Grand Canyon / Bryce / Zion

DSM Turbos

DSM Turbos

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Location
Raleigh, NC
Spin off from the other Vegas thread.

For those that have gone to the big national parks outside of Vegas, suggestions on where to stay? I know stuff books up quickly and sometimes a year out, but we suck at planning that far. Any suggestions on where to stay doing those that you can book 6 months out and don't cost an arm and a leg? We are okay with not being in the middle of it, and having to drive a little bit to get to the parks.

I did a similar trip when I was like 25 years ago with my family, but of course I don't remember shit!


Edit - If you had to pick Byrce or Zion and could only do one, which of those would you pick?
 
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Drove from Vegas to the GC and stayed in a park owned ancient hotel there. It’s an easy drive from St. George to Zion. Hurricane is a tad closer but less amenities. We stayed in Escalante after seeing Bryce but were on our way to Moab after that. You could day trip Bryce from St. George as well.
 
When we did Zion, we stayed at the Zion Ponderosa ranch on the east side of the park. They have small cabins and "glamping" tents plus you get free breakfast, witch is nice. We decided to stay in the glamping tents for something a little different. If you stay on the east side of zion its about a 40min drive to get into the park where most trailheads are, but then you're only 1.5 hrs from Bryce. Get the annual national parks pass.
 
hurt4x4 said:
When we did Zion, we stayed at the Zion Ponderosa ranch on the east side of the park. They have small cabins and "glamping" tents plus you get free breakfast, witch is nice. We decided to stay in the glamping tents for something a little different. If you stay on the east side of zion its about a 40min drive to get into the park where most trailheads are, but then you're only 1.5 hrs from Bryce. Get the annual national parks pass.
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140 bucks a night for glamping! This trip ain't going to be cheap but our family would love it.

When we did it as a kid, I think we did like 3 nights in Grand Canyon, and 2 nights in Bryce and 2 nights in Zion. Not sure if we can fit all 3 in or not.
 
DSM Turbos said:
140 bucks a night for glamping! This trip ain't going to be cheap but our family would love it.

When we did it as a kid, I think we did like 3 nights in Grand Canyon, and 2 nights in Bryce and 2 nights in Zion. Not sure if we can fit all 3 in or not.
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I would recommend at least 2 days in Zion and Bryce. The Grand Canyon, you can see about everything in a day unless you plan on hiking down into the canyon.
 
hurt4x4 said:
I would recommend at least 2 days in Zion and Bryce. The Grand Canyon, you can see about everything in a day unless you plan on hiking down into the canyon.
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That is kinda how we felt when we went back when I was a kid, I remember wishing we spent more days in the other places. Maybe we can can get 2 days in each done.
 
We drove from sadona to Grand Canyon if you can fit sadona in its worth it awsome area with some cool gost towns and motor sports stuff


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To answer your last question, I would pick Bryce. We did that trip 6 years ago....Vegas to Moab (Arches) to Bryce to GC North Rim to Zion. Zion was like uptown Charlotte at lunch time....SO many people. Tried to hike a few trails and it was SO crowded. Have to ride the bus to get into the park and that was a nightmare. It is a pretty place but just no solitude. Bryce just seemed more special and more scenic to our family. While there were still lots of folks there, it just wasn't as bad as Zion.

And we stayed in Bryce in the lodging. Same for GC. When we did Zion, we were staying in St. George.
 
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