I’ve wanted to visit one of the Utah national parks and hike Angel’s Landing for a long while, but before I could make it out there, Zion National Park imposed a lottery permit system. You couldn’t hike to Angel’s Landing without applying for a permit and hoping the lottery favored you that day. As I was scrolling through Facebook one day, I suddenly saw a post: I have a permit for Angel’s Landing on January 1, and I have two extra spaces. Would anyone be interested in them?
Celebrating New Years by hiking that brilliant trail? Of course I was interested!
I reached out and was able to snag those spot for myself and a friend. Before I knew it, I had a sporadic trip trip to Utah, with only a weekend to celebrate the New Year in nature’s (cold) embrace.
Only a weekend, I knew, was not enough time to explore Utah’s national parks in their entirety, but there were several key places I wanted to go: Arches, Zion, and Red Rock Canyon.
My friend and I sat down, and plotted it out before we headed down. It would be a loop, starting at the airport in Vegas, circling out to Arches and Caynonlands, back down past Bryce Canyon to Zion, and then passing Red Rock Canyon as we headed back to the Vegas airport.
Utah National Parks 3 day itinerary
- Day one
- Land at Las Vegas International Airport (here are some tips for flying with camping gear)
- Drive 7 hours to Arches National Park
- Camp outside of Arches National Park.
- Day two
- Visit Canyonlands, only 30 minutes from Arches National Park.
- Drive 5 hours to Zion National Park. Camp outside of Zion or in one of the Zion campgrounds
- Day three
- Explore Zion National Park
- Drive 3 hours back to Las Vegas International Airport for your flight home
- Bonus day
- You drive through Capital Reef National Park both on your way to and from Arches and Canyonlands.
- Bryce Canyon is 1.5 hours away from Zion National Park.
- Grand Canyon National Park is 4 hours away from Zion National Park.
- Red Rock Canyon and Calico Basin are only 45 minutes away from Las Vegas.
A desert sunrise on the banks of Lake Mead
Hoping to maximize our time explore Utah national parks, my friend and I took the red-eye flight out of Ohio to Las Vegas International Airport. When we landed there at midnight, it was actually 3 a.m. Eastern time. We followed the pointed signs for the car rental agencies, past the slot machines sectioned off in the middle of the terminals, and out to the shuttle. By the time we’d stood in line for our rental, it was nearly 1 a.m.
When we got to select our car, I immediately went for the one with the highest clearance, which happened to be a snow white Toyota 4Runner. We threw our things in the backseat, checked out the car, and drove out of town.
Just 45 minutes outside of Las Vegas, there was dispersed camping along the shores of Lake Mead. At this point, neither I nor my friend had much brain capacity left to imagine what scenery we’d find in the morning. We only knew there was a spot we could pitch our tent and finally sleep.
Before this trip, I’d never been to the southwest to explore. Once I’d helped crew at the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival, but my main focus with that was the hot air balloons, not the red sand reaching out to the horizon. Here would be the first time I really got to experience the desert and the Southwest US.
Driving into our campsite in the dark made it so my first taste of the landscape was the sunrise. When I finally woke up, I unzipped the rainfly on my tent and looked out across a brilliant desert landscape stretching down to where the water met the sand. The sunrise colors spread across the east, painting the sky above the dark mountains.
Welcome to the desert.
Arches National Park
The first day of the trip was driving. Arches was a solid seven-hour drive away from Las Vegas, and though the winter months made for much calmer temperatures, it also created short days. Despite the time we started driving that morning, we only had an hour of sunlight left by the time we got to Arches that evening.
We drove the winding road deeper into Arches, watching the landscape rise up around us. Rocks and rock formations stretched out across the valley, and in the distance rose the snow-capped La Sol mountains.
Just as the sun was reaching towards the horizon, we pulled into the parking lot for Windows. Allie and I scrambled out, jerked on our gloves and hat, and trotted up the steps towards the arches that made windows across the Utah desert. We made it to the westernmost window as the sun touched the ground.
Since it was cold, there weren’t many other people. Allie and I got to stand there in silence watching the sun’s rays turn the sky above us into gentle shades of cotton candy before finally slipping out of sight.
That night, we slept in the back of our car with the hopes of catching the sunrise the next morning from Delicate Arch. Our alarm went off early, and we blearly bumped around in the dark, swapping pjs for hiking clothes, breathing warmth onto our cold hands, and waiting for the car’s windows to defrost. It’d had gotten below 20, and our breath froze on the windows overnight.
When we made it to the Delicate Arch trailhead, it still hadn’t warmed up. I shook the cold out of my hands under the pale sky. First light had just peaked over the horizon but I still used my headlamp for the first little bit as we wandered up the rockface towards the arch. As we walked, we warmed up quickly.
Though the actual sun was hidden by some of the rock formations around the arch, the warming light lit up the valleys and canyons, beautifully contrasting between the cool shadows and the flaming red rocks.
We walked around the canyon’s edge to stand under the arch, and as I looked across the rising and falling rocks, I couldn’t help but smile. What a world we live in.
Canyonlands National Park
After our sunrise hike, we left Arches to explore Canyonlands. With the entrance of the park being only 30 minutes away from Arches, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. After all, we were here to see Utah’s National Parks, right?
Our first stop was at the far edge of the park, where we were planning to visit the Grand View Point Overlook. Only one moment into the park, however, and I slammed on my brakes at the visitor center. Just on the other side of the road, the edges of the rock dropped off into the canyon with a view looking over the canyon’s carved ridges and valley and off to the La Sol mountains.
Sliding back into the car, we made our way towards the Grand View Point, where we’d be able to walk around the canyon’s edge. We grabbed one of the few remaining parking spaces and set off on the easy rim-walk, complete with AllTrail’s promised “panoramic views.”
Almost equally incredible to the views around me was the sun. I’d started off that morning in my winter coat and hat, and as we walked, I kept tugging off my different layers until I was in my tank top. This much warmth? In January? My Ohio brain almost couldn’t comprehend. When we made it to the edge of the trail, we stopped and I sprawled out on the ground, letting the sun soak into my skin.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to spend as much time in Canyonlands as I would have liked to. We had to be in Zion that evening, and since we weren’t sure what time we needed to be checked into our campsite that night, we opted to play it safe rather than sorry. If I could do it differently, I’d spend much more time in Canyonlands, and take in some of the different Island in the Sky hiking trails. But alas, that will be next time, I guess.
Zion National Park
By the time we got to Zion, it was dark. We stopped at a gas station to top off the tank and bought some firewood while we were there. It was New Year’s Eve, after all. Even though our bodies had no idea what time it was anymore (thanks, time zones and travel), we needed to celebrate somehow. We quickly set up camp and I warmed up my soup above the fire. Before too long, though, the fire burned down and we wearily tumbled into our sleeping bags.
Goodbye, old year.
Hello, new year.
It was cold when we woke up. The sun was blocked by the rising walls of the canyon around us and the air was still bitter with winter. I’d never met the couple we would be sharing the permit with but they’d camped only a few spots away from us. After eating breakfast, we met up with them and made our plans for reaching the Angel’s Landing trailhead.
The hike to Angel’s Landing is a 4.3 mile hike up from the trailhead at the canyon floor to the freestanding overlook, standing 1,827 feet above the ground. To do that, trail starts climbing upward almost as soon as you step foot on it, and from the bottom you can see the switchbacks curving up the side of the mountain. There’s also the Walter Wiggles, 21 tight switchbacks that take you up to Scout’s Lookout.
Even if you don’t have the permit to hike Angel’s Landing, I’d still recommend the hike to Scout’s Lookout. It’s a beautiful overlook of the canyon below, and gives you great views. If you’d like, you can keep hiking further up the canyon on the Rim trail as well.
There was a ranger at the entrance to Angel’s Landing, making sure that only those with the permits can continue on. We showed them our group’s permits, and then we were off.
Despite the drop-offs on either side of the trail, it felt very secure. Where the trail narrowed, there were chains you could wrap your hand around, and you could see on the ground the worn footholds from everyone who’d come before. We took it slow, drinking panoramic views we had of Angel’s Landing rising above us, the canyon walls curving along the Virgin River’s path below, and the scenic road taking visitors deeper into the canyon.
As we reached the top, we finally got the sun in her full glory. I sat on the rock’s edge and watched the river below us. An occasional car would pass on the road along the river’s edge, a miniscule reference to civilization. As humans, we’ve done so much. We soar through the sky, we block rivers, we plow the earth into fields, and pave paths across the country. It becomes so easy to think we have control over our days, our lives, the earth we live on. And yet, sometimes, you sit on a rock 2,000 feet up, look over the edge, and realize just how small we really are and just how little say we really have in the natural forces of the world.
Calico Basin
We spent that night camped just outside of Zion near Gooseberry Mesa to see the stars. At our campsite, you couldn’t see any semblance of town lights and the sky was brightly lit up with stars.
The next morning, I spent a little bit of time wandering around the mesa before we packed up our site and started the drive back towards Las Vegas for our flight home. Since our flight left so late at night (midnight, to be exact), we had some time when we got closer to Vegas to visit some of the local parks. We’d hoped to visit Red Rock Canyon but it required a timed reservation. Instead, we went to Calico Basin, only a mile or two from Red Rock.
We spent a bit of time wandering between the canyon walls, watching the boulderers tackled different rocks along the watershed, and bouncing between the rocks ourselves as if the ground was lava.
Coming home
I have yet to regret a sporadic, weekend trip. Buying plane tickets at a moment’s notice, gathering friends and destinations afterwards. I know I had some people raising eyebrows when I explained how this trip came to be, that I was flying into Vegas to meet a couple I’d never met before to hike a notorious trail credited with 17 deaths.
Not everything went quite as planned. Many things weren’t planned at all. Yet, this wandering trip through the Utah National Parks system was an incredible four days and made for one of the best “hello new year” events I’ve ever done. And that couple I met? Probably one of my favorite parts of the entire trip.
As we dropped our weary bodies into our airplane seats at midnight Vegas time (3 a.m. Ohio time), I couldn’t help but laugh at the memories I’ve made. We’d made a list there in the airport of the things we’d hoped to remember for a long while afterwards.
Bouncing down washboard dirt roads in a snow-white rental. Challenging my phobia of slab rocks. “Hey, what’s the purpose of life?” Spread on warm rocks under a blazing sun. Trying to find the bathrooms in the dark in Zion’s off-season. Wandering along a dried out river bed. Standing at the top of a dusty waterfall. Feet, hanging over the edge of Angel’s Landing on New Year’s Day, wondering to myself, what if.
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