2009 at 1:23 PM

wow beautiful Jaap - got to get here myself one day!You really did have an excellent trip.
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mikelisaanna Apr 17, 2009 at 6:28 AM

We loved our two trips to Southern Utah. It's one of the most underrated parts of the US.