Zion or Bryce, or both??

[phillyrunner]

Hi everyone,

We just booked a flight to and from Vegas at the end of April, flying in Thurs night (we won't land until about midnight) and flying home Monday night/early Tues morning at midnight. I am planning on staying the first night in Vegas just because we get there so late, and I want to go to either Bryce, Zion or both to do some hiking. Do you think that is enough time to spend at both? If not, do you recommend one over the other?

I am also running a half marathon about 45 minutes away from Zion on the Saturday, so I'm thinking it might just be easiest to stay around Zion. 

Thanks for any advice!

[iammalcolmx]

I want to hear this as well. We are heading to SLC this weekend and were supposed to Ski, but the weather is shit for Skiing.

[runblondie26]

We did both about a year and a half ago as a long weekend trip.

We flew into Vegas early in the morning, drove to Bryce and hiked, then spent the night at Ruby's Inn. We did a little more early morning hiking, then drove to Zion for the day, and got a hotel neraby for the night. We woke up early the third morning, drove back to Vegas, and flew home.

For frame of reference, I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time and handled it fine. Both parks are so beautiful.

[phillyrunner]

Thanks runblondie26. That is what I was going to have us do originally, drive to Bryce on Friday, hike and stay overnight there and do some morning hiking, then drive to Zion in the afternoon Saturday, do some hiking at Zion, and sleep over nearby. But then I found the half marathon after I made those plans and I had to sign up (I have a goal to run one in every state, so anytime I plan a trip I look to see if there are any nearby half marathons).

I really don't want to miss either park, so I think I will just have us stay near Zion Friday night, near Bryce Saturday night, and then drive back to Vegas on Sunday evening or Monday morning.

[G22]

If you have time, totally do both! They are so different and unique!

At Bryce we did part of the Navajo Loop, and went down into the canyon. It was a very cool hike.

At Zion, we did part of the Narrows. I'm so sad we didn't get to hike the whole thing, because it was super cool. You hike along the river and through the river into one of the canyons. The only thing with this hike is you need to check at the visitor center and make sure there aren't any flooding concerns. But totally worth doing. We also did the Emerald pools trail.

[runblondie26]

Mar 12, 2015 15:14:56 GMT -5 phillyrunner said:

Thanks runblondie26. That is what I was going to have us do originally, drive to Bryce on Friday, hike and stay overnight there and do some morning hiking, then drive to Zion in the afternoon Saturday, do some hiking at Zion, and sleep over nearby. But then I found the half marathon after I made those plans and I had to sign up (I have a goal to run one in every state, so anytime I plan a trip I look to see if there are any nearby half marathons).

I really don't want to miss either park, so I think I will just have us stay near Zion Friday night, near Bryce Saturday night, and then drive back to Vegas on Sunday evening or Monday morning.

Good luck with your half marathon! I'd love to do the half marathon around the rim of Bryce Canyon one day, too. I think that one is in July?

Quick tidbit on why we went there when I was 36 weeks pregnant. We had always planned to name one of our children Bryce, after Bryce Canyon, since we think it's so breathtaking. We wanted to take DD, so she's understand the meaning behind her brother's name, but the government shutdown closing the national parks happend the week were planning go. Hence the last minute weekend trip a few weeks later instead.

[Alyssa]

I LOVED Zion.

One year we drove from Yellowstone--> Jackson Hole --> Moab/Canyon Lands --> Capitol Reef --> Bryce --> Zion --> Grand Canyon and it was a fun trip.

I liked Zion more than Bryce but Bryce was still fun.  What I really liked doing in Zion was hiking up the narrows.  I recommend that one.



Just wear some board shorts and t-shirt.  In town you can rent the special water shoes that have grips on them and they will also throw in the walking stick.

[sarahsas]

Both are nice and unique but if I were to pick one it definitely would be Zion. I feel it's more accessible, you can see more of the park in a visit, there are some smaller and shorter hikes and some long ones so you can balance it out too. It's fun to go to the entrance of the narrows and play in the water! If you're really into hiking you can hike it. The area outside the park has cute shops and restaurants, and there is a shuttle that will take you around so you can enjoy and not drive.

I'm not a hiker and my friend who I went with is (as in she hiked the pacific crest trail from Mexico to Canada!) and we both really enjoyed ourselves. We had to drive a lot at Bryce.

[phillyrunner]

Thank you everyone for the advice! I'm definitely going to check out both. I can't wait! I really haven't seen any of the US national parks besides two in Hawaii and the Grand Canyon. My goal this year was to try and see a couple, so we are going to these 2 and then also visiting Acadia in July.