Utah! the 45th State to enter in to the United States on January 4th, 1896. Its landscape is dominated by
out of this world views that feel like you've stepped onto another planet. From twisting canyons, colorful Mountains, Delicate stone arches, Spires and Buttes there are more here than any other state. As we explored the state of Utah and all the The Sandy Deserts, Deep canyons, and towering red Rocks we had a blast!! Utah is full of adventure, and will leave you with amazing memories and experiences. This 6 day travel guide takes you from Las Vegas, Nevada all the way up to the Bonneville Salt flats in Northern Utah. But can easily be flipped if you fly into Salt Lake City, Utah. Either way the trip will be incredible.
Day 1: Arrival
Las Vegas, Nevada
So let's get started! For us we chose Las Vegas, Nevada as our fly in location. Most of the national parks and spots we wanted to visit were in southern Utah, specifically Zion National Park. This Park is right in the middle from Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. but we also wanted to visit the Bonneville Salt flats which is closer to Salt Lake City. We finally decided to fly into Las Vegas because the rental car prices were cheaper (at the time we booked everything, October) and we could end our trip with 1 night at the Las Vegas Strip.
Our flight landed early in the morning so we picked up our Rental Car, a Toyota 4Runner.
***For this trip you are going to want to book a high clearance vehicle with 4x4 for some of the locations.***
Then we gathered up some supplies( Water and snacks) before heading off to our first location of the day.
Valley Of Fire
The Valley of Fire State Park is located in the Mojave Desert, Nevada and is 55 miles (88 km) northwest of Las Vegas Which took us 1 Hour to get to the Entrance of the Park. Entrance into the park Was $15 for our vehicle but NV plates gets you in for $10. Our rental car had Florida plates so we didn't get the discount. Once you arrive you will see the bright Red Rocks that make this place so unique against the golden sand surrounding them.
We planned to spend a half a day here arriving just as the park opened at 9am. The park is 46,000 acres which is large but it’s actually fairly compact and you can cover a lot of ground in one day. Below is a list of 14 things that we would recommend you check out.
1. Photograph Mouse’s Tank Road at sunrise/Sunset
2. Hike to the Fire Wave
3. Walk along the Pastel (Pink) Canyon
4. Circle the White Domes Loop
5. Stop at the Fire Canyon/Silica Dome viewpoint
6. Complete the Rainbow Vista Hike
7. Check out Balanced Rock
8. See the Seven Sisters rock formation
9. Find Elephant Rock
10. Marvel at the drawings on Atlatl Rock
11. Check out Arch Rock
12. Explore the Fire Caves
13. See the Beehives rock formations
14. Watch for Wildlife!
Make sure you pack water with you (it is a Desert after all). Once we finished up we left to head to our next location for sunset at:
Zion National Park
Courtney found this adorable Small A-Frame Cabin Just outside Zion National Park. It was perfect and had an out door cooking area with incredible uninterrupted views of the beautiful cliffs as if we were staying inside the park. The side of the A-frame that faced the cliffs were able to completely lift up and stay open. The Queen sized bed was surrounded by mosquito netting to keep any insects out but we didn’t even see any. That was probably the coolest part about the A-frame with the views and being out in nature from the comfort of the cabin.
Day 2 - Zion, Bryce, Meadow hot spring
Zion National Park
So unfortunately beginning April 1, 2022 you now have to win a lottery drawing to gain access to hike Angles Landing… So we found that The Canyon Overlook Hike basically gives the same view of the canyon and is less of a hike.
We woke up Early and drove into the park at 4:30am. The America the Beautiful Card does grant you access so we didn’t have to worry about paying at the entrance and drove right through. We got to the Canyon Overlook trail Parking and were the first ones there for our sunrise hike.
There are only 9 parking slots at the trail head. There are more spots further into the canyon along the side of the road. We went super early so we didn’t need to worry about parking. As we packed up our camera gear, water, and put our head lamps on another car pulled in with more early morning hikers. We were the first ones to hit the Trail at 4:45 and made our way with headlamps on underneath the full moon. The trail is a very easy to hike 1 mile out and back trail. We got to the end which is a massive cliff that provides an insane view of the canyon below. As we sat there enjoying the view from our spot as the sun filled up the valley more and more hikers started making their way in and filling up the cliff side. So we were happy with our early morning decision and first pick for the viewing locations.
After the Sunrise we made our hike back out to the car where we found all the car slots had been filled with 2 cars waiting to find parking. We drove up the road and all those extra parking slots had already been filled as well. Zion is incredibly beautiful and just driving through Zion is amazing.
We left the park shortly after sunrise at 7:30am heading to our next stop of the day and we were amazed at how much traffic was on the road and backed up at the entrance to the park.
Bryce Canyon National Park
The Drive to Bryce Canyon National Park took 1 hr and 25 mins and is 73 miles from Zion national Park.
Again if you have the America the Beautiful Card parking is already covered. We arrived at 12 and the parking lot was packed with park rangers pushing the cars to keep moving through the parking lot and not
stop to wait for spots to open up. But we can’t be everywhere at sunrise to beat the crowds. We circled the lot 3 times before finally getting lucky and as a car left its spot we were able to slide right in and by the trail head. We came here to Hike the Navajo Loop Trail which is 1.3 miles and has some very famous switchback trails leading down into the canyon.
The view of the canyon from the rim trail was incredible and filled with spires and hoodoos below. Once you got down into the canyon it is really cool to see all the large trees that have grown up as tall as the surrounding cliffs. The contrast from the greens of the trees and the red stone in the cliffs was very beautiful.
We went down the sunset point trail (which has the most switchbacks) and came up Sunrise point trail. The hardest part was the climb out but the hike was definitely worth it!
Day 3 - Blue hills, Hanksville, Long Dong Silvers, Mars research center, Hot springs
(Blue) Bentonite Hills
This is the place that if you want to go you must have a high clearance vehicle and 4x4. We did not use 4x4 when we went out but the high clearance came in handy. We also found later in the trip that if it rains they shut this road down completely so we got lucky. Also, there is no Cell phone service so you are pretty much on your own and we didn’t see anyone when we went out there.
We went in at night on a dirt road . We crossed over one small river (there were signs posted to be careful of flash flooding) and we followed our offline google maps directions on the dirt road for about 1 hour (9.2 miles) until we came to a spot that looked like what we were looking for and google maps said we arrived at our destination. Luckily its only one road out so finding our way back out with zero help of GPS would be easy.
There was no Light pollution so the Utah night sky was amazing!
We slept in the back of the 4Runner and woke up before the sunrise to find a beautiful landscape surrounding us. These colorful hills are made layered blue, red, purple, and green clays and ash created from volcanic activity.
There was no noise besides us and with no wind it felt like we had landed on another planet. The ground was similar to a popcorn ceiling. We walked on already established paths and were very careful while walking on this fragile ground to help preserve the area for others to enjoy. Enjoying the sunrise from on top looking down on the layered hills we noticed that the blue and purple was over powered by the sunlight and appeared to be more of a white. So make sure to get out here either before the sunrises or after the sunsets to be able to capture the blues in the layering.
Hanksville
1 hr (34 miles) of driving later we made it to Hanksville.
This small desert town is a good base camp for the surrounding areas and we resupplied up on gas, water and more snacks at the Hollow mountain gas station before heading out to our next location. The store is carved out of the hill and is really cool to go inside.
Long Dong Silvers
This place was so hard to find but we found it after hours of research we found that it is close to hanksville and with some time scanning the geography on google maps we were able to pin point its GPS location for the trip.
But here is the coordinates to save you some time: Long Dong Silvers 38.393866, -110.832211
Road turn off for dirt road: 38.369371, -110.831932
To get here you will pull off on a none marked trail that may be gone after a good rainfall and follow it until you get to the BLM markers that state no motor vehicles beyond this point. From here its another 1-2 miles of walking to get back to Long Dong Silvers.
The Grey clay/rock formations feel like you are entering into a scene from Star Wars. Not to mention when we were hiking out it was completely silent except for the thunder storm that was rolling in in the distance.
Luckily we didn’t get rained on but we were able to get some pretty cool footage and photos of this super unique rock formation.
Mars Desert Research center
Located near Hanksville and is about 20 minutes from Long Dong Silvers we new we had to go check out the little red planet. So you can’t actually go to the Mars Research Center but you can drive by it and see the white domes against the red rock and with it being so far from the rest of civilization we could see how its a great spot to test out what life on mars very much may be.
There is nothing out here besides beautiful red rocks, Rainbow mountains similar to the ones we saw at the Blue hills but more red, orange, and white. Its a very cool area to explore and the dirt road seemed to just keep going. We were again happy to have the high clearance but did not need 4x4 the road seemed to be very well maintained except in a few spots. But after we explored the Martian landscape we turned around and headed back to Hanksville to refill up on fuel before heading to our last stop of the day.
Red Hill Hot spring
This is a family-friendly hot spring just outside of Monroe and 5 minutes away from our next stop at the mystic hot springs. There is a spot to park your car and then a less than 15 second walk to the hot spring. The natural hot water flows over Red rock and forms 3 mirky pools Don’t wear a light colored swimsuit because the red will stain your clothes if you rub up on the rock.
Mystic Hot springs
Lastly, this place you will need to book in advance. For $25 per adult you can have a soaking pass and entrance to this unique spring and have access to the grounds shower.
Yes you can hangout in bath tub and that’s what we did watching the sunset. There are 4 different bath tub sections that the hot spring water flows into and then a larger pool area closer to the entrance. The bath tubs are first come first serve and we got lucky each bath tub filled up and there were a few couples that had showed up late and did not get to have their own bath tub. We met two British travelers that really wanted a photo in the bath tub so we let them hop in ours and take a few photos and then they went down to the pool area.
Our suggestion is to arrive 15 mins early to your appointed time to make sure you are able to get your own bath tub.
Day 4- Salt flats, Fifth Water Hot Spring, Capital Reef
Bonneville Salt flats
We drove 295 miles to make it to the Salt Flats for Sunrise and that took us 5 hours.... But, we got there at 2am and took a 4 hour nap at the rest stop next to the salt flats before waking up at sunrise for some photos. It was absolutely crazy to see this extremely large naturally flat piece of land completely covered in a layer of salt.
As a photographer it was also cool to see the colors change as the sun came up from an orange/pink to a dry and bright white.
The Boneville Salt Flats was the furthest North we made it on this Epic Utah Roadtrip and we started our way back down towards Las Vegas.
Fifth Water Hot Spring
We left the Salt flats and Drove 192 miles (3hrs) to this beautifully different part of Utah. Fifth Water Hot spring Is located in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The Hike out from the parking lot is 2 miles, but felt a lot further. This area has a lot of trees (well is a forest) which is different from the rest of the Utah that we have been seeing.
The Hike out follows a river and has lots of different birdlife filling up the valley. We also had a thunderstorm rolling in behind us and the cloud coverage was nice.
We made it out and the pools were a beautiful Milky blue color similar to gatorade blue frost. The blue contrasting with the green trees that had some orange leaves on them that had started to change were very beautiful.
We were able to relax in the hot spring for 45 minutes before the sky’s opened up and the rain started to wash the surrounding red mud into the blue pools completely washing away the beautiful blue pools. Not to mention soaking all of our gear.
We hiked out in the rain and drove back towards Hanksville (3.5 Hrs) and stayed near Capital reef national park at Capital Reef Resort and booked a hotel room for $203 to dry off our gear and books before the next day
Capital Reef National Park
There is plenty to do here but we ran out of time. The Park is full of hiking trails hidden treasures filled with cliffs, canyons, domes, and natural archways and is less crowded than the other 5 national parks located in Utah allowing for more chances to find yourself alone with nature.
Day 5 - Moonscape Overlook, Butte Factory, Hanksville
Moonscape Overlook
We made our way back towards Hanksville to visit another off planet location. The Moonscape overlook is another location you will need a high clearance vehicle and 4x4. The trail out to the overlook is a dirt road and again does not have cell phone service, so no gps on google maps. Since it had rained the night before there were pools of water that we drove through or had to go around with some being 10-15 inches deep. We even got stuck in a Mud pit and had to unbury the front tires that had dug themselves into about 16 inches of thick Clay/Mud. With the help of some nearby gravel and Ben digging away the excess mud we were able to get out and make it to the Moonscape overlook.
You can drive right up to the overlook and view the moonscape below. There are even Moon Crystals out here that you can find on the surface of the mud.
Butte Factory
Heading back towards the main road the Butte Factory will be located on the right side of you and you can’t miss it.
Hanksville last stop
We stopped and fueled up on gas and stopped at the hollow mountain gas station one last time and stopped for a late lunch at Outlaws Roost a some delicious and refreshing tacos after an amazing day of adventuring. We definitely recommend those tacos they were bomb
Day 6 -Seven Magic Rocks, Las Vegas Strip
Las Vegas - Seven Magic Rocks
We drove all night 7 hours straight from Hanksville, Utah all the way back to Las Vegas. We slept in the car again at the parking lot of seven magic Rocks. At sunrise we walked out to see the pillars of painted colorful rocks.
It is less than a 1 min walk from the parking lot and we were both surprised to see how many people had come out for sunrise.
We went to Starbucks to pick up some breakfast and our first Pumpkin spiced Lattes and uploaded all of the amazing content from our travels before heading to check in at our Hotel for our Las Vegas Strip adventure.
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