Itinerary - Day 7

Today's agenda has us traveling from Arches National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park. Along the way, we're going to spend some time in Capitol Reef National Park. Depending upon road conditions, a potential road closure due to construction, and the amount of time we spend in Capitol Reef National Park, the drive will be approximately 300 miles and will take anywhere from 6 to 8 hours.

Our visit to Capitol Reef National Park will consist primarily of a drive along the park's 10 mile long Scenic Drive. The road is currently under construction, and there's a possibility that it may not be open when we're there. If that turns out to be the case, our visit will be very brief.

If the road is open, however, we may take a 2 mile hike from the end of Scenic Drive into Capitol Gorge. Afterwards, we will simply backtrack our path along Scenic Drive to the park entrance and continue on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park.

Capitol Reef National Park

After leaving Capitol Reef National Park, we will pass Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I'm hoping that we'll have a chance to make a quick stop here for a couple of pictures, including the requisite photo of Josh in front of a national park, or in this case, national monument sign, but it will depend on the time.

Following Grand Staircase-Escalante, we'll finish our drive into Bryce Canyon National Park.

Depending upon the time, and how tired we are after setting up our camp and making dinner, we may take an evening drive through the park to see some of its features at sunset, though my guess is that we'll probably be too tired to do so.

Tomorrow will be spent touring and hiking Bryce Canyon National Park and then driving to Zion National Park. The drive to Zion National Park should take less than 2 hours, so we should have enough time to see and do everything we want in Bryce Canyon, and then leave for Zion.

I probably should have built in an extra day to spread between Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, but it's too late to change our plans now.