After over a year of various forms of lockdown in the Netherlands and even longer since our last visit home to the US, we were beyond ready for a change of scenery. So in April of 2021, we decided to plan our first trip back to the US post-COVID to see family and get our vaccines.
The first half of the trip would be spent in California, where Dan’s family lives, including a week in Palm Desert with his parents and sisters. For the second half, we’d head to Tennessee to see my parents as well as my sister and her family.
We decided to make the most of the trip by squeezing in a 5-day road trip around the southwest. After so many months spent up in our apartment, we were thrilled to be traveling again. And what better way to celebrate than by exploring some of the best national parks in the country.
Itinerary Overview
Our plan was to depart from Palm Desert and ultimately fly to Tennessee from Las Vegas.
We had a limited amount of time to work with and a fair amount of driving to hit up all of the major sights on the itinerary. I was worried it wouldn’t be enough time, and while we didn’t see everything on my list (gotta save something for the next trip, right?) we had such an amazing time and managed to cross a number of sights off the travel bucket list.
Below is an overview of our 5-day itinerary with the major sights and activities along the way.
Day 1
Drive to Grand Canyon National Park along Route 66
Day 2
Sunrise over the Grand Canyon at Yavapai Point, walk along the South Rim, Bright Angel Trail hike, and sunset at Hopi Point
Day 3
Drive to Zion National Park with stops at Horseshoe Bend and Bryce Canyon National Park
Day 4
Angels Landing Hike at Zion National Park
Day 5
The Narrows Hike at Zion National Park
DAY 1
Drive to Grand Canyon National Park along Route 66
The first day of the trip was mostly spent on the road with a six-hour drive between Palm Desert and the Grand Canyon. We decided to take a slightly longer route to drive one of the few remaining stretches of the famous Route 66 between the towns of Kingman and Seligman, Arizona.
Most of the original Route 66 has been absorbed into the interstate system, and the portions that remain are little more than rundown stretches of asphalt with the occasional abandoned building along the side of the road.
Even knowing this, I was still surprised at just how desolate this stretch of road was. There were only a handful of operating businesses along the route and the ones that remained were little more than a roadside attraction. We also had no cell service the entirety of the drive, which made it all feel that more remote.
It was still pretty cool to see the fragments that remained and imagine what it must have been like during its heyday.
There were a handful of sights along the route.
The main event was definitely the Hackberry General Store, a gift shop covered inside and out in Route 66 ephemera. A number of antique gas pumps and old, rusting cars lined the parking lot. Inside, the walls were covered in dusty dollar bills and other paper currencies from the many travelers that have passed through over the years.
The owner’s cat followed us around the shop until we finally settled on a souvenir, a magnet to add to our collection.
We eventually reached the end of the historic highway and joined back up with the interstate. From there, we had a little less than two hours left of the drive.
We arrived to Grand Canyon National Park just as the sun was starting to go down. We decided to forego checking into our hotel to see if we could catch the sunset. We parked our car in a free lot and headed directly to a viewpoint along the South Rim Trail to get our first glimpse of the canyon.
The Grand Canyon is one of those places that you’ve seen countless photos of before you see it for yourself that you think, surely this is going to be somewhat anti-climatic (I thought the same about Niagara Falls and boy was I wrong!).
Well, as it turns out, the Grand Canyon is even more spectacular and, as the name suggests, “grand” than you can imagine.
We spent about an hour watching the sunset slowly over the canyon.
Once the last sliver of sun disappeared from the horizon, we headed on to our hotel to check-in. We grabbed dinner at the hotel’s takeaway restaurant and headed to bed early.
Where we stayed: Yavapai Lodge
My number one piece of advice for anyone planning to visit the Grand Canyon: stay at one of the hotels within the park. There are only a few and many are booked way in advance, but it’s worth the extra effort and expense to stay literally feet from the rim, especially if you’re only visiting for a day or two like we were.
DAY 2
Sunrise over the Grand Canyon at Yavapai Point, walk along the South Rim, Bright Angel Trail hike, and sunset at Hopi Point
When at the Grand Canyon, there are two things you absolutely have to do: catch a sunrise and sunset. We had just one full day there, so we decided to tackle both in one day.
We woke up around 4:30 am and made our way to Yavapai Point, which is often touted as the best spot for sunrise.
Frankly, it’s hard to imagine what makes one view better than another when everywhere you look is gorgeous, but the nice feature about this point was the seating. We were expecting a crowd but were pleasantly surprised to find we had the place all to ourselves. We grabbed a front-row seat and waited patiently for the sun to rise over the north rim.
As the sun came up, the details of the canyon in front of us slowly came into view. The canyon walls were constantly shifting in color from various hues of purple and blue.
Expectations were high and yet still, the experience of watching the sunrise at the Grand Canyon did not disappoint and was absolutely worth the early wake-up time — even for night owls such as ourselves!
After sunrise, we linked up with the South Rim Trail and headed west. Yavapai Point is on the far east end of the trail, so we walked the two miles along the rim until we reached Grand Canyon Village.
As the name suggests, the South Rim Trail runs parallel to the edge of the canyon. Aside from spectacular views nearly the entire way, the path is also dotted with some information on the geological history of the Grand Canyon and markers on the path that give a sense of just how old the canyon is (spoiler: it’s unfathomably old!).
Thanks to our sunrise wakeup time, it was still early in the day when we reached Grand Canyon Village. By 7:30 am, we found ourselves at the Bright Angel trailhead, ready for our descent down into the canyon.
There are surprisingly few hiking trails at the Grand Canyon. The most popular option is the Bright Angel Trail, which has been the favorite with tourists since the late-1800s, years before Grand Canyon became a National Monument in 1908.
The trail departs from Grand Canyon Village and leads all the way down to the Colorado River at the base of the canyon. From there, you can continue all the way to the north rim of the canyon via the North Kaibab trail, although hiking the full length is quite an undertaking — the 24 miles of trail with one mile of elevation change takes around four days to hike. Most people simply do a oneway down-and-back day hike.
We enjoyed the easy downhill hike with shade most of the way (perks of hiking early) until we reached the first resthouse at the 1.5-mile point. Even though we’d gone only 1 1/2 miles, we were already about 1,000 feet lower in elevation and were just able to make out the Colorado River at the base of the canyon.
We decided to not push our luck and turned back at this point. We were happy we did — the hike back up was intense!
Traveler tip: Unless you’re doing the full rim-to-rim hike, you’ll be turning around at some point and retracing your steps back to Bright Angel trailhead. The way down is of course much easier than the way back up, so it’s easy to get carried away and hike too far down before turning back around. Most people use the resthouses (1.5-mile and 3-mile) as their indication to turn around. My advice is to err on the side of caution and turn back sooner than you think.
We eventually made it back to the trailhead and promptly set out to find something to eat for lunch around Grand Canyon Village.
There are only a few options for dining within the park, and with many places closed due to COVID, the options were even fewer. We ultimately decided to keep it simple (and cheap) and settled for a couple of hot dogs.
After our late lunch break, we took some time to wander around Grand Canyon Village, stopping by Kolb Studio to check out an exhibition on the Kolb Brothers, who used the building as their photo studio in the early part of the 20th century.
After lunch, we caught the Hermit Road shuttle bus that departs from the Village and heads further westward along the south rim. The bus makes stops at a number of viewpoints along the 7-mile scenic stretch of road.
We decided to take the bus all the way to the end to Hermit’s Rest. From there, we boarded the next eastbound bus and got off a few stops later at Mohave Point. We walked the short distance to the next stop, Hopi Point, which is one of the most popular spots for catching the sunset.
Anticipating a crowd, we arrived about an hour before the sun was scheduled to set and were able to snag a spot along the railing.
A small crowd started to gather with a few photographers staking out some territory for their tripods. Around 7:00 pm the colors of the canyon again started to change colors, this time cycling through a series of golden hues before eventually fading into blues and purples similar to what we saw at sunrise.
After sunset, we caught the bus back to Grand Canyon Village where our car was parked and headed back to our hotel. We grabbed a quick bite for dinner at the takeaway restaurant at our hotel and headed in for an early bedtime.
DAY 3
Drive to Zion National Park with stops at Horseshoe Bend and Bryce Canyon National Park
We woke up feeling sore from the intense hike the day before. Luckily most of the day would be spent on the road, so we had some time to rest up before the next activity.
After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we loaded up the car and drove eastward along the scenic Desert View Drive that follows the southern rim. We made a quick stop at the Desert View Watchtower for one last glimpse of the canyon.
From there, we eventually joined up with I-89, which runs north across the canyon. As we left the Grand Canyon National Park area, the pine trees slowly disappeared and a rockier landscape took its place.
We drove through the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area until we saw signs for Horseshoe Bend. We parked our car in the official lot and made a quick walk over to the viewpoint.
We approached the edge and found that same iconic view I’d seen many times before in photographs — the Colorado River snaking its way across the otherwise barren landscape, making a hairpin turn around a central red rock.
I was surprised that you could walk pretty much anywhere you wanted. Only one area had a railing. For the rest, nothing was preventing you from walking straight up to the edge of the cliff (and falling off, for that matter, which apparently happens to several visitors a year!).
After a few obligatory selfies at Horseshoe Bend, we got back on the road and drove the remaining 2 1/2 hours to Bryce Canyon National Park.
Traveler tip: Between Horseshoe Bend and Bryce Canyon are several worthwhile sights. Unfortunately due to COVID, many of the sights located on Indian Reservations were closed to tourists when we visited. But if you’re able to, I’d recommend tacking on another day to check out Antelope Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and even Monument Valley a bit further to the east.
We had just enough time for one hike at Bryce, so we landed on the Queens Garden and Navajo Loop Trail, which connect two lookout points, Sunrise Point and Sunset Point. We headed out from the Sunrise Point trailhead but you could do their hike in either direction.
Bryce Canyon is most well known for its unique geological formations called hoodoos. These rocky spires are formed over millions of years of corrosion that removed the softer rock and left these freestanding structures behind. They only occur in a few places in the world, and Bryce Canyon happens to have the world’s largest collection of these bizarre structures.
From Sunrise and Sunset Points, you have a fantastic view of hundreds of hoodoos clustered in an area known as the Bryce Amphitheater. After taking in the view, we started our descent down into the Amphitheater to begin our hike.
The first part of the hike followed the Queens Garden Trail. The sandy path sloped gently downward, weaving around clusters of hoodoos until reaching a pine forest.
The descent was gradual, making it easy to thoroughly enjoy the landscape. We also had the trail nearly all to ourselves, which was a welcome change of pace from the much more touristy Grand Canyon!
Eventually the path joined up with the Navajo Loop, which lead us past the famous hoodoo called Thor’s Hammer and eventually back up to Sunrise Point with a series of switchbacks. From there we walked the edge of the Amphitheater back to Sunset Point.
The entire loop was just under 3 miles and took us around 1 1/2 hours to complete. I cannot recommend this hike more. This is one of those rare, magical places that feels truly otherworldly — easily one of my favorite hikes of all time!
Sadly, the time eventually came to bid farewell to Bryce Canyon and continued onward to Zion National Park. The two-hour drive felt long after such a big day, so we kept dinner plans easy and picked up some food at a nearby grocery store and ate in the room.
Where we stayed: Best Western Plus Zion Canyon Inn & Suites
DAY 4
Angels Landing Hike at Zion National Park
We allowed ourselves two full days to explore Zion, which gave us just enough time to tackle a couple of the most famous hikes in the park, Angels Landing and the Narrows.
For our first full day, we decided to take on the infamous Angels Landing. This hike is well-known thanks to its reputation as being one of the most dangerous hikes in the country.
The last stretch of the hike requires holding on to a chain bolted into the rock with sheer dropoffs on either side of the path. To make things more challenging, over 1,200 hikes make the trek daily, resulting in traffic jams along this stretch and points where hikers traveling in opposite directions have to pass, all while gripping the same chain. So needless to say, this hike is not for the faint of heart.
Believe it or not, I am actually afraid of heights — although if there’s one thing I learned through my experience at Angels Landing, it’s that there are people with far worse acrophobia than me. I was able to make it through focusing on simply putting one foot in front of the other, always looking at the rock beneath my feet, whereas other people couldn’t make it five feet along the chained portion without crying and clinging to the rock for dear life.
Even still, I was incredibly anxious in the days leading up to the hike and wasn’t even sure if I’d go through with it when the time came. Hoping to at least try to avoid the worst of the crowds, we planned to get as early of a start as possible by joining the 7:00 am shuttle.
By 8:00 we were at the trailhead and about an hour later we’d made it to the halfway point where the more challenging portion begins.
The first part of the hike is fairly straightforward — a sandy path takes you to the base, where you then start the gradual climb up. While not nearly as mentally challenging as the second half, it was definitely more exhausting. The first portion ended with a set of 21 switchbacks at a steep 20-degree incline known as Walters Wiggles.
Walters Wiggles eventually led us to Scouts Lookout, where we had our first glimpse of the second half of the hike. It was now decision time — take in the view and head back down or continue on to Angels Landing?
Wanting to keep the momentum going so that I didn’t have time to change my mind, I decided to just continue onward and upward. We approached the first set of chains bolted into the rockface and away we went.
It took us about an hour from Scouts Lookout before we reached the top of Angels Landing. The pace was slow going with lots of careful, strategic footwork and navigating congestion on the trail.
People tend to naturally form groups to better deal with the congestion, one group stepping aside to let another pass by in one go. For those of us that aren’t a fan of heights, this waiting only prolongs the most nerve-wracking part of the hike, but ultimately it was manageable.
Once we reached the top, we found a secure, out-of-the-way spot to sit and take in the spectacular view of Zion Canyon.
The hike back down was challenging in its own way.
Going up, you could mostly focus on the rock beneath your feet and tune out the rest, but going down, it was much harder to avoid the sheer dropoffs to either side of the path. Nevertheless, we made it back down to Scouts Lookout and the trailhead safe and sound.
We caught the shuttle back toward the park entrance and decided to celebrate our achievement with a leisurely lunch and beer at Zion Lodge. With nothing else on the agenda for the day, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing back at the hotel, soaking our sore legs (courtesy of Walters Wiggles) in the hot tub in preparation for the next day’s hike before getting dinner at the popular Zion Pizza & Noodle Co.
DAY 5
The Narrows Hike at Zion National Park
We were both incredibly sore by this point, having done more physical activity in the past four days than we had since the start of the pandemic. Nevertheless, we had a very exciting last day ahead of us, as I’d strategically saved the best for last, a hike through a narrow canyon and the Virgin River called the Narrows.
We first stopped by Zion Outfitter to pick up our gear for the day: waterproof overalls, boots and bag and a couple of hiking sticks. We suited up, stuffed our non-waterproof belongings into a locker, and headed to the park entrance to catch the shuttle. We were getting a slightly later start to the day (all of the earlier shuttles were booked up) but still made it to the trailhead by 9:30.
Hiking the Narrows is only possible during certain times of year (roughly late May to October, although we managed to do it in early May) due to high water levels and the risk of flash floods. It’s also one of the most popular hikes in Zion and on many hiking enthusiasts’ bucket lists, so we were definitely expecting crowds.
While the start of the hike was pretty crowded, the further we went, the more things thinned out. About three miles into the hike you reach a stretch known as Wall Street. This is the most beautiful part and the section that you see most often in photos.
It seems most people make it to the start of Wall Street, snap a few photos, and then turn back. The further we went from here, the fewer people we saw until eventually we were on our own. And let me tell you, walking through the canyon just the two of us was magical.
Most of the hike up to the start of Wall Street had been in ankle- to knee-deep water. We saw a number of people managing (albeit, not gracefully) without walking sticks or even proper footwear.
A bit further along Wall Street, the water started to get deeper with some areas being waist- or even chest-high. At this point, I was very glad to have invested in the bibs; otherwise, we would have had no choice but to turn around.
Deeper water also meant more resistance and stronger currents, so progress was a bit slower. The walking stick really came in handy here to chart your course and test out the depth of the water before stepping blindly ahead.
We eventually reached the end of Wall Street. The canyon widened, allowing more sunlight to reach the water.
Our initial plan was to turn around once we got to Big Springs, around the 5-mile mark, but we ended up turning back slightly sooner thanks to advice from others on their return trips that the falls were a bit anticlimactic.
This hike was deceptively tiring. As it turns out, 15-miles spent trudging through a river with unstable footing will make you very, very sore the next day.
But of course, it was all worth it. The Narrows definitely lived up to all the hype and was one of the most unique and memorable hikes I’ve done! It also provided an amazing ending to our spectacular 5-day whirlwind tour of the southwest.
It’s unbelievable how much you can see and do in a short period of time when you really put your mind to it. We certainly didn’t check all the boxes, but we managed to see way more than I could have imagined. I’m already looking forward to our return visit!
