Trip Summary:

Dates:    October 19th to 27th

Year: 2018

Transportation Used:   Bicycle, Car

Accommodation: Back of car (fold down seats)

Number of Photos Taken: 2931

Favorite Place: Jacob Hamblin Arch

Average Cost of a Full Meal: 3 – 5 Dollars (home made dehydrated meals)

Average Cost of a Night per Person: FREE!

The Complete Guide to South West Utah

Everything you need to know about places to see, things to do, where to stay.

I’ve always heard about this crazy place called Utah, where the weather is hot and dry, the dirt is red, and the landscapes stretch out in all directions and look as foreign as the surface of the moon. It’s filled with all sorts of adventures like hiking, canyoneering, mountain biking, rafting, and climbing. In fact, one of my first introductions to Utah was watching RedBull Rampage when I was a strapping young lad, where my mountain bike heroes were riding landscapes that had never been ridden before.

Ever since that time, Utah has been on my list of places to visit, and this past fall, I finally made it down there. I made the trip with my good friend Ryan, who I also visited Iceland with several years ago.

We left from Fernie in the evening after a long work week and drove through the night until 2:00 AM or 3:00 AM. We slept in the parking lot of an overnight truck stop before continuing on our way early the next morning. In total, we drove around 16 hours to get to Utah (you can add an extra few hours into there as well because I forgot my passport and had to drive back nearly all the way to Fernie to pick it up. Good one.)!

Our itinerary in Utah went like this:

Day 0 (we arrived at sunset after driving all day): Coral Pink Sand Dunes (sunset)

Day 1: Kanab, Toad Stools, Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass, Old Paria, Lake Powell

Day 2: Lake Powell (sunrise), Horseshoe Bend, Observation Point in Zion (sunset)

Day 3: Zion – Angels Landing and West Rim Trail

Day 4: Zion Narrows

Day 5: Bryce Canyon (sunrise), Escalante, Hole in the Rock Road

Day 6: Jacob Hamblin Arch, Devils Garden

Day 7: Devils Garden (sunrise), Goblin Valley

Day 8: Goblin Valley, San Rafael Swell

Day 9: Drive home

Things You Need to Know Before Heading to Utah:

There really isn’t much that you need to know about Utah before you head there. But I’ll try to mention a few things that might help you plan a trip:

• You can free camp in a lot of places in Utah. In fact, we didn’t pay for camping once, and spent a lot of nights in parking lots, designated free camping areas, and best of all, the middle of nowhere down back roads
• Whether you’re taking your own vehicle or renting one, it’s not a bad idea to have some clearance and 4WD. Lots of the awesome areas are down rough roads and in the middle of nowhere so it can be necessary at times.
• The craziest thing about the roads and landscapes in Utah is how affected by water and rain they can be. First off, you have to be very careful with flash floods in a lot of the slot canyons and access roads. With only a bit of rain, water can accumulate in canyons and create floods that can be very dangerous. These canyons usually only have limited entry and exit points. You also have to be aware that even if it’s not currently raining where you are, rain upstream of these canyons can cause a flash flood where you are.
• Rain can also cause roads to change drastically. In fact, one day a road can be completely passable with a low clearance 2WD vehicle. And with a bit of rain, the same road can quickly become so muddy and rutted that only a high clearance 4WD will be able to pass it. They will then stay this way until the road dries, or enough vehicles pass through to create a passable roadway, or a grader cleans up the road.
• BLM (Bureau of Land Management) offices are located in every town, and are your one stop shop for conditions and closures in the area. From flash flood risk levels, to road conditions, to weather reports, BLM offices are a great way to stay informed.
• If there are certain places that you want to visit in Utah, you should find out if a permit is required first. For example, the Subway in Zion, or the Wave in North Coyote Buttes, you will need a permit. There are usually online lotteries, or in person lotteries where you can apply for a permit. But there is no guarantee that you will actually get one. The good news is that if you don’t get a permit, there is so much to see in the area that you could spend a lifetime exploring places without ever needing to visit the permitted areas.

A Quick Video from the Trip:

Throughout the trip, I did a bit of filming with my DJI Mavic 2 Pro. There were so many areas that drones weren’t allowed that I wasn’t able to film a lot of really cool things, but this at least gives you a taste of the amazing landscapes of Utah.

Finding Hidden Gems in Utah:

Utah is a place that is full of off-the-beaten-path areas that don’t always make the “Top 10 Things to See in Utah” list. Either because there is so much to see in Utah that not everything can make those kinds of lists, or because some places don’t have one single, identifiable arch, or toad stool, or rock formation that has a name that is easy to describe, or because some of these places are slightly harder to get to, or simply because some places haven’t been discovered by the main tourist crowd yet.

That’s one of the joys with travelling Utah. There are so many places that feel like they are completely untouched and unexplored. Although tourism in the area seems to be on the rise, it still feels like Utah is the wild west and a frontier for discovering new and awesome spots.

One of the best ways to find these awesome places is Google Maps. If you’re going to an area, hop on Google Maps and just scroll around. You can see awesome geological formations, canyons, trails, roads, crazy colours, and everything else that you simply can’t see on a regular paper map. You can then mark a few areas to check out when you’re there. After a while, you get pretty good at recognizing things on Google Maps that might be an awesome discovery.

The other thing that you can do, is just grab a map and drive down random roads. The landscape in Utah is so vast and varying that you’re rarely disappointed just from the raw feeling of discovery. We used both paper maps from different BLM offices, as well as the app Maps.me on our iPads and phones which also worked really well.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes: (October 19)

The first stop in Utah, was a place called Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. After driving for what seemed like an eternity, we were eager for a chance to stretch our legs and get outside. It’s strange how sluggish and lethargic driving for a long period of time makes you feel.

We arrived at sunset, which ended up being an awesome time to get some photos. It was also a good chance to get that first photo of the trip out of the way, because for some reason that’s the one that I always need to get out of my system. Then after that it’s all go.

This area is exactly what it sounds like, a large area covered in sand dunes that has a pinkish hue to it. There are lots of dirtbikes and ATV’s that drive around the dunes which can be cool to watch.

TIP: Just a heads up though, the sand has a way of finding every small crack and hole in your shoes and it only takes a few steps before your shoes are filled. Also, be careful with your camera gear as the sand can be great at getting in the buttons and messing everything up.

After the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, we headed to the town of Kanab, where we spent the night in the parking lot of the BLM office. The next morning we woke up early to catch the lottery for the Wave (I believe it was at 9:00AM) followed by the lottery for the South Coyote Buttes. We unfortunately didn’t win either, but it was actually a lot of fun and excitement just to take part in the lottery.

Old Paria: (October 20)

On the left of Highway 89, when you’re leaving Kanab going towards Wire Pass (but before the turnoff for Wire Pass), there is a road that takes you towards the Old Town of Paria. The road has a few hills and could get pretty bad if there was any sort of rain on it, but when we went it was dry and easily passable with a 2WD vehicle.

Even though there aren’t any specific things to see at Old Paria, except a few remains of the old townsite, we still spent several hours wandering around and exploring the hills and trails of the area. There are some Bentonite hillsides that are really incredible, and the entire valley is worth some time checking out.

I’m sure that there is even more that we missed, and certain roads were closed so we weren’t able to get to things like the Lower Hackberry Canyon.

Either way, the area around Old Paria is definitely worth checking out, and the valley ended up being one of my favourite areas around Kanab.

Oh yeah, and on our drive out of the Old Paria Townsite, we saw a Tarantula on the side of the road that had been run over by a vehicle. Then, shortly after, we saw another one on our way down House Rock Road. But this second one was perfectly alive! Here’s a picture of the dead one.

Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass: (October 20)

A little down the road from the turn-off to the Old Paria Townsite is a right turn to House Rock Road, where you can find Wire Pass (which then intersects Buckskin Gulch).

If I had to guess, I’d say that Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass are some of the most popular things to see in the area near Kanab. You don’t need a permit to visit them, but the nearby Wave has a permit that can only be obtained through the lottery system (you go to the BLM office in Kanab at 9:00 AM and enter the lottery for a permit the next day).

There was quite a bit of water in Buckskin Gulch when we got there so we didn’t go too far into it, but the whole area is really cool to see.

TIP: Don’t be afraid to leave the main path a little bit. There are a few areas where you can climb out of Wire Pass, just before it intersects Buckskin before the wall gets too steep, and you can get up higher for a view across the tops of the canyons that is pretty hard to beat.

If I was to go back to this area, I would also do more exploring in the area surrounding the Wave (even if I didn’t have a permit to see the wave itself) because it seems like there is a ton more to see in the area. Just take a few minutes to check it out on Google Maps.

The Toadstools: (October 20)

Further towards Lake Powell from House Rock Road is a small area called the Toad Stools. They’re a group of formations that I’d say is pretty self-explanatory from their name.

We had big plans to get some night photos at the Toad Stools, but it was a full moon so our plans were slightly foiled. We were still able to check them out, but the photos weren’t quite what we had wanted, although I can’t be too pessimistic because they ended up being pretty cool in their own way.

Lake Powell: (October 21)

The night of our first full day we ended up staying at Lake Powell. We arrived late and in the dark, so pulled into a large camping area near Lone Rock. We woke up around sunrise and headed out on the beach to take some photos.

It’s too bad that the lake is mostly only accessible by boat, because it looks absolutely incredible. With a boat, you can get to all sorts of cool formations, bridges (such as Rainbow Bridge) and all sorts of canyons.

There is also a great viewpoint overlooking Lake Powell called the Wahweap Overlook. I’ve marked it on the map above.

Horseshoe Bend: (October 21)

Horseshoe Bend is just across the border into Arizona from where we spent the night at Lake Powell. It’s just outside of the town of Page and is hard to miss with the large parking lot and wide walking trail to viewpoint. The trail only takes 10 or 15 minutes walking and you end up at the rim of the canyon looking down into the Colorado River far below.

For the amount of times that I’ve seen Horseshoe Bend in photos, I was blown away by its impressiveness (just like you are by now of my impressive vocabulary using words like “impressiveness”). Photos have a hard time capturing the sheer size of the rock walls, and the distance to the bottom of the canyon far below. When you stand at Horseshoe Bend, it’s almost like the opposite wall of the canyon (the peninsula of rock that makes up the inside of the bend) seems to loom directly in front of you. It’s almost like you can reach out and touch it. But the photos don’t quite capture it the same way. Because of this, it’s just something that has to be seen in person. Unfortunately, you can almost guarantee that you won’t be the only one there.

If you get the chance, check out Horseshoe Bend at sunset.

Zion National Park: (October 21 – 23)

When Ryan and I were planning the trip to Utah over a few phone calls, he asked me if I was interested in heading to Zion National Park, and I told him that it wasn’t really high on my list and I could take it or leave it.

For some reason, when I pictured Zion, I could only see the famous photo from the bridge over the Virgin River with the Watchman in the background at sunset. And believe me, if you type “Zion National Park”  into Google, that’s the first photo that you’re going to see. And the picture itself is nice and everything, but it didn’t really blow me away and in our short time in Utah I would have rather seen other things.

TIP: Shuttle Busses – The way that Zion is setup is that there is a town called Springdale, which sits at the entrance to the park. Springdale has all of the adventure shops, restaurants, cafes, and hotels. From Springdale, you can then catch a bus that takes you into the park, as you’re not able to take your own vehicle. This main part of Zion is basically one large valley with large cliffs and mountains on either side, and the road (called Floor of the Valley Road) heads straight up the middle, makes a bunch of stops along the way, then gets to the end and turns right back around. So it’s one road in, and the same road out.

The bus into Zion leaves from the Visitor’s Centre and is free to catch both ways. You’ll have to check at the Visitor’s Centre to find out when the first bus in in the morning and last bus out in the evening are.

Now, in my naivety, I didn’t realize how spectacular Zion really is, and it ended up being one of my favourite stops of the trip.

Here are some of the things that we did in Zion:

Observation Point:

One of the last stops on the shuttle bus, and at the very back of the Zion Valley, is Observation Point. It is high up on the rim of the canyon and looks down the entire valley back to the town of Springdale.

There is a hiking trail up from the valley floor, all the way to the top that is cut into the rock.

When we went to Observation Point, however, we went the back way. This means that instead of driving into Springdale and catching a bus into the valley and walking to Observation point from below, we instead drove our car to the East Mesa Trailhead. So before we descended into the valley past Checkerboard Mesa and through the tunnel, we turned off on N Fork County Road and followed it to the end, where the trailhead starts. I’ve marked the trailhead for the back way on the map above as the East Mesa Trailhead.

From here, we didn’t have to gain nearly as much elevation to the top of Observation Point, although we did still have a fairly long walk.

We arrived at the top of Observation Point just before sunset, and I still remember my first glimpse of Zion with the descending sun lighting up the valley walls. There was a large storm on the horizon to the west, but otherwise everything was still and calm.

Looking down the valley I saw Angel’s Landing far below us, the Narrows disappearing around the corner behind us, the West rim off to our right, and the Great White Throne towering beside us. It was an incredible introduction to Zion.

We hung around at the top of Observation Point for several hours and watched the sun go down, and eventually the stars came out. We were planning to take some night photos, but again the moon was on power level 10 and cast too much light across the valley to make the photos look how we wanted them to. So after a while we decided to call it and hiked out on the trail with the moonlight to guide our way.

That night, we drove down into Springdale where we stayed the night to get ready for a big day exploring Zion.

Angels Landing:

First on our list the next morning was Angels Landing. It was raining lightly, so we were hesitant about climbing the steep narrow slopes of Angels Landing if the rocks were wet, but we decided to head up the trail until things got too iffy, at which point we would turn around and continue up the West Rim trail.

The trail up to Angels Landing is really impressive and at some points is carved directly into rock faces. It didn’t take us too long before we arrived at the saddle where the trail splits from Angels Landing to West Rim. It was raining lightly, but there weren’t many people on the climb to the top of the landing, so we decided just to head up carefully before the trail go too crowded.

If you’ve never heard of Angels Landing, it’s a really impressive sliver of rock with sheer drops on each side. The hiking trail heads straight up the spine of this sliver to the very top with a series of switchbacks and chains to help you along. It looks very intimidating and slightly scary from afar, but once you’re on the trail itself it’s not too bad at all.

When we finally made it to the top of the landing, the rain started to taper off and the sun actually came out. Now, if you remember anything from grade 3 science, this is a great recipe for a rainbow, and we were in luck because a perfect rainbow ended up appearing up the valley from us, spanning from one side to the other!

West Rim Trail:

After descending back down from Angels Landing, we then headed up the West Rim trail. It seems like most people do Angels Landing and head right back down again, because where Angels Landing was crawling with people by the time we left, the West Rim trail was almost empty. In fact, we probably only saw 3 or 4 groups of people the entire walk.

The trail takes you along some really cool rock slabs, and gives you a view of some cliffs and rock features that you can’t see from the valley floor. It ended up being quite a long hike, but it eventually brings you to the West Rim of the valley, but I guess you already knew that because it was sort of implied in the name, wasn’t it?

Anyways, once you reach the rim of the valley, you can go several different directions. We went left/straight and wrapped around the edge of the valley for a few km’s until we got tired and turned around. Both directions eventually meet up with each other from what I can tell and they end up at Lava Point, which is a fair distance away and can be several days hiking.

Once you’re on the top of the rim, however, you get the most incredible view across the valley. From up high, all of the cliffs and mountain tops look like islands of green grass. Imagine if the entire valley was once a flat, rolling plain, and the ground eroded and fell away and only a few of these pedestals remained from the plain that once was. It’s a crazy thing to see, and only by climbing up high enough on the rim are you able to see across them in that way.

So, even though the West Rim trail is quite a long hike and can be fairly exhausting, I think it’s definitely worth it, and if you can tie it into a hike up Angels Landing, then that’s even better.

The Zion Narrows:

Our last day in Zion, we decided to head into the famous Zion Narrows. It had been raining slightly the day before, but the flash flood danger had gone back down, so we decided to check it out.

The Narrows are the last stop of the shuttle bus, and you get dropped off at the Temple of Sinawava. From there, you walk up a path until you reach the end of the trail, which is the mouth of the Narrows. At this point, you have no choice but to get your feet wet. We didn’t rent any gear from town, and instead just used old running shoes. You can, however, rent waders, walking poles, and special shoes, but I think it’s completely unnecessary. If you do have a walking pole, however, it would be helpful.

Because of the rain the days before, the water in the Narrows was quite brown and muddy which made seeing the bottom of the river impossible. This made walking super difficult and slow.

After lots of photos, side trips, looking up, down, and all around in awe, we eventually made it to a white rock in the middle of the river called Floating Rock, which is where we decided to turn around.

The Narrows really is an incredible walk, and it’s another one of those places that you just have to see for yourself.

Bryce Canyon: (October 24)

We left Zion in the dark after a full day of exploring the Narrows, and drove to the town of Bryce where we spent the night. The next morning we woke up for sunrise, which turns out to be quite awesome at Bryce Canyon.

There are several spots along the edge of Bryce Canyon that you can park at, and we decided to head to Inspiration Point, as it seemed to be the best view for taking photos.

We wanted to keep moving on that day, so had to pass on exploring more of the area around Bryce Canyon, but it’s definitely a place that would warrant some time. I think it would definitely be worth spending some time on Google Maps in satellite view and having a look at other things in the area that might be cool. It’s something that I’ll definitely be doing before my next trip there.

Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Slot Canyons: (October 24)

One of the places that I was most looking forward to exploring in Utah was Hole in the Rock Road, south of the town of Escalante. This entire area has so much to explore that you could spend an entire trip, just down this road.

One of the quick and easy stop offs on the Hole in the Rock Road is Peek-a-Boo and Spooky slot canyons. The parking for them is just off of the road, and it’s a fairly quick and easy hike to the slot canyons.

From the Dry Fork trailhead, you head down on some slabs of slickrock and sandy trails until you reach the entrance of Dry Fork Slot Canyon. It’s worth some time checking out this slot canyon while you’re here.

Then, you can head over to the bottom of Peek-a-Boo Canyon. When we visited, this slot canyon had a large pool of water at the bottom that was going to be tricky to cross, so we decided to head up and around to the top of the canyon and walk in from there. We then got to the bottom again where the big pool was and headed back up the canyon the way that we came to the top again.

From there, we cut across to Spooky Gulch Top at the top end of Spooky canyon. Then we headed down Spooky to the bottom, before hiking back out to the trailhead.

Both canyons are super tight and curvy and a ton of fun to explore. Just remember not to bring too large of a bag or you will have a hard time fitting through many of the sections.

Jacob Hamblin Arch: (October 25)

I would have to say that the hike to Jacob Hamblin Arch was the highlight of the entire Utah trip. We had read so many different things about getting to the arch that by the end we were very confused, but the overall consensus seemed to be that we would be able to do it with little to no gear and as a day hike. Both of these things were true and that’s exactly what we did.

TIP: You can do Coyote Gulch (where Jacob Hamblin Arch is located) in a single day in and out. Or you can take a longer route and do a loop that most people recommend doing with a one night stay. I was happy with the day trip, but if you had more time, I think it would be incredible to stay overnight in Coyote Gulch.

So first things first, how do you get to Jacob Hamblin Arch? Well, there are a few ways:

1. You could drive down Hole in the Rock road until you reach Hurricane Wash and start the hike from there. This would avoid the rough road that you need to take further on, but would likely add an extra day to the hike as you’d have to hike in all the way from Hurricane Wash which is a long way.

2. The next option is what we did. Just past Hurricane Wash is a left turn down BLM 270. This road is quite rough and, although we didn’t need 4WD, a bit of clearance helped forsure. You drive along this road for a few miles until there is a road to the left up a steep hill, which takes you to the parking area, or water tower. Once you’re at the water tower (which is really just an open metal circle that holds water, you’re at the trailhead.

3. If you wanted to do the multi-day loop, you could leave you vehicle here at the water tower and head further up the road to the further parking lot, take the trail from there into crack in the rock, then walk back down Coyote Gulch and back to your vehicle. This isn’t what we did, so I don’t have much first-hand advice on doing this.

TIP: There are also lots of other cool things to check out in this area such as Sunset Arch and Dance Hall Rock.

If you want to do what we did and only want to make a day trip of it, leave from the water tower and follow the cairns and trail north, until you reach the rim of Coyote Gulch. Here you have to make a steep descent into the bottom of the gulch. Don’t bother looking for other ways down because everywhere else is a sheer drop.

Lots of people say that you need to use a rope to get up and down this section, and I don’t think that it’s necessary at all. There was a rope that someone put in place when we arrived but we barely used it up or down and it wouldn’t have been an issue at all if it hadn’t been there.

Once you reach the bottom of the gulch, you can head left to Jacob Hamblin arch. And although the arch is the main thing to see, the whole section of river with the massive walls towering above and the groves of cottonwood trees is mindblowing.

Once you check out the Jacob Hamblin Arch, you can then head downstream for as long as you want. We made it as far as a second bridge/arch that the river passes right under before turning around. But along the way, we passed waterfalls, weeping walls, crazy rock formations, and tons of cottonwood trees with their leaves changing colour.

It really was one of the most incredible places that I’ve ever seen, and I would love to return and do the full hike through Coyote Gulch.

Devil’s Garden: (October 26)

After Jacob Hamblin Arch, we had a tough decision to make. We had really wanted to check out Neon Canyon, but we didn’t have wet suits (we had planned to rent them in Escalante, but apparently this isn’t possible) and we weren’t sure about the conditions of the road to Neon Canyon. So unfortunately we had to pass on Neon Canyon (really, we’re just saving it for next trip) and instead decided to head towards Goblin Valley, before making the long drive back to Canada.

After a full day of hiking into the Jacob Hamblin Arch, we stopped for the night (which is fairly close to the beginning of Hole in the Rock Road) and woke up for sunrise at Devils Garden.

Devils Garden is a bunch of rock formations and arches scattered around an area that look like a handful of giant childrens toys that were tossed all over the carpet that someone forgot to clean up. Although it was really cool and fun to explore, it wasn’t my favourite place. But because it’s so close and easy to get to, I think it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area.

Goblin Valley: (October 27)

As our trip began to near its end, we slowly made our way back north. But to avoid driving through areas multiple times, we took a bit of a detour and headed up towards Goblin Valley, and through Capitol Reef instead of back the way we came.

The drive along this section of road was incredible, and we stopped many times just to take photos of the areas that we passed through. I couldn’t believe how varying the landscapes were, and we went from driving through sections of road carved into slickrock, to the red cliffs of Capitol Reef, to a forested high elevation pass, to an area that looked like the surface of the moon with dry, grey, dirt cliffs in all directions, until we finally reached the Rafael Swell.

We ended up staying the night at the campgrounds near Goblin Valley along Temple Mountain Road. Then the next morning we headed into Goblin Valley early, before the sun got too high.

There is a small fee to enter Goblin Valley, but it’s worth it in my opinion. We spent the morning exploring all of the rock formations, and eventually worked our way up high to a spot where we could look over the entire area, as well as the surrounding desert which stretched out around us.

I really think that Goblin Valley might be the ultimate place for a giant game of hide and seek, so if anyone wants to organize one and needs some more participants, you know where to find me.

There is a ton more to see in this area, such as Little Wild Horse Canyon, and I’m sure that the San Rafael Swell has more treasures than what meets the eye (this is another area that you really have to look at on Google Maps and you’ll know what I mean).

Conclusion:

Just when I thought I might be able to cross Utah off of my list of places that I wanted to visit, it made its way back to the top. There is so much to explore in Utah that I think you could spend months and years in the area and still have to leave places unexplored.

One thing that I couldn’t get over was the vast openness and stillness of everything. It’s possible that we were lucky with the weather, but I was shocked at how little wind there was the entire trip. And because of this lack of wind, there were many times that we would find ourselves in the middle of nowhere, with no one else around, no traffic, and no wind, and it created a perfect silence. In fact, sometimes it seemed so silent that it was eerie and I would make conversation just so that there was something.

I really believe that Utah has something for everyone. Whether you want to do nice easy walks, take a sightseeing road trip, do some mountain biking or rafting or canyoneering, Utah can easily accommodate. It’s the ultimate place for an adventure, and it’s one of the few places that I’ve been that still retains its raw feeling of exploration and adventure.

And just as one last piece of encouragement that I have to motivate you to visit Utah, here are a few images that I took throughout our trip there that show the textures of Utah.

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This site is my place to share everything that I know about photography and travel. I'm not an expert, I'm just a guy who loves this stuff and I want to share everything that I learn, as I learn it, with complete honesty and transparency. So, whether you're looking to improve your photography or you want to learn more about travelling to a new place, I want to help you on your journey. Check out my about page to find out more and get in contact with me. I'd love to hear from you!