My husband and I are going to Utah for several days and want to enjoy the hiking thru the various interesting areas.
Looking for suggestions on an itinerary and routing, please, from any of you who live in UT or have visited. We'd be in Santa Barbara, CA first. Let's say we'd be leaving SB on Tuesday morning, and leaving from Salt Lake City on Sunday afternoon.
Any help would be most appreciated!
Thanks.
The Uinta mountains are incredible. Rough country and high elevation though so if you are used to sea level be ready for that. Also, there has been some problem bears in the area recently. Odds are good that you won't even see one, but spray or a gun or self defense items of some sort would be recommended.
Head down to Moab. Short touristy (a few hour) hikes in Arches. Longer hikes up at Island in the Sky and down in Needles (all Canyonlands NP: http://www.nps.gov/cany/index.htm) for multi-day treks. Call ahead for any overnight stuff. There are some nice shorter hikes up on the Col. R and on the canyon rim around Moab, including some kivas. Too hot? Head to the La Sals. Capitol Reef is west of there...
In my opinion, the three "must see" areas for hikers are Bryce, Arches and Zion....in that order. Good camping right in the middle of everything in Bryce. Arches camping is in short supply, but you can find unimproved campsites about 10 miles from the Park. Camping for Zion is in Springdale. Zion is much more "civilized than Arches...and even Zion. You are about to see some of the most beautiful country in the nation.
It looks like all the suggestions so far, while great, are a couple hours from Salt Lake. One thing I love about Salt Lake is that there are fantastic hikes very close to the city. I would recommend going up either Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon. There are dozens of hikes in both canyons, and you can't go wrong with any of them. You can hike to peaks, lakes, waterfalls, etc. There are hikes that are great for kids (donut falls), or for a nice morning hike to beautiful aspen lakes (Lake Blanch, White Pine, Red Pine, Lake Mary, Lake Catherine, Twin Lakes, and more), or a more involved hike to a peak.
There are other canyons that are also pretty, but the Cottonwood canyons have higher elevations and are more alpine-ish. Anyways, let me know if you have any other questions. Hiking in Utah is one of my favorite things, and I really miss it as I am living out east.
MOAB. I will retire there someday. Just got back and few places more beautiful if you like the desert. Hot mid day so get out at daybreak and later in the day.
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