thoughts

A Roadtrip Through 6 National Parks in 6 Days

December 3, 2020 by sallyb.zhao No Comments

After spending 2 weeks in northern Utah, I embarked on a national park tour the last week of September with a few friends. We hit all five national parks in Utah, as well as one in Nevada. I’ve detailed below a day-by-day itinerary of our schedule and activities, as a guide for anyone looking to do the same!

Parks Visited 
  • Arches National Park
  • Canyonlands National Park
  • Capitol Reef National Park
  • Zion National Park
  • Bryce National Park
  • Great Basin National Park
Where to Stay

We booked two Airbnbs for this week, one in Moab for 3 nights, and the other in Hurricane for 4 nights. The national parks are close enough together that we were able to drive to each one from either Moab or Hurricane. 

Moab

Our Airbnb was 5 minutes from town, right off of Desert Winds Drive. The location was perfect because we were only a 20-minute drive from Arches National Park, so it was convenient to stop by for sunset, as we did on the first day. 

Hurricane

Because the second half of this trip involved longer drives and fuller days, we hardly spent time at this Airbnb except for a few hours of rest. Thus, I wouldn’t recommend booking the fanciest place because most likely, you won’t be spending much time there. We chose Hurricane because it had slightly cheaper housing, but anything in the St. George region will do.

National Park Entrance Fees

Each park has entrance fees if you don’t have the national park pass. Since we did have one, we were able to enter the parks without paying the one-time fees. This worked out well because we weren’t restricted to finishing the entire park in one day and were able to visit parks multiple times throughout the week.

Itinerary

Sunday, September 27, 2020

  • Provo, Utah to Corona Arch (3 hours)
    • Corona Arch (outside Arches National Park) – 2.3 mile hike, underrated and undeniably my favorite arch of the whole trip

Monday, September 28, 2020

  • Moab to Canyonlands National Park – Needles District (1.5 hours)
  • Canyonlands – Needles District to Arches National Park for sunset (1.5 hours)
    • Windows Trailhead for Turret Arch, South Window, North Window

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

  • Moab to Canyonlands National Park – Island in the Sky (40 min)
  • Canyonlands – Island in the Sky to Arches National Park (30 min)
    • Double Arch
    • Double O Arch Trail (only went up to Landscape Arch) – 2.5 mile hike
    • Delicate Arch for sunset – 3 mile hike

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

  • Moab to Capitol Reef National Park (2.5 hours)
    • Didn’t go all the way (boring hike). Cassidy Arch trail splits off this one, which is another popular hike
    • Ate pies from the Gifford Homestead. Recommend going there early as they sell out fast. By the time we got there (~1:30pm), there were only a few pies left.
  • Capitol Reef to Hurricane, Utah (3.5 hours)

Thursday, September 31, 2020

  • Hurricane to Zion National Park (30 min)
  • The Narrows (keep going after Riverside Trail) – 10 mile hike, can turn around whenever you want

Friday, October 1, 2020

  • Hurricane to Bryce Canyon National Park (2 hours)
    • Wall Street and Queens Garden Loop to Peekaboo Loop (Figure Eight Trail) – 6.3 mile hike
  • Bryce to Zion National Park for sunset
    • Scenic Drive on the 9 (Zion – Mount Carmel Highway)

Saturday, October 2, 2020

  • Hurricane to Great Basin National Park in Nevada (3 hours)
  • Great Basin back to Hurricane for much needed zzzz’s (3 hours)

Although our schedule was extremely packed, I felt like we did each park justice. I experienced enough of each national park that I probably wouldn’t return to any of them, except maybe Zion because it was absolutely stunning! I hope you found this guide helpful if you’re planning your own trip. Happy hiking! 🙂